digital distribution

View MagCloud Publications in Your Web Browser

Patty13 Comments

Today we are excited to announce a new web-based viewer that enables publishers to bring stunning versions of their publications to life in any modern web browser on both desktop and mobile computers.

Now publishers can upload a single PDF file and immediately distribute as a free or paid digital publication, in print, in a web browser or as a PDF download.

The web viewer delivers an immersive reading experience for users. Simply click the “read now” button and the publication launches within the web viewer. Readers can page forward and back, rotate, zoom in and out, and enter full-screen mode. Pages can be viewed individually or as a spread, and are easily navigated with thumbnail and all-pages views. Additionally, users can buy a printed copy, download a PDF version or add to their Digital Library for viewing later.

The web viewer supports all HP MagCloud publications, regardless of format, on any desktop or notebook computer running a modern web browser.

The web viewer technology also offers hyperlink support, benefiting publishers and users by allowing you to link from your catalog of products back to an ecommerce site, link directly to advertisers’ web pages, allow customers to draft emails to an address listed in your brochure just by clicking on it or provide information about the author.

Publishers can also monitor how well their readers engage with their online publications via the Stats section in their account.  You can see important web viewer reading information including the number of total readers, how often your publication was read, pageviews, shares, hyperlinks clicked, click through rates etc. for all your collections or a single publication.

Publishers and readers can promote their favorite publications by sharing publications they like with friends and colleagues via email or social media channels or embedding a badge or link that launches  the web viewer directly from their own website or blog.

All publishers who currently have digital distribution turned on for their publications will automatically have web viewer versions available on the MagCloud website. To turn digital distribution on simply select Sell Online (after uploading your PDF and selecting your binding). This is where you will add any markup to your print version, and will have the option to opt-in to digital distribution.  Opting-in to digital distribution is a one time setting that instantly gives readers digital access via the web viewer and PDF download.

What do you think of the new MagCloud web viewer?  Let us know in the comments section below.

Easier Access to Publisher Tools

PattyLeave a comment

With our redesign of the MagCloud home page we’ve put the most important publisher tools just a few clicks away. Now when you sign-in to MagCloud you’ll immediately have access to a variety of publisher tools including  sales stats, publication drafts, promotion tools, recent orders and much more.

Your personalized home page will dynamically serve up content that is most important to you:

  • Sales Information: If you sell your publications via MagCloud, you’ll automatically see your pertinent sales stats: page views, recent sales, digital downloads, your followers and your sales earnings.
  • Publishing Tools: You’ll have easy access to your latest drafts, and one click access to promotion tools, your address book, a pricing calculator and your entire publication library.
  • Recent Purchase History: You can easily access recent order details and available digital downloads.
  • Recommendations: We’ll recommend other publications you might be interested in based on other publications and publishers you’ve shown interest in.
  • News Feature and Tips Updates: We are constantly adding new features, offering new templates and giving out design tips to make your publishing lives a little easier and you’ll be able to access the latest information directly from your home page.
So sign-in to MagCloud to check out our new home page design and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

HP MagCloud: Create High-Quality Business Materials on a Small Business Budget

Meghan CordellaLeave a comment

This post was written by Melissa_Zieger and originally appeared on the blog for 367 Addison Avenue, HP’s online community for small and medium businesses, on September 22, 2011. You can view the original post here.

Did you know that HP has a content publishing web service that can be used to create everything from your own magazine to business materials like catalogs and portfolios? It’s called HP MagCloud – invented by HP Labs, is a self-service publishing platform that allows businesses to easily create into professional-quality publications that can be printed on demand, shipped globally, or distributed digitally.

Better yet, there’s no upfront cost and MagCloud can turn your content from a PDF to delivered printed publication in just three days!

Using MagCloud’s digital storefront, customers can order the latest issue of their favorite publication and have it printed on demand and delivered directly to their doorstep, or download for reading on their digital device of choice. Plus, all content is printed to order using HP Indigo technology, delivering professional print quality with no waste or overruns, reducing the impact on the environment.

Businesses are using MagCloud to create everything from fashion catalogs and knitting guides to photography and architectural portfolios. I recently sat down with two small business customers using HP MagCloud to find out more about how the service is benefiting their business.

Alex Tinsley started her knitting pattern design business, Dull Roar, nearly six years ago. Prior to discovering MagCloud, Tinsley was only able to provide her customers with a PDF of her patterns via her blog. Today, she uses MagCloud to transform PDF versions of her design work into high-quality professional catalogs that she can distribute in both digital and print formats without a huge impact on her business’ bottom line.

