Latest USPS Report Shows Sustained Service Performance

Hearst UK recently announced that women’s lifestyle magazine Prima would increase its print edition from 12 to 13 issues a year, following a 68% surge in subscriptions this year. This week, we talk to Prima’s Editor Jo Checkley about what factors led to the decision to increase the frequency of the magazine, how their content has encouraged a community feel among their readers, and what lessons they’ll be taking from producing magazines in lockdown. Jo also outlines what she’s done to keep her magazines thriving during her career despite tough market conditions for women’s titles. In the news roundup the team discusses Future Plc’s resurgent fortunes and purchase of GoCompare, the UK government’s attempts to create a competition regime to tackle the ‘fundamental imbalance of power’ between platforms and publishers, and Spotify launching a Stories copy. Esther is a meerkat.

Truck driver shortages, widespread port congestion, and skyrocketing container costs are among the biggest challenges facing the book industry supply chain for the rest of the year and into 2022, panelists on a July 6 BISG webinar looking at freight and shipping issues agreed. Book International’s v-p of global business development David Hetherington said that, in all his time in the book business, he has never seen such pressure building in the supply chain as is happening now. He predicted that things could get worse as more buying shifts online and more packages need to go directly to consumers’ homes. Hetherington, along with Ryan Forbes of Readerlink and Susie Scally of the international logistics firm Meadows Wye, also agreed that now is not the time for publishers to negotiate with trucking companies or the major delivery services. The lack of freight capacity is a real issue, Forbes said, and companies don’t need to yield on price.

Since 2008, the Carbon Balanced Paper initiative has been responsible for balancing 190,000 tonnes of CO2 and preserving 19,000 acres of high conservation value land. Carbon Balanced Paper (CBP) is launching in North America, administered by Sustainable Paper Group in partnership with international conservation charity World Land Trust (WLT). This is a well-established and successful program in Europe with over 3,000 organizations taking positive action by choosing Carbon Balanced Paper. The launch in North America will enable brands and organizations in the United States and Canada to carbon balance any paper product, helping them to meet growing commitments to carbon reduction and carbon neutrality and to simply, yet effectively, differentiate themselves as market leaders in environmental responsibility.