Categories: Industry News,Infographic
19 April, 2013

Mobile Activations in Print Media - Integration Tools or Interruptions?

For mobile readers, interaction is natural and expected with any content they consume. But print readers don’t necessarily share this mentality. Maybe the idea of getting a print reader to continue their experience on mobile is stretching too far. Or maybe the right trigger has yet to be developed. QR codes are an eyesore, watermarked images are overlooked, and other types of activations are little-known or platform-specific.

MediaPost’s recent article on mobile activations in print mentions that there were 8448 mobile activations in print magazines last year. The majority of these were associated with advertising rather than editorial content. Video, social media and contests were the most popular triggers, and QR codes the most popular activation tool. The interest from advertisers is there, the implementation is growing, but not enough readers are taking the bait. Why is this?

While mobile editions are becoming ever more important to subscription number

From PDF to App in 4 Simple Steps

So you have PDFs that you want in an App. Here is the simple 4-step process to get them there!

1. Talk to an eMagStudio sales consultant about creating your customized App. The App creation process can take 40 days or longer, due to the approval waiting times with Apple and Google, so make sure to plan ahead! Your sales consultant will give you all the information you need to submit the App creation materials quickly and successfully.

2. While you wait for your App to be created, make sure your pdf is web optimized. You can refer to this tutorial to find out how: How to create a PDF that's ready for the web

3. Open your PDF, add rich media, links, web content, and publish with eMagStudio. Our YouTube channel has a ton of step-by-step tutorials to get you started. You will need at least one published eMag to finalize your App for approval.

4. After your App is approved by Apple and/or Google, you will be able to manage the content in

Print isn't dying - the case of Forbes

Forbes is undoubtedly a content leader when it comes to finance and success. Recently, they provided a great overview of how they have managed to move from print to cross-platform, with an innovative and brand-loyal approach which still holds print as a critical part of the business. Here are some of the key takeaways:

“Clarity is key to innovation” - If your vision is clear, your voice strong, and your content consistent, then the mixing of on- and offline media will be a less intrusive step. Your key content pieces should consistently represent what your brand is all about. With this approach, adding additional media pieces and scaling your content will be a transparent process which will not alienate your readership.

“Online, the audience wants to mix it up” - While straight content and clear editorial pieces may be perfect for a print magazine, it just won’t fly in a digital environment. Multiple engaging conten

Competition - Show us your best!

It’s your turn to show off!
We’re always talking about how much you can do with digital publishing software. It’s so much more than a pdf to page flip solution, and we want to see how far you can take it! Send us a link to your best example of a digital book, magazine or catalog created with eMagStudio and you could win big.

What can you win?
An eMagStudio License - whether it’s your first license or an additional license

Need some ideas of what to include?
- Add a background, custom navigational buttons or a logo to brand the look and feel. How?
- Include videos, links, audio or Flash animations to engage your readers. How?
- Pop up a Google map, shopping basket, form or more to unite all of your online media. How?
How immersive your publications can be using eMagStudio is only limited to your own creativity.

How to enter
1. Open

Digital Advertising - Tips for making your online edition profitable

Many publishers are struggling with the question of how to make an online edition profitable. On average, for every $7 of print advertising that is lost, only $1 is gained in digital revenue. How can you manage to overcome this trend? Here are some ideas of ways to update your advertising to get you thinking in the right direction:

1) Print ads are static, digital is interactive. There are so many ways that advertisers can update their ads from the static calls to action of print. Add links to product pages, include flash animations, videos, forms and more. This leaves it open for you to create a new pricing scheme to accommodate the added interactivity.

2) Whereas print had the sheer number of subscribers, digital can provide advertisers with detailed analytics on the demographics and behaviors of the actual readers. How many people are viewing the publication or the page their advertisement is on? Where are the readers from

Get Inspired with Opel

Stuck with great content and no idea how to make it stand out online? When we come across outstanding publications made with eMagStudio, we will share them with you, so that you can be inspired. The first in this series is a brochure that features Flash animations, videos, customization and more.

Click the image below to view the eBrochure


Need more inspiration? You can find it here.

The Chilean Digital Revolution

With easy access to knowledge banks in innovation centers like Silicon Valley, and increased digital presence amongst the general population, South America is experiencing a rise in high tech entrepreneurship. More established growth markets such as Brazil and Argentina have high internet usage and large pools of talent, but also many hurdles in business start-up. With this, the focus of the digital revolution is now shifting to the overlooked, but fast-growing economy of Chile; where 59% of the population are now internet users, more than 3 million inhabitants subscribe to mobile broadband services, and the number of tech companies has grown substantially in the last several years.

Chile is becoming an entrepreneurial hub, and tech is leading the way, forming Chile’s very own “Chilecon Valley.” Governmental initiatives have helped to fuel this growth, with efforts aimed at decreasing the barriers experienced when starting a business in Chile for both foreigners and

China's Looming Digital Publishing Explosion

The Chinese market is predicted to rise to an estimated 40 to 50 million tablets by the end of 2013. Add this to the 92 million plus smartphone users that were added in the past year alone, and China is a huge market for publishers looking to capitalize on a mobile reader base. In terms of total volume, their digital publishing market is already in second place.

