A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

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Newsagent contributions here are appreciated by magazine publishers

More and more magazine publishers are using this blog as a resource for learning what newsagents think.  They usually find the blog through a Google (or other) search and then read all the comments posted by newsagents and others on a topic.

I have been contacted by three publishers this week, two in Australia and one overseas.  Each commented that they appreciated the frankness of views and that comments here had guided their plans for activity with newsagents later this year.

I mention this today as a reminder that readers who stop by here are interested in what newsagents think and to say thank you to those who do contribute comments.

As I have mentioned to publishers I have spoken with, I am happy to use this place to pass on genuinely valuable and useful information publishers are keen to get out to newsagents.

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How this blog works

Blog posts here are conversations. I’ll publish a post and people, sometimes many people, comment on this and, from time to time extend the post into new areas.
The first comment posted by someone is moderated and from then on their comments are published immediately. People are responsible for their own comments.
The openness of this place means we need to be respectful the opinions of others and their right to their opinion.

Some people get grumpy when I publish something with which they disagree.  The grumpiest responses are sent by email or a call.  Some think that because this place is public I should write what they think and not what I think.  It all makes for colourful conversations about ownership of opinions.

When I started blogging in January 2005 I didn’t know if there would be much interest in matters affecting newsagents. Today, 6,226 posts and 12,364 comments on and 1,500+ visitors a day, I have the answer.

Our channel is important to Australians, suppliers and the families of newsagents and employees. Hopefully, this place plays role in helping define the relevance of the Australian newsagency.

Let the conversations continue.

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Excellent Media Watch

Media Watch on ABC1 was excellent last night in a couple of fronts: a review of Michael Jackson coverage and attention on John Hartigan’s speech last week at the National Press Club and, in particular, his claim of high standards for professional news organisations compared to bloggers.  The whole episode is available online.

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John Hartigan is wrong about blogs and bloggers

Then there are the bloggers.In return for their free content, we pretty much get what we’ve paid for – something of such limited intellectual value as to be barely discernible from massive ignorance.Andrew Keen in his book The Cult of the Amateur cites Hurricane Katrina as an example when: “reports from people at the scene helped spread unfounded rumours, inflated body counts and erroneous reports of rapes and gang violence in the New Orleans Superdome – all later debunked by mainstream news media”.

Citizen journalists, he says, simply don’t have the resources to bring us reliable news. They lack not only expertise and training but access to decision makers and reliable sources.

The difference, he says, between professionals and amateurs is that bloggers don’t go to jail for their work – they simply aren’t held accountable like real reporters.

This is another extract from News Limited chairman John Hartigan’s speech to the National Press Club on Monday.

Hmm, I guess this is why  journalists, myself included, are called for information on stories triggerd by blog posts.

In terms of intellectual value, I wonder if he has picked up the Daily Telegraph recently. I find myself recalling how News Limited newspapers handled the Pauline sex photos story from earlier this year.

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NDD calls in the lawyers

I received a letter from lawyers representing NDD today claiming that my post on Monday contains false, misleading and deceptive statements.  I have reread the blog post and don’t see how they can reach this conclusion.

I wish NDD were as attentive to calls for more equitable supply arrangements with newsagents as they appear to be in worrying how they look to others because of a blog post here.

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Off the record, off the blog

I don’t want to read this on the blog … This is for you and not for the blog … Just don’t blog about it … Off the record means off the blog.

These are just some of the statements which have preceeded meetings I take and phonecalls I receive since this blog really started attracting traffic (currently an average of 1,450 visits a day).  Some people think that I blog anything I hear or am told.  I don’t.  These people don’t know me that well.  Early in my blogging I found the Bloggers Code of Ethics at CyberJournalist and have tried to blog to those standards since.

I am told many things by newsagents, suppliers and others connected with the channel.  I have a good sense of when someone tells me something hoping it will lead to a blog post.  I tend to ignore these situations unless I think it would be genuinely inetresting or useful.

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Are we allowed an opinion?

I am regularly contacted by suppliers about what I write (and have written in the past) here – usually because of a negative comment.  Some of this contact results in good dialogue and even sees issues resolved while other contact is a complaint that I dare to complain publicly. Other contact is to suggest that I not complain about them publicly.

Suppliers who care about the channel would focus on the complaint rather than that it is public.  They would look at newsagent data and engage resolving the problems shown in the data.

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This is an open conversation

The comments made here recently have attracted the attention of respected Australian blogger Trevor Cook. This attention ought to serve as a reminder that this is a public place and that any comments posted reflect on the community as well as the person making the comments.

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Hatred and blog comments

It is disappointing that a few commenters at this blog spew hatred instead of rational comment.  The comments posted on Thursday evening by one person using seven different names served to make himself or herself look stupid and for readers to therefore disregard their view.

The purpose of my original post was to open a discussion about the future representation of newsagents on the national stage given the failure of the ANF.  That it deteriorated into the childish drivel it did does not hold much hope for the channel.

With around 1,500 visitors to this place each day including prospective newsagents and suppliers, I’d urge newsagents to take care with comments – unless you want our channel to look like a bunch schoolyard thugs who hate each other.

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Government bail outs wrong

I have been thinking about the proposed bail out by the US Government to the tune of US$700 billion for banks and other institutions affected by the “global credit crisis”. It bothers me when I see any government writing big cheques for big business when individuals and small businesses do it tough thanks to circumstances not of their doing. The banks the US Government proposes to bail out actively participated in creating this problem.

I appreciate this may seem off topic. However, some of the challenges newsagents face are as a result of government regulation changes. While we have sought compensation for the government changing its mind, none was forthcoming. We did not ask for the regulation from decades earlier to change, we copped the consequences. We have moved on. If the Australian government joins the US giveaway then we have every right to be angry. Just as we have a right to be angry at the continued help to a bloated and inefficient car industry.

Why is it that governments so readily help the top end of town in these situations?

Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine has an excellent blog post on the US bailout.

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Stalking in blog comments

Thomas T, Mary Perna, Mark Anonymous, Ron Johnson, and Robbie Mascon, a specific group of people who have posted comments here over the last two months, are all posting from the same IP address.  This suggests they are either living together, working at the same office or that they are all the same person.  The email addresses they have used are: thommo69@optushome.net.au, mperna2@gmail.com, mark.anonymous@hotmail.com, Privacy@preferred.com and robbiemascon@live.com.au respectively.  The IP address is 58.161.17.183.

Most of their comments are puerile and malicious.  Why they stalk this place when they clearly don’t like what the read is a mystery.  One can only speculate as to their agenda, especially given one stream of comments which was deleted for their own protection.

Anyone standing on a soapbox and sprouting their opinion has to be open to debate and criticism.  Others participating in public debate owe it to all participants to be on-topic, fair and honest.  If they don’t like the speaker or have an off-topic axe to grind, they ought to move on.

I am all for open discussion.  All I ask is honest identification of yourself and genuine contribution to the topic at hand.

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Welcome fellow newsagency blogger

Garry Goodman of Churchill Newsagency has started a blog.  I’ll add a link to the blog roll on the right.  Garry joins Jarryd Moore of newsXpress Singleton and Peter Dunn of Dunn’s Newsagency in Tamworth as the Australian newsagency bloggers of which I am aware.  Steven Denham is the UK based newsagent writing at the Village Counter Talk blog.  These are all good voices worth engaging with.

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About this newsagency blog

I have been doing some housekeeping around the newsagency blog this morning and checked traffic stats. This blog is attracting, on average, 1050 visits a day. Each visit results in 2.85 pages viewed per visit and the average time on the site per visit is three minutes.

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Underbelly sell out

Placing the Underbelly book at the counter of our three newsagencies was a success, we sold out. This was on my mind this morning since my post here about us selling Underbelly is the fourth most viewed post on this blog in the last two months. The top three, in order, are: Customers want plastic bags; Bill Express stares down newsagents and AFL & NRL competition open.

I don’t look at traffic that often and was surprised this morning to see that the blog is attracting, in average, more than 600 outside  (not including me or anyone in my business) visits a day generating 2.5 pageviews per visit.  41% of our visitors arrive here as a result of a Google search.  People using search engines and who end up here are looking for: newsagency; magazines; GNS; newsagent; ofis to list the top keywords.

Outside of the traffic to the site, I receive between five and ten emails a week from people with questions about posts or related to topics I talk about.   This it part of blogging I really enjoy – contact with people I would otherwise not have had contact with.

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Twitter

I was talking with a tech savvy newsagent yesterday and he’d never heard of Twitter. I’d be interested to know if anyone reading here is playing with it – I only established my Twitter account a couple of months ago.  It’s fascinating.

Twitter helps people keep in touch. It’s also a mini blogging (news) platform for some – a good source of keeping up to date with sports scores or news as it happens if you’re following this right people.

The Blog Herald has a good report on Twitter and news habits.  Most major news sites overseas offer Twitter feeds.

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Flattering, I guess

I am surprised to see News to Business paying Google for their ad to come up people search for newsagency blog when using the search engine. At first, I thought they were paying for the keyword newsagency.  However, after 30 or so clicks, I am certain they are paying for newsagency blog. I guess they think that people looking for this place would be interested in what they are seeking to sell to newsagents. I hope people don’t think I am in any way connected with them. All of the ideas, suggestions and comments here are free for anyone to use but not to sell to others.

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Blogging for a magazine supply outcome

choose_school.JPGEvery week now I am seeing evidence that blogging here about poor scale our by NDD is achieving a better outcome for my newsagency that dealing with them through regular communication channels. Titles such as this school selection book are being supplied in numbers which reflect the sell through rate of previous issues – as it should be.

That I have to blog for such an outcome is unfortunate. Less than 10 newsagents have blogs so the opportunity of public humiliation of NDD to achieve an outcome is not available to the broader channel.

Key to what I have sought from NDD is equitable supply based on the sales data I send them daily. I am not unique. I trust that NDD has altered its behaviour for other newsagents as it has for my newsagency.

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Computerworld reports on our RSVP SEO search result complaint

Liz Tay has written a good story for Computerworld about the manipulation of Google results in favour of Fairfax’s RSVP dating site using our 3loves brand. Tay looks at all sides and has been successful in getting comments from most of those involved. I am happy with how she has covered the story.

Fairfax and Commission Monster, the Affiliate marketing company contracted by Fairfax / RSVP, claim to be victims of a rogue affiliate. I don’t know if that is true. All I know is that the campaign was running for at least two months before I outed it here and that Commission Monster and their trading partners ought to have discovered it themselves and stopped it.

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Bandwidth drought due to eqrthquake slows Internet speed

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Residents and visitors to Hong Kong know how much we have come to rely on bandwidth in our daily lives – it’s in short supply and has been since damage caused by the Boxing Day earthquake. Far away from the skyscrapers which cover Hong Kong cables were severely damaged and this has reduced bandwidth available in the region. Hong Kong has bee hard hit. East Asia Media News reports the situation well.

Slow internet speed means people are rationing what they do online. It’s a drought of bandwidth and there are implications everywhere: from business to individuals. Even getting emails through is a challenge despite what authorities say. In my case I wanted to complete some banking and what would usually take a minute or two back home was a game of hit and miss over three hours.

While bandwidth is not a natural resource, it is as important to our lives. Many purely online businesses do not have a fallback for extended periods of outage or bandwidth shortage. I was in a shop today where they are connected to the head office for all transactions and have gone manual because of speed and reliability. People using Skype have been hit particularly hard. There are stories of prices going up if you want more bandwidth. There is also some frustration that businesses are given preferential treatment during the day.

Back in Australia we are in the grip of a dreadful drought and life with water restrictions is normal. Here in Hong Kong they are living with restrictions of a different kind. Both resources are crucial to daily living and it is not until they are in limited supply that you realise how much you waste.

I have go to now. Bandwidth is precious.

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Placeblogger lists hyper local news sites

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Courtesy of Jay Rosen’s Press Think blog I have found Placeblogger, a new place where you can “discover, browse, and subscribe” to over 700 local blogs. It launched January 1 and while only US blogs are listed at the moment it’s well worth a visit.

What’s a placeblog? Here’s what the site says:

Placeblogs are sometimes called “hyperlocal sites” because some of them focus on news events and items that cover a particular neighborhood in great detail — and in particular, places that might be too physically small or sparsely populated to attract much traditional media coverage. Because of this, many people have associated them with the term “citizen journalism,” or journalism done by non-journalists.

MNSpeak is the best example from the Placeblog top 10. It publishes news which mainstream media news sites and newspapers are unlikely to cover or at least cover in the way it does. These local news sites are the future of news with newspapers and mainstream websites moving to more blended coverage.

Back in 2005 we had a half hearted crack at creating a local news site, called local news daily. We built the site in Drupal and sought out retired journalists to get us going. One thing led to another and we let it slide. Maybe the time is right now to get newsagents engaged in the Local News concept. Hmmm… In the meantime, check out Placeblogger and see what they’re up to in the US. It’s exciting.

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Reader’s Digest oversupply: unconscionable conduct

rd_cover.JPGIn April this year I blogged about gross oversupply of Reader’s Digest by their distributor NDD. At the time, my supply had been increased without justification. As a result of my blogging, supply was reduced to a more reasonable level. Last week my supply quantity for Reader’s Digest was increased to a gross oversupply level again. I have been supplied more than three times what I will sell even in a good month. NDD and its computer systems know this. They have knowingly taken advantage of my newsagency and, I suspect, many other newsagencies. This is unconscionable conduct. It is the type of magazine supplier behaviour that newsagents ought to complain to the ACCC about. It is the type of conduct which places newsagents at a disadvantage as it removes cash from small businesses as they have to fund this gross over supply.

Newsagent competitors in the magazine category control what they receive. Newsagents do not. NDD will say that I’m wrong on this and cite many examples of how newsagents can control supply. My questions is how is such control evident in the supply quantity for Reader’s Digest this month? Following my blogging in April this year I reached agreement with NDD about supply quantity for Reader’s Digest. Barely eight months on and it is being ignored. I do not control what I receive. This disadvantages my newsagency.

Data I see suggests that Reader’s Digest sales are falling. If we allow for shrinkage (theft and other loss) the sales fall looks worse. Reader’s Digest is easy to steal given its size so I’d suggest shrinkage is above the average of 2% I see for magazines.

Photo source: reader’s Digest website.

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