Credit to HP for trying something different. That “something,” as it were, is a new scheme called MagCloud that brings the cost of printing glossy magazines down to 20 cents per page. That works out to $20 per 100-page magazine. Free speech so long as you own a printing press, right?
Say you have an idea for a magazine—you traveled cross-country recently and want to give your friends a hard copy of all the photos you took. You ring up HP, send them a PDF, and HP prints the magazine, binds it, etc. for that 20 cent/page price; you’re free to charge whatever you want for the magazine. All of a sudden, you’ve got yourself a nice little magazine that you can turn around and sell, give away, or whatever you want to do.
HP’s hope is that people treat the service like they treat YouTube—oh, hey, I just made a video, let me share it with the world. Or, here, oh, hey, I want to make a quick magazine to sell at the farmers market next month.
I wonder how much people would pay for a limited edition CrunchGear magazine, filled with all sorts of exclusive features: Peter Ha At The Movies, Dear Diary By John Biggs, You’re Doing It Wrong By Doug Aamoth and Nicholas Deleon Contemplates Joining The Circus.
via Techdirt