Author: Mark Fletcher

Newsagents wondering about their future business model need only read the article on Page 48 of today’s Australian Financial Review about how Michael Hannan is spending some of the $500 millioin paid by News Ltd for his IPMG publishing company. Of note is his re-launched Homehound site – it’s the best real-estate site in Australia at present in terms of the user interface.

Hannan clearly believes that online is a key growth area despite that categories such as real-estate are already well covered by the likes of Fairfax and News.

As reported at PaidContent, Marcus Brauchli, Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote to staff last week announcing changes “completing” the integration of their online and print newsrooms. There is considerable talk in the offices of publishers and at publisher conferences across the globe about the need to integrate print and online newsrooms – they refer to this as the newsroom of the future. The memo from Brauchli makes the reason clear when he talks about

the profound changes sweeping the news business

and says:

… we must adapt constantly to do if we want to stay competitive.

This is further evidence to newsagents that the print media world has changed despite what publisher representatives say to us. I have been to publisher conferences in Paris, Vienna and Sydney over the last six months where publisher representatives have been open about the fading role print has in their business plans – unfortunately publisher representatives will not say this at newsagent conferences as it would not sui them to have newsagents fully informed about their need to urgently migrate revenue from print to online.

As publishers are doing, newsagents must navigate their future model. We can begin this by talking about the newsagency of the future and ensuring that this is the key agenda item at all conferences and meeting of newsagents. A small number of entrepreneurial newsagents are already playing in this future space. Too many are not – they are waiting for publishers and others to provide leadership. This will not happen. Newsagents have to solve this challenge using their own resources.

I have just finished reading The Dip by Seth Godin and highly recommend it to newsagents. Don’t be put off by it’s small size – 80 pages – or that it looks like another ho hum American guru book, The Dip is a good read. It is a book about that moment in the middle of something you are doing where you face giving up or working harder to achieve success. It is the make or break moment of your day, a project or something even bigger. How we respond determines our success.

In The Dip, Seth Godin encourages us to quit – to quit if you are not going to get beyond The Dip and achieve success in the project, relationship or other activity you are stuck in. His approach to strategic quitting is refreshing.

This book is relevant to Australian newsagents because so much time every day is spent on what I would call busy work, stuck in the rut of The Dip. Newsagents kicking goals in their businesses are those who have quit some of this busy work and used the time saved to get through The Dip to greater success.

In my own newsagency I would say that selling the newspaper home delivery round is a good example of quitting unproductive activity so the business can get through The Dip. This decision to quit improved our bottom line and released considerable manpower resources for use in building the retail side of the business. While we did this prior to reading Seth’s book, we now have a useful context through which to consider this and, indeed, see other opportunities for quitting so that the bigger goals may be achieved.

The Dip is not for process workers – people who have their heads down and are only interested in being busy with what is in front of them. The Dip is for entrepreneurs, those who want to excel and those looking beyond the horizon.

I heard a story recently about a newsagent for whom things had got too much and he took his own life. The newsagency channel being what it is, the story is spoken of in hushed tones and without all the facts being represented – how can we really know what leads someone to such a step?

Beyondblue offers excellent resources for people feeling that life is too difficult. Their advice sheets cover a range of helpful topics including how to help someone with depression and reducing stress.

Given the challenges of consolidation and the uncertainty some newsagents feel because of changes in the media landscape, it may be timely for industry associations and other groups to facilitate sessions where newsagents can navigate their concerns before they become too big. I’d certainly support such an initiative.

This book, Thumb-sucking and Dummy-sucking by Dr Elsie Mobbs which arrived in store yesterday is another example of a title which ought to have been denied access to the newsagent channel. Speedy Distribution sent us two copies: RRP – $14.00; our price $10.50; on sale period – 6 months. These numbers don’t work, especially given that this book is A5 in size and I only have two copies with which to create a story. It would get lost in our magazine racking. We already have more titles in this category than our space allocation can professional handle. Speedy Distribution is abusing their relationship with newsagents by sending the title and newsagents are fools for allowing this.

If authors and publishers of books want access to our channel they ought to pay a minimum of 40% commission. For unknown authors where, we are investing in building their profile, we ought to be paid a stocking fee to cover our space for the entire on sale period. We have to remember that the retail newsagent channel is has the upper hand, our network is valuable.

This is why newsagents ought to appoint a magazine czar to control which titles access our retail network.

We have contacted Speedy Distribution asking that they collect t their cost these books from our newsagency and immediately credit us for the two copies supplied.

I have no gripe with Dr Mobbs or her book. My gripe is that the newsagency channel has been used to distribute a title which will lose money for newsagents and that Speedy Distribution would have known this when they decided to use us for this title.