FolksView

A monthly newsletter from the house of Folks Media Ventures

www.folksmediaventures.com

October 28, 2011 V o l u me 1 , I s s u e 1

MagSourcing
INSIDE THIS ISSUE CEOs Message Hymn for Inspiration Introducing FolksWriters New Appointment @ FMV

Redefining the rules of Editorial Process Outsourcing Business

Folks Media Ventures through MagSourcing is poised to redefine the editorial process outsourcing business for the magazine publishers. Many of our clients are finding MagSourcing not just increasingly cost competitive but even quality intensive; all thanks to our unique business model. For more see page 3

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CEOs Message
Dear Reader, Greetings! Its indeed - my honor and pleasure to present forth you the first issue of FolksView. Folks Media Ventures, if you may know, is an upcoming media development and services enterprise with keen competence in the areas of new media content as well as business development. We partner with conventional media business and enable strengthening their future prospects by helping them to take their publication(s) online. Besides, Folks Media Ventures also engages in strategic partnerships global publishers. MagSourcing was a concrete effort in this regard. It has been less than one month since we launched MagSourcing and the results are vehemently motivating; to say -the least. Our cover feature MagSourcing vis--vis Editorial Outsourcing should give you a detailed view of the reason for the outstanding success of this model, in such a short span of time. You will also be introduced to our newly appointed Vice President for Health Care Publication Business along with FolksWriters - our yet another (or to be?) crown jewel. Until our next issue, do stay tuned and feel free to send in your suggestions and comments they are truly valuable to us. With kind regards and best wishes, U. Mahesh Prabhu Founder, CEO & Editor-in-chief, Folks Media Ventures

towards developing publications for several niche business segments at competitive propositions. At Folks Media Ventures, we believe that trust is built commitments to free markets and to the global community, especially the public who use our contents on commitment. We are committed to our employees and our stakeholders. We also recognize our for various purposes. These commitments form the foundation of our business standards. Based in a remote area on the west coast of Indian subcontinent we realized not so suddenly that we can offer world class editorial services at fair prices to

Hymn for Inspiration: Defeat

No one is beat till he quits, No one is through till he stops, No matter how hard failure hits, No matter how often he drops. A fellows not down till he lies In the dust and refuses to rise Fate can slam him and bang him around, And batter his frame till hes sore. But she can never say that hes drown While he bobs up serenely for more A fellows not dead till he dies, Nor beat till no longer he tries.

~Edgar A Guest

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Through MagSourcing, Folks Media Ventures is all set to redefine the propositions in media outsourcing business; specifically, for magazine publishers. Many of our clients are finding us not just increasingly cost competitive but even quality intensive; all thanks to our unique business model.
Publishing outsourcing business is becoming a billion dollar buzzword over the years; despite the economic recession which isnt making things any better for publishers already staring at their balance sheets mostly marked in red. With margins being squeezed in an endless loop of falling circulations, merciless competition and rapidly morphing technology paradigms, magazine publishers around the world are increasingly looking at MagSourcing as the silver bullet with a power to revive their otherwise failing fortunes. Editorial outsourcing had started off essentially as a near-shore outsourced operation. But with advertisement and classified services already being delivered from cost-effective remote locations; editorial outsourcing, too, gained momentum to become a remotely outsourced service. This phenomenon is attributed to improved off-shoring maturity of vendors, state-of-the-art infrastructure and connectivity and innovation risk/rewards models. Riding on these trends a roadmap has emerged pointing explicitly towards a huge wave of such editorial outsourcing towards Asian and Eastern European nations. A close look at the statistics for India, alone, suggests that publishing outsourcing market at large - has stacked up annual growth figures of 30 per cent with profit margins in the range of 30 to 40 per cent. Furthermore, the revenues from publishing off shoring are slated to triple from $440 million in 2006 to reach $1.46 billion in 2010. There were an estimated 26,000 employees in this space in 2006 and this number is expected to grow to 74,000 by 2010. Top on the outsourcing agenda for media houses are activities like advertisement outsourcing, digitization of magazines, entity/element extraction, editorial archiving, format conversion (print to e-book/emagazine, PDF, XML) and cross-compatibility and standardization of services across different media like the World Wide Web and mobile devices. Of course this includes de rigueur services like editing, proof reading, graphic design and a host of other content processing options which come with a scope that truly spans an end-to-end response to the problems of the publishing industry. With its much vaunted and technically skilled English speaking workforce, billable at a high benefit-cost ratio, India is poised to ride the publishing outsourcing wave. In the palette of offerings that come with Indian Editorial Process Outsourcing package are creative services like page design, generation of graphics and picture elements and presentations besides core services like content creation through phone and mail interviews, case studies creation of reports and summaries, as well as research and analysis. Yet, thats just the tip of the iceberg. Some vendors have started handling an entire news bureau working at a remote location, taking on end-to-end content generation and management, so that publishers can focus solely on their revenue upstream marketing and advertising strategies. This is more so with MagSourcing clients.

