E-publishing 'industry's saviour' during recession

Zmags has revealed that putting publications online can cut costs by an average of 82 per cent.

The company scrutinised the cost-base of publications across a range of industries within Europe and found that commodity cost inflation and subsequent deflation has severely destabilised the publishing industry, making it increasingly difficult for publishers to control their costs.

The company cites a variety of destabilising factors such as raw pulp inflation (up 24 per cent in two years), coated magazine paper inflation (eight per cent in 2008), ink prices rises (up to 40 per cent inflation depending on the ink mix) and increased transport costs due to oil price fluctuations.

For mail order companies and subscription titles, these cost rises have been made worse by Royal Mail's price increases in April 2008.

Zmags estimates that putting a publication online (using page turning software) offers a stable price solution while simultaneously cutting costs by up to 82 per cent due to the elimination of paper, ink, postage and transport as well as additional extras such as metal staples.

The company says that the business model for many publishers could be enhanced by putting a single publication online at a cost of GBP400 per publication (unlimited usage numbers).

Furthermore, Zmags calculates that by e-mailing the publication to customers, the price savings are even greater.

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