Pardon this retro post, but in the last week I have had many occasions to admire the role paper still plays in our lives
a) Happened to catch our postman in person (how rare is that?). We exchanged pleasantries and when I asked him about the state of the USPS he turned salesman. He gave me the website www.frebizmag.com and encouraged me to sign up for printed subscriptions. I did for many at near-free – high quality ones like Fortune and Travel & Leisure at $ 2 a year. He also encouraged me to send postcards to friends and family. “Do you know how much it makes their day when they get a card in the mail?”
b) The magazine subscription site prompted my wife to suggest an evening at Barnes and Noble. We have never seen the store so busy. Over a coffee, I pored through 10 magazines and got several post ideas for New Florence. Again, amazing how busy the store was. To which my wife said “Long may it last, and may be convince Borders to come back to life”
c) I got my small “friends and family” stash of hardback copies of my new book from the publisher. I was pleasantly surprised by the response of many I offered them to. Dennis Howlett gifted them to 2 executives and I signed them “compliments of Dennis” and mailed them. Brian Sommer is gifting his to the home town public library and asked me to say something nice about libraries. My daughter took a photo of the book and posted it on her Facebook page and quickly got 60+ likes (though I have no delusions the likes were not for the book) Joe Thornton asked me to write something nice to his two young sons, Connor and Evan, 11 and 8 and already big into technology. My hairdresser, Blanca proudly showcased it in her shop. Try doing all that with eBooks:)
d) It’s still early days, but hardback copies of my book are outselling the eBook format 25 to 1, thanks to bulk buys by case studies and event organizers.
I read this morning the new iPad is causing pixilation problems in magazines.You know what, may Paper survive just a little bit longer!
