Custom e-publishing: 10 questions; few publishers have successfully transformed this new media into solid revenue streams

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 1998 by Jennifer Sucov

Mary Workman, design director at Custom Communications Partners, agrees: "It's like when print made the transition from mechanicals to the desktop, only this will be bigger," she says.

What stops can I take today to prepare for online publishing?

Cadmus Communications' custom-publishing division is not yet providing content for any of its clients (which include Continental Airlines, AFL-CIO's Union Privilege, and new accounts with ITT and the American Lung Association), but the company will be ready when that day comes. Using an in-house new-media team, Cadmus developed its own corporate Web site, according to Dawn Cadey, vice president, communications and information technology.

Initially, the Boston-based company worked with an outside developer, but Cadmus revised its site with in-house personnel. Cadey believes the site serves not only as a learning experience, but also as evidence of the company's skills in the online arena. "There's a balance between the corporate site -- which shows our company's capabilities -- and the original content -- which demonstrates our knowledge of the environment and the development of the medium," she says. "As publishers, we would be remiss in not having an expertise [in this area]."

Custom Communications Partners has not yet developed a site for any of its clients, but Caldwell runs his business with an eye toward the future. He hired Workman as CCP's design director because of her experience with Web design, and an independent research organization supplies new-media-related articles for the company's biweekly staff meetings so all employees will remain well informed.

What percent of my business should come from online ventures?

Hammock says that current revenues from online ventures account for 5 percent of the company's total business, but as of the fourth quarter of this year Web-generated dollars will increase to 15 percent of total revenues. Hammock is pleased with the growth, but expects that online projects will eventually level off at 25 percent of total revenues. "Were still an ink-and-paper company," he says.

"A lot more has been made of Web-driving revenues than really exists now," says the more cautious Caldwell. He expects online ventures to be one-third of CCP's business three years down the road.

How much do I charge to create a Web site?

Just as the price structure of a custom magazine is different depending on the client's needs, Web-site pricing varies greatly.

"It's definitely a challenge to price it," says Hammock. "You're developing something intangible." Hammock explains that while the revenue generated from a Web site will probably be less than what custom publishers are accustomed to from print publications, margins are higher on a Web site: "There's no manufacturing component [with a Web site," he says."You charge less, but you get to keep it all."

Can custom publishers hope to lure clients away from Web developers?

Joyce Matheson, director of marketing and custom publishing for CMP Media Inc. has something many traditional custom publishers don't: the cachet of CMP's own ground-breaking Web site, TechWeb. Matheson, head of the newly expanded division of the Manhasset, New York-based technology publisher, offers CMP's print advertisers extended reach and added value by creating customized print-based inserts and supplements, in addition to online material for the TechWeb site.