Behind the MagSourcings Success

[Editorial outsourcing had started off essentially as a near-shore outsourced operation. But with advertisement and classified services already being delivered from cost-effective remote locations; editorial outsourcing, too, gained momentum to become a remotely outsourced service.]

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benefits? Hence, is the outsourcing project viable? Answers to these decision points lead a publishing organization on a belief path as to whether it makes sense to outsource or search for solutions in other avenues; say, on a strategic or tactical front. Simulated project planning sessions and workshops can assist managers in seeking answers to these questions.

Before opting for MagSourcing for our clients, most vendor engagement efforts were usually a meander through a trial-and-err0r path (generally focusing on pilot projects); until a deal came through that turned out to be a best-of-the-lot solution rather than the best solution. Any successful engagement model like that of MagSourcing - transitions from conception until implementation with a logical flow; like the following: Stage 1: Problem Identification With MagSourcing we have realized that approaching problems with a tunnel vision can hamper planning and, consequently, implementation. A 360-degree approach to the pain point can help in identifying all the functions and variables that will become active during the outsourcing process. Such an approach helps in answering the following questions: What is the objective of outsourcing? What are the business and/or operational pain points the proposed outsourcing is expected to resolve? What are the functions and processes associated with these pain points? What is the business criticality of the functions and processes? Whats the degree of transformation required in the processes and functions? What will be the impact of future ways of working on internal operations and customer satisfaction? Have similar functions and processes been successfully outsourced in the past by industry peers and competitors?

[Before opting for MagSourcing for our clients most vendor engagement efforts were usually a meander through a trial-and-err0r path (generally focusing on pilot projects); until a deal came through that turned out to be a best-of-the-lot solution rather than the best solution.]
Stage 3: Problem/Solution Articulation

To ensure that all prospective vendors are on the same page, the principle of Occams razor can be put into practice by shaving off irrelevant information while simultaneously communicating the publishers core requirements succinctly. It is the publishers responsibility to ensure that potential vendors do not get lost in a sea of information, losing valuable time trying to tune in to the publishers requirements. Streaming critical information in manageable buckets towards facilitating meaningful transfer of information strikes the right balance between information overload and data insufficiency. Some basic dos and donts are: Clearly describe the business objectives from editorial outsourcing Summarize the current state while providing pointers to businesses, operations, people and technology without dwelling on too many details. Avoid recommending solutions. Rather, provide high-level roadmap and direction. Encourage vendor to participate in assessment, due diligence and workshops anything that can help to validate the solution construct. Use proposed solution as indicator of vendors success-ability at project commencement

Some frequently used tools and techniques which aid problem identification are benchmark comparisons, process upgrades and SWOT analysis. These techniques will help ascertain impact of the problem and subsequent scale of benefits post outsourcing. Stage 2: Solution Scope Stage two serves as a reality check on the problem identification stage. There are three issues at this point of the decision-making process that would give a sense of direction on the MagSourcing agenda: What are the enablers (technology, knowledge workers, infrastructure support) required to bring about a successful outsourcing engagement? What would be the resource allocation (time, human resources, money) required for future ways of working? Whether the total costs justify the projected

Page 5 Stage 4: Vendor Selection With low differentiation in the range of services offered, it is a challenge to choose the right fit among vendors. To begin with, most publishers look at price as the key differentiator among vendors. This approach may not be the best bet for a successful long-term solution. The focus should be on these important issues: Does the vendor believe in your organizational ethos? Understand whether your outsourcing initiative is critical for the success of the vendor or whether it is too small to make an impact on the latters business. Evaluate the vendors ability to understand your problem space Validate existence of domain capabilities, process and operations excellence besides infrastructure, ability to ramp up quickly and global footprint of the vendor. Can the vendor bring about transformation beyond business as usual capabilities? Besides rewards, is the vendor willing to share the risks?

