Kindle magazines and newspapers being phased out??

[Pjama]

I hope this is wrong, but the source seems legit.

Damn, I was so looking forward to reading magazines and newspapers on my new Scribe. Very disappointing, and strange timing, with the recent Scribe launch. The major advantage the kindle has over the Kobo imo. Damn.

http://https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/91129-amazon-to-end-print-textbook-rentals-overhaul-magazine-and-newspaper-subscriptions.html

ETA: I would have put this in the Amazon cost-cutting thread, but it has veered way off-topic, so I started this one.

[Quoth]

This may be driven by the publishers wanting to sell direct? Or use dedicated apps.

For average eyesight on older people there is little difference between 227 dpi and 300 dpi for magazines and newspapers All other current 10.3″ eink vs Kindle Scribe. Both magazines and newspapers native print format doesn't work without landscape and scrolling on 10″ anyway. So they have to either do a reflowable format, or use the web version, or app version, or a different fixed layout for 10″. But many tablets are around the 8 to 9 inches (Apple mini iPad) or 10″.

W has learned that the company is ending its print textbook rental program, which was established about a decade ago, and will phase out print and digital magazine and newspaper subscriptions as well.

The print textbook rental program will wind down over the course of the spring semester. Amazon’s digital textbook rental program will not be affected by the shutdown and it will also continue to sell new and used textbooks. Altogether, Amazon will still have about 2 million textbooks for sale or rent.

So text book rentals gone. That market is served directly by publishers and dominated by Apple iPads. Many schools have mandatory iPads.

A selection of magazines and newspapers, believed to number in the hundreds, will continue to be included in Kindle Unlimited.

i.e. Subscription only.
That suggests it's Publisher driven, not exactly an Amazon decision.

[salamanderjuice]

Was it even available in many countries outside the US anyways? It was never available in Canada for example.

I regularly read the newspaper on my Boox Note Air through Pressreader. Works pretty well although you do have to scroll. 300ppi would have been nice.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by Quoth

So text book rentals gone. That market is served directly by publishers and dominated by Apple iPads. Many schools have mandatory iPads.


i.e. Subscription only.
That suggests it's Publisher driven, not exactly an Amazon decision.

It is only the rental of physical text books that is being axed, as I understand it. The digital rentals are continuing.

It sounds as if some newspapers and magazines might still be available through Kindle Unlimited. But I love that at the moment I can buy e.g. a French newspaper and read it instantly and I will greatly miss being able to have these subscriptions.


I feel the Kindle Scribe's marketing could almost be construed as bait and switch.

"Kindle Scribe does not support handwritten sticky notes on manga, comics, graphic novels, magazines, or newspapers, though they are still available for download and look beautiful on the 10.2” 300 ppi display"

[pdurrant]

Magazine and newspaper subscriptions still use a version of the old of the old Mobipocket format. I suspect that's why there are limitations on the Kindle Scribe, which uses KFX for all the new features.

[jhowell]

I used to subscribe to about a dozen magazines and the local newspaper. Over time the quantity and quality of information in them declined while subscription prices continued to rise. The newspaper used to be full of local news and events but now has only a page or so of that with the bulk of the content being newswire articles that I have already read elsewhere online. And the print edition is only put out twice a week, apparently just so that they can include sales circulars. At this point I no longer subscribe to any of them.

These days on the rare occasions when I want to read a periodical I check out an electronic edition from my local library or Kindle Unlimited. I suspect that many others do the same and that subscription revenue will continue to decline. The folding of periodicals into KU as borrows makes sense to me.

[Critteranne]

The publishers of some of the best-liked science fiction and fantasy magazines found out about this from Amazon and have started tweeting about it. The SF/F magazine field has had some hits, and this is going to be like a giant hammer.

I don't like reading most magazines in digital form -- but SF/F and mystery magazines were a great fit. Many of them are digest-sized magazines that can be read even on an eInk device.

Analog; Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction and Fantasy; The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction; Clarkesworld; Uncanny; and others get a lot of subscribers through Amazon Kindle. (This probably applies to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine as well.)

Now, it looks as if the publishers will be forced to sell the magazines through Kindle Unlimited. But not all the subscribers are on KU, and I don't think anybody is going to pay for KU just to get the magazines they are already willing to buy. So some magazines may not survive.

There are alternative ways to buy them, such as Weightless Books, Nook, and others. And many magazines are on Patreon. But of course, not everyone knows about them. Not everyone knows how to sideload, how to email something to their Kindle, etc.

