INSIDER’S VIEWPOINT FROM YOUR WEB
Atlantic from November 1995 (when the magazine first appeared on the Web) to the present, as well as hundreds of articles selected from the magazine’s 143-year archive. In addi- tion, The Atlantic Online has recently added a premium archive, which offers the full text of the Atlantic Monthly from its found- ing, in 1857, to the present (due to copyright issues, about 30 years are not available). Readers may purchase individual arti- cles as they originally appeared in the magazine, or purchase a monthly pass. The Atlantic Online also hosts a reader forum, Post & Riposte, in which Atlantic Monthly authors at times appear to discuss their articles with readers.
NT: Are the Atlantic Online and the Atlantic Unbound inter- changeable as far as what the site is called?
KB:The Atlantic Online is the overall umbrella name of the site.
Atlantic Unbound applies to those articles that only appear on the Web. I should also say that all the content we put up in Atlantic Unbound is designed to somehow supplement the mag- azine—either interviews with authors of Atlantic articles, inter- views with authors of books that are somehow connected to or complement the magazine, flashbacks highlighting old Atlantic articles, and columns by Atlantic Monthly editors.
NT: Could you tell me about more about Post & Riposte? I believe it’s an online forum for readers and that it is an added feature that is unique to the Web site.
KB: You can see all the different conferences that exist at http://www.theatlantic.com/pr. The staff decides which folders to create (though we occasionally respond to requests, as with the “Writer’s Workshop” and the “Sports and Leisure” folders.
A whole range of people participate, though we haven’t done
any specific surveys on them. I would guess that many of the people on the message boards are not Atlantic Monthly readers, though we do seed the message board with discussions about Atlantic articles, Atlantic authors sometimes appear on the mes- sage board, and some readers start their own discussions about Atlantic articles. I’m not sure about the genesis of “Religion and Spirituality,” but we started “Word Court” and “Word Fugitives”
to go along with the columns by the same name in the magazine.
NT: Can you tell who is using the Atlantic Online?
KB:Visitors to the site come from all corners of the globe, and range in occupation from business executives and professionals to journalists and members of the academic community.
Students and teachers make up approximately 25 percent of the Atlantic Online’s visitors. Only about 20 percent of the site’s vis- itors subscribe to the print magazine.
NT: According to a standard library reference book, Magazines for Libraries, the Atlantic Unbound has all the articles from the print Atlantic Monthly. Is this true?
KB:In general, all articles from 1995 on are online, except in those cases when the author does not grant us rights. When we post the current issue, we only provide half of the articles for free; the rest can usually be found in our premium archive. Once that issue is off the newsstand, all of the articles become avail- able for free. Our “flashbacks” feature highlights articles from 1857 onward that have become newly relevant, and those high- lights are also available for free.
NT: If a site visitor can get most—or even all—of the magazine online, plus access special features such as back issues and
contribute Post & Riposte forum, doesn’t the Web site jeopard- ize its subscriber readership?
KB:This is why we only provide half of the current issue on the Web site (and never the cover story). Also, we don’t include any graphics from the magazine online. It’s true that we may lose some people who figure they can get a good chunk for free. But our thinking is that we gain more people who come to the site, see what we have to offer, become familiar with the magazine, and then decide to subscribe. Incidentally, over a thousand people a month subscribe to the magazine via the Web site, which is quite an impressive number in the industry.
NT: A quick search located several interviews that you have conducted with authors such as Studs Turkel, Jane Smiley, and Chinua Achebe; have you formed any overall impression of how authors perceive the Web, especially as it relates to the dis- semination of their works?
KB:I think that at this point they see it as just another way to promote their books— but I don’t get the sense that many of them think about the Web in any larger way. Most of them seem to think it’s par for the course these days—we rarely have peo- ple who refuse us online rights. In fact, some people seem eager to have their articles online so that they can e-mail them to friends, etc.
NT: As an editor at a functional, attractive, and informative Web site, do you have any other electronic magazines that you personally or professionally enjoy or use for research or other purposes?
KB: I read Slate [Slate, a Microsoft partner, offers commentary on topics of current interest; http://slate.msn.com]; I used to read Salon before they started charging. [Salon, http://www.
salon.com, which describes itself as “independent, original, and intrepid online journalism” moved its News and Politics links to a premium archive in 2002. Site visitors may read Salon without subscribing, but premium content, as well as the option to read the online magazine without advertisements, is restricted to pay- ing customers.] I use Encyclopedia Britannica. And I often go to theNew York Times Web site, as well as CNN’s.
As Katie Bacon said, the Atlantic’s Web site allows readers access to eight years of the print publication’s articles without charge. It is interesting to note that one of the Web resources we’ve discussed (Time.com) always includes the cover story, while the other (the Atlantic Online) never includes the cover story. Yet this demon- strates that both strategies succeed for publications and readers.
Timeand theAtlantic Monthlyare only two of many magazines that you can find on the Web that provide free content. To locate your favorite magazine, try using a Web site that lists and links to periodicals (see later in this chapter under “Other Aggregators and Portals for Online Magazines and Journals”). A simple Google search for the publication’s title generally works, too. These links in the Google directory also display lists of online magazine sites:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Shopping/Publications/
Magazines
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/Magazines_and_
E-zines/E-zines/Directories
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Online_Writing/
E-zines/Directories
Another alternative is to access an aggregator’s Web site or a magazine portal where you will not only find links to online publi- cations, but may find some added features. One prominent aggre- gator—MagPortal (http://www.magportal.com)—offers several additional options for individual site users.