Mr. Magazine

Joe Hyrkin, CEO, issuu, speaking at the Magazine Innovation Center’s ACT 8
Experience April 18, 2018.

“The future is really all about the creator, the publisher, having more and more control. So, they make the publication; they can control which stories they want to share and how; they can control how they use it. If they want they can share just on their own site; they can use it to share on Snapchat or Instagram or elsewhere; it gives them a whole set of tools now to engage the social media platforms more effectively around their whole content.” Joe Hyrkin…

“I think it offers a more comprehensive opportunity for monetization. One of the things that we’ve created in the story generator software that we’re making available as part of this, is the ability for publishers to put different images into the story than were in the original article. They can embed additional kinds of ads in the story than were in the article. It enables them to monetize the content in a more expansive way and it now also enables them to take advantage of these other platforms because they’re able to serve up that content in a format that people are aligned with already, and monetize the content as well.” Joe Hyrkin…

Issuu, the world’s largest digital discovery and publishing platform, announced Issuu Stories, a new mobile-optimized content sharing feature that enables brands and creators to highlight and share specific pages of their digital content on their favorite social channels. Joe Hyrkin is CEO of Issuu and is excited by this brand new feature, as it allows Issuu publishers, particularly ones of media content, magazines and newspapers, to be able to continue their relationship with the publishing platform and turn their content into stories that can be shared in any social experience, such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Reddit. To share a digital publication link through Instagram Stories, users must be an Instagram business user with more than 10,000 followers.

I spoke with Joe recently and we talked about Issuu Stories. The new feature gives users the ability to easily integrate their content on social to deliver beautiful spreads and slick scrolls, and share with GIFs generated on Issuu. Additionally, users can include a shareable link directing readers to sequential or non-sequential pages within their digital publication.

Joe believes Issuu Stories enables a deeper level of engagement by optimizing the way in which creators and brands can share their digital content. It’s an illuminating portal that opens up the possibilities for digital content and blazes that cyber trail that many are trying to machete their way through.

Leave it to Issuu to lead the way.

And now without further ado, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Joe Hyrkin, CEO, Issuu.

But first the sound-bites:

On Issuu’s new feature called Issuu Stories: We are rolling out Issuu Stories and it’s something that I’m super-excited about because it now enables all Issuu publishers, particularly media content, magazines and newspapers, to be able to continue to use the Issuu system and turn articles into stories that can be shared in any social experience: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

On the restrictions that are in place when using Issuu Stories, such as on Instagram it must be a business account and have at least 10,000 followers: That’s an Instagram restriction. In order to share the story in the format that we’ve created, in order to share the content of a link on Instagram, you need to have more than 10,000 followers. So, it’s a restriction by Instagram and we’re actually going to talk to them about making some changes. I think one of the core reasons that they do that is they want to make sure that if people are sharing content from within the link that it’s high-quality content and it’s curated and there are some set of standards around it. And of course, those folks who are sharing Issuu Stories on Instagram have met a certain criteria of quality because of the publication that they’re creating.

On where he sees the future of magazine media and digital heading as Issuu moves forward: I actually think that this is only serving to drive more consumption of the full magazine. In the past, if you think about even a print-oriented newsstand, the way that magazines got sold was by the cover. The cover drove the vast majority of initial engagement for that whole publication. And now what we’re enabling people to do is engage beneath the covers, so they can use a story on page 37 to drive consumption of the whole publication.

On whether he believes this is a step toward easier monetization of publisher’s publications: I don’t know if I would say easier, but I think it offers a more comprehensive opportunity for monetization. One of the things that we’ve created in the story generator software that we’re making available as part of this, is the ability for publishers to put different images into the story than were in the original article. They can embed additional kinds of ads in the story than were in the article. It enables them to monetize the content in a more expansive way and it now also enables them to take advantage of these other platforms because they’re able to serve up that content in a format that people are aligned with already, and monetize the content as well.

On if Texture is the 800-pound gorilla, is Issuu the 400-pound one: There’s a 100-pound gorilla, absolutely, but what makes the zoo a great experience is being able to see the hundreds of different animals and how people look at the animals and the whole experience that’s available. And you can go into those areas in the zoo that are most interesting to you. You can see a 100-pound gorilla and that’s cool, but what I’m really interested in is the entire penguin exhibit and feeding the penguins and the experience that provides.

On whether he can envision a day when Issuu offers a membership and charges a set amount for all content or they just prefer to leave it up to the individual publishers: We are all about putting power and monetization control into the hands of the publisher, because I think they’re creating amazing stuff and we want them to be able to continue to thrive and build their business. And I think that means having a set of tools for distribution and it means having a set of options around monetization, where they’re not just stuck on a particular monetization format.