“The quality of the printing is really just beautiful, and it’s pretty much the only place you can get that kind of quality in small quantities,” said Tinsley. “I love that it runs without much input from me – I just upload the issues and collect the income. MagCloud handles all the sales, printing and shipping.”

The ability to offer customers both print and digital formats helps Tinsley meet her customer’s needs without making an upfront investment in the creation and printing. Tinsley says that most of her customers prefer the digital copy for instant gratification, but that she uses the hard copies as giveaways and gifts. She’s also used the publication as a handout at tradeshows, which enables her to drive views to her website and increase downloads of her digital catalog.

Trey Hill, a Dallas-based photographer and storyteller, started using MagCloud in 2010 to create storytelling portfolios of his work. He needed a way to not only show the pictures he had shot but also to showcase his journey.

Hill uses Adobe InDesign to create photo portfolios and uses MagCloud to print his digital creations on-demand as a way to attract new business and share with clients as a thank you for their business. Hill says the ability to have both print and digital versions is important. “The print quality increases the value of my business, but we live in a digital world so it’s still important to provide a digital format, as well,” he said. “As a small business owner, not having to buy 1,000 copies to get a great price point is worthwhile. And my customers are blown away by the quality.”

Since using MagCloud, Hill has started to see a change in what his customers have come to expect – they now see him as a storyteller, not just a photographer.

About Alex Tinsley

An avid knitter since 2004 and knit design enthusiast since 2006, Alex Tinsey’s designs can now be seen in publications like Knitty, Knit Simple, the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, and (soon) Knit Scene. You can access Tinsley’s MagCloud products here.

About Trey Hill

Trey Hill was one of the founding creatives behind I Am Second and his portfolio includes work for Addison Road, Relevant Magazine and the Dallas Stars. He works all over the world and has had the privilege of photographing some of the planet’s most revered and most overlooked people. You can access Hill’s MagCloud products here.

More Ways to Enjoy MagCloud Magazines

Patty3 Comments

Enjoy MagCloud magazines when and where you want with new digital distribution options.

You can now enjoy your favorite MagCloud magazines on a PC, Mac, WebOS, iOS, Android or any device that supports PDF. So as a MagCloud publisher there’s nothing for you to do except choose which of your magazines you want to offer as digital issues; we will use the same PDF you upload for print to create this new digital product, so very simple and easy. For MagCloud readers this means choice and simplicity, allowing you to purchase once and read on any device at anytime.

Digital issues are a great way for more readers to discover and consume all of the great magazine content available through MagCloud, and for publishers to add additional value and exposure to their professional quality print editions.

Publishers will now have the option to charge for digital issues of their magazine. When publishers opt-in to digital distribution they can now choose to make their digital issues free or paid. Publishers are also given the option to bundle a free digital issue with a paid print order, allowing them to provide their readers with a convenient print+digital bundle.

We are also working on an optimized magazine viewing experience for iPad and other platforms in the future.

The new digital distribution features offers readers more choice with a simple and elegant purchase experience, and for publishers all it takes is a few mouse clicks to start offering your magazines in both print and digital formats.

Publishers, find out how to opt in to digital distribution or read our FAQ for more background on these great new features.

2011 MagCloud Wish List

Patty44 Comments

The MagCloud team is really excited about 2011 and has lots of great features we are considering. We believe this should be the year of choice…more ways to publish and sell, and more ways to discover and enjoy great content.

Some of the things we are considering at MagCloud Central are:

–Expanded digital distribution, offering publishers more ways to sell and distribute their magazines, and readers more ways to buy and read them.

–An easier and smarter publishing process; including faster and more forgiving PDF uploading, auto-fixing to catch and help resolve the most common PDF upload problems, as well as a simpler overall publishing process.  All of this to give publishers more time to spend creating, and less time fiddling with PDFs and uploading to the site.

–Additional print formats to offer publishers new ways to have their content stand out.

–Reader ratings and reviews, and making it easier to share magazine favorites and recommendations with the rest of the MagCloud community.

–Enhancements to the MagCloud platform to make it easier for third party developers to build their own websites and applications on top of MagCloud, and that can link directly to MagCloud’s publishing and distribution capabilities.  So no need to recreate all the heavy lifting we’ve already spent the last 2 years building.

These are just a few of the things we have in mind (some of them already work in progress!), but would love to hear which features top your 2011 MagCloud wish list.  Please let us know.