Here’s a morsel for the brain.
Did you know that Gutenberg adapted wine presses for his printing invention? It’s a nice thought along the way isn’t it?
Now, you might not be able to buy your readers a glass of wine, but you can make them fall in love with your app, even if it’s not on printed paper.
So here’s the snag publishers and everyone who wants to make a dime out of a publishing app should know of.
There’s you with your great content, news, feeds, articles and what you’re good at.
There’s millions of mobile users that read stories, watch news and want to be kept to date with what’s going on.
And there’s the app.
What could go wrong?
Let’s find out.
A quick overview of the last three to four years in the publishing industry will show you a story of how publishers saw a great opportunity with mobile devices.
Tablets and smartphones mainstreamed and people used apps for everything, from learning how to assemble Ikea furniture to finding out grandma’s secret cookie recipe.
So publishing companies, magazines, digital publishers and pretty much everybody with news and a story to tell wanted to board the mobile wave.
You might know of a few cases, it might have happened to you or not, but it so happened apps were a way to bring your story right unto your readers phones.
Things were rosy until you realized you didn’t have as many readers as you’d thought or the numbers really didn’t add up? Monetization? Nix. Readership? Get serious.
So what happened?
It wasn’t the fact that you developed the app for iOS, or Android, Blackberry and whatnot.
Neither their mobile phones or tablets.
Nor the content.
Two things stand out among the crowd of problems.
The first is that a publishing app is more of a ,,brand extension” rather than a revenue source. It’s about strengthening the relationship with your readers hearts and minds.
The second thing that happened was that the printed content or digital content on the internet needs to be mobile optimized.
As Charles Lim, a writer for Sparksheet said: ,,Users want a bare-bones experience that’s fast and reliable.”
He mentions two apps successfully accomplishing this: The Economist and The New Yorker. He believes these apps are successful because they provide users with “what they want and expect from these publications…They’re full of text.” His argument is based on the fact that publishing apps need to be simple so that costs for moving from print to digital can be as low as possible without sacrificing the format.
And aye, there’s the rub.
Just putting out the same content you’re providing, on a smartphone screen or tablet isn’t going to cut it. Mobile users are a different breed than internet users or old school news readers.
They have different expectations of their apps, and let’s face it, we’re all a bit fussy when it comes to what our phones do and how our apps behave.
This is going to be all about hearts and minds.
We’re going to cover four core concepts.
Interface : Where you don’t have to jump through hoops to read the news
What’s the first thing that I see after I download your app?
Interface is all about user experience and navigability. As we stated before, porting the same content you have on your printed format isn’t going to cut it with an app.
The more you add to it, the clunkier and glossier it will behave.
With functionality in mind, simplicity should be your primary goal.
A well structured publishing app should keep some of the ,,feel” of your digital or printed content but it needs to be touch friendly, a.k.a – avoiding to put a cartload of small buttons and categories.
A publishing app should work smooth, have a natural flow and should be designed with intuition and readibility in mind.
With an efficient navigability pathway, you just took the first step for ease of access and your readers will be happy because of it.
Another thing people need to see is a comment section and a share section.
This solves two problems that many publishing apps suffer from. Shareability and user feedback.
As Jason Pontin, editor in chief for Technology Review stated: ,,When people read on electronic media, they expect the stories to possess the linky-ness _of the Web—but stories in apps didn’t really link.”
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A sharing button integrated within the app for popular social networking sites is a good start to avoid your publishing app and related content to become a ,,walled-garden” of information.
And when it comes to feeback, Apple’s Appstore and Google’s Playstore have proven that mobile users are more than willing to talk about apps, how well they work and how they can be improved.
Performance: Breaking news…after this loading screen
Your app performance is tied directly to what you see on your interface.
A glossy, complicated interface riveted with pointless buttons and functionalities = a sluggish performance.
Though you may be tempted to display the same content and images your printed or digital versions would have, mobile apps are about efficient design.
Clear categories and simple scrolling is going to take you places.
If there’d be an appropriate analogy here is that making a publishing app is like making coffee.
If it’s plain old simple coffee, it’s stronger.
If you don’t like coffee then think pancakes and we’re still friends.
Engagement and adding that special spark to your app
By now you have a simple and efficient app hitting its target of readibility and getting your content as accesible as it can be.
But a few good stories do not create loyalty overnight. You need a certain edge to that.
Your readers need an emotional stake, something that’s built over time.
Start by engaging your readers with smart push notifications, backed up by analytics and user behavior.
What are their favorite stories? Age? Reading habits? Time of day?
Using that, send out push alerts with your best content to keep them wanting for more.
Adding to that flavor, bring to bear updates and improvements, determined by feedback, views and the emotional response from your viewers. Again, analytics are the lynchpin of this approach.
A straightforward ,,Thank you!” push alert also works wonders. Reward your loyal readers with offers, additional content or a free subscription for a certain amount of time.
Also, on the interactivity side and social side, adding a favorites bar is a good move. Saving your favorite articles, news and stories and offering the user the option to customize his preferences on certain types of content (i.e. sports, games, technology) can go a long way.
Personalization and showing that you’re telling your readers that it’s their app and they can tailor it to who they are shows that you care and you’ll see the positive effects this approach has.
Keep adding everything that makes you what you are, reiterate it and emphasize it.
It’s a relationship, and you have to nurture it with dialogue, not just adding more content.
Monetization
As we said before, a publishing application is more of a brand extension rather than a way to pay your rent at the end of the month.
When smartphones got popular, most magazines, publishers and so on thought the same business model would work on mobile devices just like a news stand.
Well, quite simply put, it didn’t and that was one of the main causes a lot of publishing apps went downhill.
Freemium is what goes for most apps nowadays.
If you are going to monetize your publishing app, then put your thinking cap on for three questions.
1. Do I offer a part of my content free or all of it?
2. Do I offer part of my content free and then go for a subscription model, single-copy sell or another kind of paywall?
3. Do i go for mobile ads backing up my expenses with or w/o a paywall?
Once you figure out what works best for you, then you’re in business.
But keep in mind, mobile users usually do not want to pay for certain types of content, or at least, not until they know what you’re all about.
With this 1-2-3-4 step approach, if you cover your bases right and show that your not just about converting your content to mobile but that you care about the relationship with your readers will take you miles in your readers’ hearts.
It doesn’t matter if they’ve been reading their favorite magazine on paper for the last 10 years, they want that magazine to preserve its style on an app + something more that sets it apart.
And you can offer it, it’s just a question of how much you’re willing to invest in nurturing that relationship.
Publishing app conclusions?
Mobile apps are a great way to create connections beyond the traditional newspaper. You can connect your readers and engage them with the content you’re providing as long as you give before you take.
Also, if you want to see how we approached mobile publishing, **[check out this link right here to see how we can make your readers fall in love with your publishing content**](http://appscend.com/industry-mobile-solutions/publishing-classic/).
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Related article: Developing Apps for Magazines