The explosive growth in reading-capable devices, as well as in publishing profits has analysts predicting that 2013 will be even more explosive. Chinese publishers are already looking for ways to capture market share early on in a market that still has low competition compared to other, more mature digital publishing markets. And rightly so. In a country with over a billion inhabitants, even a small share of the market could mean big profits.

Will you be finding a way to publish for the newly-mobile masses in China?

China isn't the only emerging market in digital publishing this year- ch

How to unite your online media using online publications

You’ve surely invested significant time and money on getting your online presence optimized to suit your business. Whether you have an amazing collection of videos on Vimeo, a form that converts wonderfully, or a streamlined online shopping experience for your customers on your website, the question remains how to unite your various types of online media and lead capture elements in a user-friendly format. The answer is with ePublications. There are endless options for what you can include and how to mix your online media in an eCatalog, eMagazine or eBrochure. Here’s how you can get started doing it with eMagStudio:

*Before starting, make sure you have eMagStudio 2.6 installed. If you are currently using the trial version, you will need to request a full trial in order to use HTML windows.
1) Open your pdf in toolbox mode
2) Create a shape where you would like the user to be engaged - this could be a product image, call to action or even text. You can adj

Catalogs Rock On- and Offline

The holidays are over, but there is a lasting trend that can help you market your products year round- catalogs remain the largest single influence in consumer decision making.

An article by VentureBeat shows that shoppers referred to paper catalogs more than any other source of information when making holiday buying decisions. But with around ¼ of consumers using mobile devices to access various other information before making their holiday purchases, it is clear that mobile is also a force to be reckoned with. However, one single information source on mobile has yet to make the same impact as paper catalogs.

But you can easily grow your influence in potential customer purchases through multiple channels by offering your product catalog in both paper and digital formats. Creating more brand touch points for your target group to interact with will keep you top of mind when the final decision is ready to be made.

"A brand should strive to own a

Youth eReading Trends

Scholastic's latest edition of the "Kids & Family Reading Report" shows just how fast the eReading trend among digital natives has grown. Since the 2010 study, the number of 6-17 year old Americans who have read an eBook has doubled. Combine this with significant increases in mobile technology usage in the age group, and the perfect combination for eReading growth and sustainability emerges.

So, as more kids gain access to eBooks, what impact can the industry expect- Will eBooks kill off print editions of youth titles? Will kids read for enjoyment more?





















































Source: "Kids & Family Reading Report" Scholastic 2013

How to convert any Word document into a PDF

We get questions frequently on how to convert a certain document type into a PDF. So we will be starting a tutorial series on how to easily convert different document types into a PDF so that they can be used for digital publishing.

If you created your document in Microsoft Word (or other Microsoft Office programs), this is the tutorial for you. You must have Adobe Acrobat installed for PDF creation options to be available.

The first method you can use to create a PDF is by going to file and save as.


Name your PDF, and select your save as type - PDF.














Then select the box that says Minimum size (publishing online) to optimize for eMagStudio publishing.













Finally, click save, and your PDF will be created.

There are additional options, such as creating a PDF out of only certain p

Does your business need an App?

App. It may well be the buzzword of the decade. But when it comes down to it, how many people really know what an App is, and even more, why they need one?

To determine if your business needs a mobile App, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you need your content/service to be available offline on mobile devices?
2. Do you need speed and reliability regardless of location?
3. Do you have a specific country or language market you are looking to target?
4. Do you want to charge?
5. Do you need another channel to distribute your message?

If your answer to any of those questions was yes, then you probably have a need for a mobile App.

Just keep in mind that an App is a piece of mobile software with a specific functionality that adds value to you or your customers’ mobile device. If you can’t see the value your App would create, then you may want to reevaluate if having an App is truly a “need” rather than

Don't make these mistakes- bad uses of digital publishing

Nearly every type of content can benefit from digitization and interactive elements. From magazines to annual reports, more and more content is being put online as multimedia epublications. The question now is: could there be some content that is better as a simple pdf to download, or even more, as just a print version? Here are a few that we at eMagCreator came up with:

Coloring books
Unless you want kids taking markers and crayons to iPads (and think what a shame that would be), coloring books may be one type of content that is better left to print and print alone. The draw of a digital publication is the ability to add interactive elements, and coloring books are highly interactive on their own accord.

Workbooks
We’ve seen some amazing digital versions of previously-printed workbooks from our customers- especially when it comes to employee training manuals. But we’ve also seen some very poor examples. The

3 Channels to Give Readers Mobile Access to Digital Publications

The number of mobile web users is increasing, and with that change, a shift in how content is delivered to the reader is needed. Here are just 3 ways to get your eMags to the mobile generation:

1) Mobile browser
Just like a desktop web browser, your readers access the content via a unique URL. You can share the url in newsletters, on your website, or wherever else your readers interact with your brand. Mobile browsers maximize the number of mobile readers who can access your content, as all platforms are supported. This is also a very easy solution to implement, as digital publishing softwares like eMagStudio automatically publish a mobile version along with the Flash original. The correct version is shown based on the device that accesses the content, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility.

2) Apps
Apps allow you to push your content to a specific group or region, or to offer it for offline viewing on m