[Quoth]

Maybe the publishers want to sell the subs direct?

[Paperbackstash]

I know the libraries have a lot of magazines and such available, I am not thinking that support will go anyway, thinking this is mainly aimed toward text book rentals since that's big business with schools

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Maybe the publishers want to sell the subs direct?

I'm sure they would rather sell directly to the subscribers if they could. But from what I read on Twitter today, the publishers don't have the lists of people who subscribe to their Kindle editions. So they can't even contact them. That might change once the changes go through -- Amazon says they will take effect on September 2023.

There are other blocks in the way. For example, I think Weightless Books isn't available in the EU and UK.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I know the libraries have a lot of magazines and such available, I am not thinking that support will go anyway, thinking this is mainly aimed toward text book rentals since that's big business with schools

Several magazine publishers (science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishers) have already confirmed that Amazon contacted them about this. The Kindle Subscription service will close in September 2023. They predict that this will be devastating to the short fiction field -- to publishers and writers. (Yes, I know many people don't care about genre magazines or short fiction. They can **** **.)

Some publishers were given the "option" of putting their magazines on Kindle Unlimited. Others were not even given that option.

Many of these magazines have subscription options available on their sites -- but not all do. Also, people like the convenience of subscribing through Amazon rather than having to email "doc" files to their Kindles. And because the subscriptions are handled through Amazon, the publishers don't have a way to contact the subscribers who use Kindle Subscription to tell them about those options.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Many of these magazines have subscription options available on their sites -- but not all do. Also, people like the convenience of subscribing through Amazon rather than having to email "doc" files to their Kindles. And because the subscriptions are handled through Amazon, the publishers don't have a way to contact the subscribers who use Kindle Subscription to tell them about those options.

They don't have a way to contact the current subscribers to their magazines? I'm pretty sure they can figure out a way to get the information to the people who currently subscribe somehow. Getting people to follow through is certainly going to be a problem, but getting the information to them seems like a no-brainer given the subject here.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Several magazine publishers (science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishers) have already confirmed that Amazon contacted them about this. The Kindle Subscription service will close in September 2023. They predict that this will be devastating to the short fiction field -- to publishers and writers. (Yes, I know many people don't care about genre magazines or short fiction. They can **** **.)

Some publishers were given the "option" of putting their magazines on Kindle Unlimited. Others were not even given that option.

Many of these magazines have subscription options available on their sites -- but not all do. Also, people like the convenience of subscribing through Amazon rather than having to email "doc" files to their Kindles. And because the subscriptions are handled through Amazon, the publishers don't have a way to contact the subscribers who use Kindle Subscription to tell them about those options.

That does bite then

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

They don't have a way to contact the current subscribers to their magazines? I'm pretty sure they can figure out a way to get the information to the people who currently subscribe somehow. Getting people to follow through is certainly going to be a problem, but getting the information to them seems like a no-brainer given the subject here.

I think some are going to put the information in an issue of the magazine. But they also have to hope the customers read that information. (Not everyone reads the editorial, for example. And because issues are sent to the customers' Kindles without a notification, people often forget that they have a new issue to read.)

Also, they would have to get that information from Amazon. Even if Amazon is willing to release that information, there will probably be an extra step where they ask customers if they agree to release that information to the magazine publisher. (Much like the way they ask customers if they are willing to share their information with a third-party vendor after certain purchases.) Also, there are probably issues involving proprietary business information (names, addresses, payment info) and the privacy of the customer.

It's a lot like buying magazine subscriptions through a third-party vendor such as Magazines.com. You might have to deal with the vendor rather than with the magazine.

[tomsem]

Magazines and newspapers are endangered species. The digital age giveth, and it taketh away.

The good news is the same as the bad news: it's easier and cheaper to produce and distribute content than ever before, and consumption is also cheaper and more convenient than ever before. We have seemingly infinite choices.

Our local newspaper still exists, but there is only the barest of local news in it, and page count is at most half of what it was 10 years ago, the pages are smaller and with more white space. They put in national news to fill most of what's left after paid advertising, and they publish almost no Letters to the Editor. It's hard to be grateful that it still exists, and I will hesitate to renew our subscription.

I probably pay $40-50 monthly for news subscriptions, not that I have time to read much of it.

"Are we in heaven, or are we in hell?"

A lot of both, I think, and I cannot propose any solutions. We'll have to muddle our way through.