A screenshot of Narrative's iPhone app.
I forgot to post here earlier this week that I have a new story up at MediaShift about Narrative Magazine, a digital literary magazine that is using a variety of formats to provide its content. Wherever the audience may be, Narrative is there.
I think the biggest lesson of Narrative for other magazines is that diversification is key. Though it’s a lot of work and requires some investment of scarce resources, especially for a nonprofit, Narrative has worked to develop a website, print-on-demand options, mobile apps, merchandise and more. They have made their content and their brand recognizable and available to readers who are early and later adopters. I think magazines that adopt such a strategy – now – are best prepared to deal with the changing audience they will face in the coming years.
