Tedium Highlight in Publishing: For a brief time in the '90s, publishers thought that CD-ROM magazines were the future. But, as it turned out, readers were more interested in the internet. 

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Tag results: Publishing

Give ’Em Less Data

What if the problems with the news ecosystem could be solved by shutting off the data pipeline to the advertisers? After all, they’ve spent the last 30 years aggressively exploiting it—and us.

Magalogs & Mailboxes

Once upon a time, before the internet, there were attempts to combine magazines and catalogs together. The weird part? For a while, it worked!

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

America’s postwar fling with romance comics—and the massive collection of those comics that was recently donated to the University of South Carolina.

The Inbox Pioneer

For more than 25 years, this newsletter author has been snarking wise about weird news. Here’s the tale of This is True, one of the first inbox success stories.

All Penn, No Teller

Pondering the success that Penn Jillette, the loud half of Penn & Teller, found as a sometimes-rebellious big-name computer magazine columnist in the ’90s.

Channel None

For nearly 30 years, many schools aired a daily news show in exchange for free AV equipment. Channel One was a hit—but the ads drove seemingly everyone crazy.

Straight Flush

The story of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, the greatest book series of all time that targets a uniquely captive audience. The series turns 30 this year.

Who’s Who? Who Cares

How the “Who’s Who” concept of reference books devolved from a genuinely useful idea into a very costly form of vanity publishing.

The Internet On Dead Trees

Books and periodicals about the internet were a curious phenomenon—in no small part because they frequently pandered to the largest possible audience.

A Magazine You Can't Bend

For a brief time in the '90s, publishers thought that CD-ROM magazines were the future. But, as it turned out, readers were more interested in the internet.

A Phone Book For Computers

Before we used the internet to find computer parts, we used Computer Shopper, a magazine that commonly had over 800 pages in a single issue. Really.

1.) Learn About Lists 2.) See Item 1

Lists are one of the most important writing tools we have, and we love using them frequently. Here's where they came from, and why they work so well.
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