Mr. Magazine

Earlier this morning I received the following e-mail from Mitch Fox, President and CEO of 8020 Media with the heading “Goodbye to 8020 Media…Not so fast!”… Here is his e mail

Good Morning,

Well, this has been quite a crazy couple of days since I last wrote to you. As you may have seen reported, after we announced we were forced to close 8020 Media we were approached by over twenty people/companies who want to make an offer to acquire the company. What happened?

Well, first of all, many thanks to all our friends in the press who wrote about our demise…it was great of you to jump on the story, and we appreciate and respect the effort you put forth to get the story just right…after all, JPG is a great property, with a large number of loyal members, a growing advertiser base, and a real prospect for profit….not to mention the foundation of what publishing can look like in the very near future. It surely has value.

However, all of this activity really shows the massive shift in news media consumption,,,,because it shows the power of the press…especially the online press who got the story out wide and fast….And to the right people.

Maybe it’s generational, geographical, or industry related…but there is definitely “something” going on here….And for “it” we’re grateful.
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Web based companies have come forward with offers to acquire JPG…and we’re once again excited about its future.

So we’ve set a date of Wednesday, January 7th to get in the bids…and we’ll vet them at that time and make a decision.

I’ll keep you posted….

All my best,

Mitch

Oh yeah…and this site : SaveJPG.com didn’t hurt either…Check it out, especially the comments:

http://www.savejpg.com/

To read the earlier news regarding 8020 Media and JPG click here.

Last October I interviewed Mitchell Fox, President and CEO of 8020 Media the publishers of 8020 Media. He shared with me his plans for the future of the company and promised to keep me posted on the latest community additions to the company that they were ready to make in the near future. However, in what seemed to be prophetic now, he told me “It is infinitely more complicated to produce a good magazine, distribute it, and sell it, than it is to just get a blog up and running.” Well, early this morning I received a note from Mitch addressed to Friends of 8020 Media that shows how difficult it is to produce and publish a good magazine. Under the subject-heading “Goodbye to 8020 Media,” here is the entire letter from Mitch:

January 2, 2009

To all of our friends,

In the face of these extraordinary economic times, in a devastated advertising climate, we can no longer continue to operate the business due to lack of funds, and hence we have to close 8020 Media effective immediately.

There is no doubt that our company has done what no others have yet to do…that is, prove that the web and print can work effectively together, one supporting the other.

We’ve also proven that community generated media CAN be a powerful thing…and it can create spectacular media.

The riddle of having a sound web platform support that drives interactivity with a print product has been solved, however, none of us could have predicted the global economic collapse we’ve witnessed in the past few months. So our timing to grow the business and bring it to profitability through even the smallest amount of additional funding could not have been worse.

So, while we sit here at the precipice of profitability, the negative marketplace forces are too strong to overcome, and we must take this regrettable action.

It remains undeniable that the publishing industry MUST find a new model, and mass collaboration and participation in the media property is certainly now proven it can be the foundation of this new model (NOTE: This is NOT citizen journalism).

We’ve cracked the code on marshaling a community around a media property online and in print….and helping them become active , loyal, and engaged participants in both.

We do owe a debt of thanks to Minor Ventures for believing in us, and funding us to this point and to have even given us a chance to make this business successful, and for that confidence we’ll always be grateful.

There is a lot to be learned from the 8020 Media experiment and the two magazines it published JPG and Everywhere. However, it is important to study the early stages of 8020 or what I call the “love affair” era and compare it with the “institutionalization” of the company in the last year and a half. I am a firm believer that JPG was the “candle in the wind” that will be remembered as the first magazine to utilize the web to innovate in print, and innovate well indeed.

You continue to predict the death of print; I will continue to promote the endless innovations possible in print.

You continue to count the number of magazine dying; I will continue to count the number of magazines being born (for the record, magazines with 4 times frequency or more were born to a ratio of 20 to one… for every magazine pronounced dead in 2008, the same year saw 20 new launches).

You continue to mourn the dead advertising model that served the industry well since World War II; I will continue to celebrate those who are trying to reinvent the publishing model and those who will continue to depend on circulation to foot their bills and sustain their success.

You continue to be in the business of counting numbers; I will continue to be in the business of customers who count.

You continue to be in the business of catering to Madison Ave. and the advertising community; I will continue to be in the business of serving the reader, turned customer (Yes I know they don’t pay as much per issue, but there is a much more of them than the advertisers, and once you have the right customers, the advertisers will follow).

You continue to write about the layoffs and firings in the magazine business; I will continue to write about all the new hires and new companies flourishing.

You continue to report the failures in the magazine business and magazines trimming and slimming their pages; I will continue to write about magazine successes and magazines increasing their pages.

You continue to be in the business of giving away your content; I will continue to be in the business of monetizing content and finding ways to pay for it.

You continue to be in the business of serving audiences everywhere in all media; I will be in the business of identifying the best content, through the best medium to serve the best customer.

You continue to be in the business of giving content; I will be in the business of selling content.

You continue to use the shotgun approach in your marketing strategy; I will continue to use my laser-targeted approach.

You continue to see the cup half empty; I will continue to see the cup half full.

You continue to pretend to lead and direct the magazine industry; I will continue to serve an industry I live, love and cherish.

You continue to be an insider trenched in your ways; I will continue to be an outsider looking at all the ways.

You continue to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the train coming; I will continue to see the light.

Happy New Year and All The Best,

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni