It鈥檚 always easier to look back at a year when the review turns up mostly good news, and, as it turns out, 2013 was a pretty good year for magazine, catalog and book markets alike.
Magazines
Especially after the by MediaPost News about a continued loss of advertising revenue in magazine markets, the best news for 2013 was the continued and . Only 56 titles closed in 2013, down from 82 closures in 2012 and a cataclysmic high of 428 closures in 2009. This, added to , indicates the magazine market is stabilizing. Hopefully, the just- approved won鈥檛 reverse this positive trend.
Books
An extensive by Josh Catone of Mashable concludes that readers think ebooks are great when it comes to consuming information, but desire printed books for their beauty and collectability. Research commissioned by Ricoh Americas went a step further by supporting these sentiments with data showing .
Catalogs
Print catalogs continue to be a vital sales and marketing tool both in the business-to-business world and . In fact, Direct Marketing Association reported that while catalog distribution has declined somewhat, the use of catalogs as part of multichannel campaigns . And, I was pleased (but not too surprised) to learn that to capture new customers and grow their businesses.
Innovation
Of course, the biggest news item for me this year is 色控传媒鈥檚 addition of mobile apps to help our customers extend their multichannel reach.
Add to this news about , a new print ad in Wired Magazine that , and even the recent news that , and I get excited about where we鈥檙e going in the world of print to help our customers be more successful at their core business.
I hope your 2013 was good, and wish you personal and professional success in 2014.
