My (Imaginary) Publishing Empire Expands

In my mind, I’m already a mogul. (I’d dress like one, but I can’t afford it.) That’s because in a couple of earlier posts (here and here), I pointed out how print-on-demand technology is making it easier for anyone to become a book publisher of sorts. Having written the pieces, I was relieved of the burden of actually starting a publishing company.

Now, Derek Powazek, web media consultant and author of Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places reveals he’s been working with HP Labs on a new project called MagCloud, “the future of magazine publishing.” Basically it will let most anyone create magazines to lay on your coffee table by using print-on-demand technology. “If you can make a PDF, you can now publish a magazine,” he promises.

(This via Soft Skull Press and our most excellent friend Bud at Chekhov’s Mistress.)

As I see it in my mind, the magazine arm of my umbrella corporation is housed in the abandoned K-Mart on the edge of town. Inside, hundreds of writing and design interns, working only for college credit, bang out dozens of titles, such as O: The Oronte Magazine and The Complicated Research Journal of Churm Semiotics. We do departmental and alumni magazines, Rotarian fundraisers, and city historical guides.

Another of my issues put to bed.