AVN Magazine reigns supreme as the jizz-bizz journal of record, despite a few obvious failings and repeated challenges from competitors (most of whom burn out as fast as the ’stars’ they cover.) If you want a handle on the industry there’s no more reliable way to track who’s fucking whom, in front of and behind the camera. (Writing sentences that loaded with cheese feels naughty and good, like finding a huge part-liquid-part-solid booger on the end of your picking finger. And then eating it.)
Normally reading AVN means subscribing - which is expensive, finding it on a news-stand - which in 90% of the world is impossible, or checking out the website - which needs work and is slow to update. Now AVN offer a free electronic subscription to print subscribers, meaning you can view the magazine pages, as they appear in print, online from any web-capable gadget. As a lot of the value in AVN is the ads, the electronic magazine is a real upgrade.
The first electronic issue’s free to browse here.
I started my career in print (I was modeling in Europe before my fourteenth birthday - I still remember the day Hans discovered me on that Beach in Madrid) and know the basic model for magazines is that the cover price pays for paper, printing and distribution while ad revenue provides the profit. On that basis if you could distribute a magazine for free you would, because the more readers see your ads, the more you can charge for them.
So online editions of print magazines should be free.
The much feared downside, that people stop paying for the print edition entirely, isn’t real. If you maintain your circulation, and free yourself of the logistics and hassle of killing trees and paying for ink, your profit goes up - the reason why most successful blogs aren’t rushing to publish print editions. In truth, for every subscriber you lose, you’ll gain thousands of new online readers. Those extra eyeballs should be worth money to your advertisers.
Of course if you advocate an ad-free, free-content model for the internet everything I’ve just suggested must make you want to throw a sandal at me and find solace in a Grateful Dead bootleg. Sorry.
If anyone at AVN wants other tips on improving the bottom line just ask…
I began collecting AVN about 1992. There’s a local magazine stand, one of the few of them around. Their selection is pretty wide for such a small store. Their adult publications make up half of its inventory. Good stuff. Bought my first issues of Cheri, Swank and HIgh Society there as well as AVN. I’m not sure how I became introduced to it. I might have been flipping though mags and stumbled onto it.
Sam it’s the ads that propell the magazine. Text and the related images give info, but the advertisements is the fried gold. I’ve was intoduced to such lovelies as Nikki Dial, Racquel Darrian, Jeanna Fine, Kylie Ireland (still a favorite), Kelly O’Dell, Holly Body (great voice), Taylor Wane, Celeste, Sunset Thomas, Tiffany Mynx and Bianca Trump (before she turned…). HELL YES, Leena too - she’s a national treasure.
I hope this digital download continues beyond June issue. It’s fantastic idea. But I don’t want it to supplant the printed edition. I for one collect these (and AVN Online) and while digital is great and all, but I’m not on my laptop all day long. I want something real to flip though, not just virtual. And yes, keep it free. You’re making money just the same.
Just a sidenote. It took me roughly seven hours to download the edition, dial-up. But that actually is pretty damn fast for me. Using a new download manager. Sway!
Johnlan - I love print too but I’m sure it’ll become less important as digital editions get better. Dial-up! Seriously - where do you live? About 3 years ago you couldn’t get broadband an our out of LA but I thought that was over. Is it cheaper? I’m fascinated…
By the way, “AVN Online” is defective, the Zip file won’t expand. I’ve downloaded it twice.
I live in SoCal. Yes, very I pay $15 bucks a month for dial-up. I could go elsewhere an get it cheaper, but I’m happy with my service.
JohnIan - The zip works fine for me. It’s 125MB and contains a flash file. I’m looking at it right now. I guess on a dial-up it’s a bit much to expect to download it again…
I had my friend download it. Also a Mac user, slightly older laptop. He was able to uncompress it, though it took forever.
I downloaded the document twice, I couldn’t get either copy to open. Moot point now.
JohnIan - that sucks. I’m on Mac’s too (G4 and Intel - no G5’s). No problems here but I’d rather the download was a group of JPEG’s or tiff’s - who needs Flash on the desktop?
Sam,
Thanks for the Post! Just to let you know we have digital editions for all our magazines now. AVN Online is available at http://www.avnonline.com/magazine.
Thanks!
Chris
All qualified subscribers get AVN, GAYVN, ANB & Online print Magazines for free.
Chris - that AVN Online link isn’t right…
Sara - thanks for the clarifiction. You need an online only subscription. For guys like me who travel constantly getting print mailed is a waste of time. It could be cheap too…