A Dot-Com In Every Corner

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 2001 by Jane E. Zarem

The Audible subscriber (PC only) can set up an automatic download or opt for an e-mail announcement of the new issue. The downloaded file can be played directly from the PC or laptop, or transferred to an audio-ready wireless device that connects (via a free adapter) to the car stereo for listening while commuting.

For a monthly fee, says Jonathan Korzen, senior manager of media relations, wireless subscribers could, for example, have a daily audio digest of The Wall Street Journal delivered to a cell phone for listening while driving to work.

Customers pay Audible from $1.95 for a single download to $14.95 per month for access to all its content--magazines, newspapers, books and radio--both new and archived. Magazine-publisher participants already on board include Fast Company, Forbes, The Economist, The Industry Standard, Scientific American, Science News, The Harvard Business Review and several more. "It's appropriate for any kind of title," says Korzen. "We cover all genres, whether entertainment or information, fiction or nonfiction."

Publisher partners receive a 12 percent royalty on revenue earned from their content and a percentage of whatever else their customers buy, according to Foy Sperring, vice president and general manager. Royalties, paid quarterly, are based on revenues that could fall in the five-figure range for a popular title, adds Korzen. Audible also offers a free subscription to the magazine's electronic audio version for each of the publisher's print subscribers, "because those people may buy something else when they come to the site," Sperring explains. And when they do, Audible pays the publisher for, the lead with a percentage of that customer's purchases over one year, or with a one time bounty payment.

"Publishers might use the free electronic version as an incentive when soliciting renewals from print subscribers, Sperring suggests. "It costs [the publishers] nothing to offer that premium. Plus, it positions the publisher, in the customer's mind, as being ahead of the curve--and that certainly enhances the brand."