On any major hurdle Issuu might have to overcome: One of the hurdles here is publishers that use us have come to rely on a set of tools that they use Issuu for. So, they distribute or they sell a digital version of their magazine; often they will use us for one or two features and they sort of get locked into, this is what we’re going to be using Issuu for. And one of the hurdles that we have is to effectively communicate with them about those, which are all very much a part of the package and part of the foundation of why they’re using us, and then show them the new set of tools that are available to them around creating stories and distributing them.

On Sweet Paul magazine now having a print edition and being on newsstand: Sweet Paul is a great example. They’re a great business and they’re amazing people. I don’t know if you’ve spent much time with them, but they have built a media business essentially from scratch. And they’ve hooked some really high-quality content and their magazine has been in Anthropology and is now sold in Barnes & Noble. And a lot of that has happened, in large part, because when they first launched the magazine, they grew their audience through Issuu. And now they have this whole set of things they do. They have a magazine; they do events; they do video content; they’re advising other magazines. They’ve created this really interesting media business that I think is the wave of the future.

On anything he’d like to add: The other piece around it is, one of the things about all published magazines in particular is, often the story that is richest and most exciting to a particular reader isn’t obvious from either the cover or the way in which the magazine is marketed. And now through Stories it creates an accessibility into this quality content that hasn’t been available at scale or in a digital format before.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Joe Hyrkin, CEO Issuu.

Samir Husni: Tell me about this new feature called “Issuu Stories.”

Joe Hyrkin: We are rolling out Issuu Stories and it’s something that I’m super-excited about because it now enables all Issuu publishers, particularly media content, magazines and newspapers, to be able to continue to use the Issuu system and turn articles into stories that can be shared in any social experience: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

We’ve given publishers a set of tools that we’ve created, where we automatically show the whole flat plan of the publication. And then they can lasso elements of that publication. They can just very quickly click on the images and we identify the elements of text and images, and all of the different pieces of the content, they can click mobile optimize, and it turns it into a vertically-scrolling, mobile-optimized story or article that can be shared in its discreet format anywhere digitally.

And as you scroll and read through the story, as we always do at Issuu, we continue to drive engagement for the full magazine itself, so within the vertical scroll of the story, we have the cover of the publication and you click on that and it takes you to the full digital publication of the magazine itself. So, you can now start to use Issuu to share elements of the magazine, and then use those elements to drive more engagement into the full magazine.

It’s basically a two-pronged approach. First is the software that publishers get access to, which automatically turns each of the articles into stories. And then on the consumer side, they’re able to subscribe to Issuu stories or to curate the most interesting sets of content for them across different categories as well.

Samir Husni: I’ve noticed that you’re limiting it somewhat. For example, people who use Instagram have to have an Instagram business account and more than 10,000 followers. Why are those restrictions in place?

Joe Hyrkin: That’s an Instagram restriction. In order to share the story in the format that we’ve created, in order to share the content of a link on Instagram, you need to have more than 10,000 followers. So, it’s a restriction by Instagram and we’re actually going to talk to them about making some changes. I think one of the core reasons that they do that is they want to make sure that if people are sharing content from within the link that it’s high-quality content and it’s curated and there are some set of standards around it. And of course, those folks who are sharing Issuu Stories on Instagram have met a certain criteria of quality because of the publication that they’re creating.

Samir Husni: What’s the future? You had a platform that offered the entire publication, now you’re offering a story-by-story feature. Where do you see the industry heading, in terms of magazine media and digital?

Joe Hyrkin: I actually think that this is only serving to drive more consumption of the full magazine. In the past, if you think about even a print-oriented newsstand, the way that magazines got sold was by the cover. The cover drove the vast majority of initial engagement for that whole publication. And now what we’re enabling people to do is engage beneath the covers, so they can use a story on page 37 to drive consumption of the whole publication.

If you think about something like The Economist as an example, they always have on their front cover a selection of titles of different stories that are within the magazine. So, they’re sort of calling it out via headlines and putting it on the front cover off the magazine. Our whole focus is on supporting the publisher to make their whole publication accessible and distributable. And now they can take pieces of it, use that to engage their audience and drive them deeper into the magazine. These stories can be shared as unique units, but contained within the structure of the story. It’s not just a link to the magazine, but it’s actually the full cover that drives you deeper into the magazine itself.

And then when we’re doing this, the future is really all about the creator, the publisher, having more and more control. So, they make the publication; they can control which stories they want to share and how; they can control how they use it. If they want they can share just on their own site; they can use it to share on Snapchat or Instagram or elsewhere; it gives them a whole set of tools now to engage the social media platforms more effectively around their whole content.

Samir Husni: Do you think that’s a step toward easier monetization of their publications?

Joe Hyrkin: I don’t know if I would say easier, but I think it offers a more comprehensive opportunity for monetization. One of the things that we’ve created in the story generator software that we’re making available as part of this, is the ability for publishers to put different images into the story than were in the original article. They can embed additional kinds of ads in the story than were in the article. It enables them to monetize the content in a more expansive way and it now also enables them to take advantage of these other platforms because they’re able to serve up that content in a format that people are aligned with already, and monetize the content as well.

They also can use these stories to reconnect with sales, whether it’s digital sales or they certainly could incorporate by a print subscription to the magazine. It gives them a whole new way to communicate with their audience and use this to grow a larger audience.

Samir Husni: If we assume Texture, especially now after being bought by Apple, is the 800-pound gorilla; is Issuu the 400-pound gorilla now?

Joe Hyrkin: (Laughs) I love these analogy conversations. Let’s say we’re the zoo, right?

Samir Husni; (Laughs too).

Joe Hyrkin: There’s a 100-pound gorilla, absolutely, but what makes the zoo a great experience is being able to see the hundreds of different animals and how people look at the animals and the whole experience that’s available. And you can go into those areas in the zoo that are most interesting to you. You can see a 100-pound gorilla and that’s cool, but what I’m really interested in is the entire penguin exhibit and feeding the penguins and the experience that provides.

So, the way I look at the difference here is Texture, particularly within the context of Apple, is about a very specific set of titles that are now going to be, and I don’t know anything more than you do, but they’ve publicly stated it’s now going to be part of a new Apple subscription service that they’re going to create, which in a certain way enables that content to have a larger audience than what was available just being Texture, because now they can connect it to the larger Apple audience. But still a very thin layer of content.

And what we’re doing now is by automating these stories; we will see hundreds of thousands of stories available that are enabling creators to really much more directly connect to people who are interested in what they have to offer.

Samir Husni: Do you envision one day that you will offer an Issuu membership, an all you can eat buffet that you can pay a set amount per month and access everything? Or do you want to leave it up to the individual publishers?

Joe Hyrkin: We are all about putting power and monetization control into the hands of the publisher, because I think they’re creating amazing stuff and we want them to be able to continue to thrive and build their business. And I think that means having a set of tools for distribution and it means having a set of options around monetization, where they’re not just stuck on a particular monetization format.

So, we will continue to offer more ways to distribute and more ways for them to monetize. And as part of Issuu Stories, we are actually rolling out a subscription product where readers can subscribe to receive the curated Issuu Stories that get delivered directly to them. For now, that’s really available because we want to help publishers make and share that content. There may be some monetization element that we layer on top of that, and if we did that it would be in association in some form with the publishers as well.

Samir Husni: What might be a major hurdle that you’ll have to overcome?

Joe Hyrkin: One of the hurdles here is publishers that use us have come to rely on a set of tools that they use Issuu for. So, they distribute or they sell a digital version of their magazine; often they will use us for one or two features and they sort of get locked into, this is what we’re going to be using Issuu for. And one of the hurdles that we have is to effectively communicate with them about those, which are all very much a part of the package and part of the foundation of why they’re using us, and then show them the new set of tools that are available to them around creating stories and distributing them.

I think one of the things that happens is, right now publishers have their own system that they use for creating things like this. They blog or they do this or do that, and ultimately this will save them a tremendous amount of time. It’s a different set of communications for us to share with folks around that. But so far the uptake has been really good and we soft-rolled it out last week, as we were publicly announcing it.

We’re finding that people we’ve shown this to, people like Lonely Planet and Red Bull, on those sort of larger brand sides, Tom Tom Magazine and Escapism and a whole set of others on the emerging brand side, are finding this is exactly what they needed. They had been trying to figure out how they could share the articles without destroying the integrity of the publication they had created and is the focus.

Samir Husni: I noticed that Sweet Paul now has his magazine on the newsstand at Barnes & Noble, a print edition.

Joe Hyrkin: Sweet Paul is a great example. They’re a great business and they’re amazing people. I don’t know if you’ve spent much time with them, but they have built a media business essentially from scratch. And they’ve hooked some really high-quality content and their magazine has been in Anthropology and is now sold in Barnes & Noble.

And a lot of that has happened, in large part, because when they first launched the magazine, they grew their audience through Issuu. And now they have this whole set of things they do. They have a magazine; they do events; they do video content; they’re advising other magazines. They’ve created this really interesting media business that I think is the wave of the future.

Samir Husni: Is there anything that you’d like to add?

Joe Hyrkin: The other piece around it is, one of the things about all published magazines in particular is, often the story that is richest and most exciting to a particular reader isn’t obvious from either the cover or the way in which the magazine is marketed. And now through Stories it creates an accessibility into this quality content that hasn’t been available at scale or in a digital format before.

There’s this great magazine, Soul Food, and Roy Choi, who is one of the inventors of the food truck movement; there’s a great article about him buried in the middle of this magazine, and now they can use Issuu Stories to direct readers into that particular body of content that wasn’t available before, and then use that to drive more and more engagement.

I think the key here is this unleashing of access that hasn’t been available before in a way that expands engagement with the whole publication.

Samir Husni: Thank you.