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Stage 5: Project Management The goal at this stage should be to expect year-on-year productivity improvement. Publishers today are expected to provide collaborative governance to an outsourcing relationship. Hence defining critical success factors and ability to continuously steer them are important. Governance will help tackle possible transition glitches at various levels technological, cultural, knowledge transfer.

These questions dont really come with easy answers as they can be put to a lot of subjective as well as objective assessment. Each of them is, however, pertinent to the success of an outsourcing deal. Of course, there is another decision point, which is very critical to profitability: Is the vendors offering really worth?

[Establishing a quick and efficient communication channels also becomes a necessary condition during the vendor selection process. So whats the best decision variable at this stage? Heres the answer: It is not the price that the vendor quotes, but rather the value that is brought to the table.]
By this stage, a working relationship has been set up between the publisher and the partner. But this relationship has to be transcending the buyer-seller matrix and moving into the realm of partnership to realize true synergies. That, truly, is the real deal. Conclusion: The uncertain economic climate has driven many publishers to re-assess their business operations and consider the value of partnering with an offshore IT services company. Through years of experience, outsourcing vendors in India have developed effective processes, procedures and the skills to help publishing companies overcome the obstacles and challenges of remaining competitive in a volatile industry that is constantly changing under the influence of new technologies and processes. Approaching an off shoring partnership strategically, by looking for the value the partnership will have on the bottom line, in both tangible and intangible ROI, is the key to a successful and profitable engagement precisely what we do and achieve with MagSourcing for our ever growing numbers of our clientele.

Financial engineering techniques can frame an answer for the last question. The costing should be done on a 360 degree platform, covering all relevant costs (publishers investment on governance, for instance) and revenue centers that will be impacted, besides dwelling on intangible benefits as well. Establishing a quick and efficient communication channels also becomes a necessary condition during the vendor selection process. So whats the best decision variable at this stage? Heres the answer: It is not the price that the vendor quotes, but rather the value that is brought to the table.

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With FolksWriters corporate houses get the best content development services for making their organization, its products and/or services explicit as well as popular. Be it an article demonstrating their capabilities, a blog conveying genuine ideas, reviews depicting the strengths of products or a brochure; grooming contents has always been our forte.
FolksWeb Websites are, incontestably, public face of any organization on the internet. Given the fact that internet is today amongst the most powerful medium possibly, greater than the press it has become imperative for organizations to have websites which are not just designed well but also give the right content, in the right language towards achieving the right impact. FolksWeb has a holistic approach to achieve this objective. Marked by thorough research, heedful quality assurance, constant analysis and relevant updating our content planning is foolproof and therefore a solid choice for organizations of all sizes. Our skills in website content planning and development has greater impact upon the users. We follow the following guidelines to make sure that contents we deliver are optimally tuned for the right impression: Analyze clients requirements before outlining suitable flow in contents. Ensure search engine friendliness of contents for attracting target audiences. Reassessment and/or editing of existing content and revamping if necessary. Ensuring usability standards of contents. Optimal maintenance of the live website through engaging contents. FolksMarkets Successful marketers need good marketing tools along with solid ideas for achieving their sales target; through FolksMarkets we deliver this and much more by focusing on productive results. Marketing literatures and tools help organizations to communicate as well as strengthen their message throughout the strategic marketing process. Also known as Marketing Collateral, they also include: Communications or Corporate Dossiers Product Brochures Product/Services Case Studies Whitepapers PowerPoint Presentations Websites Newsletters Client References Client Proposal Templates ROI Calculators Sales literature and tools we develop for our clients play a pivotal role in their marketing campaigns. They reinforce the brand image, and can, also, create a lasting impression. Good literature and tools are tightly integrated with the sales process. FolksMarkets also enables our clients to evaluate their existing sales literature and tools, their roles, and their effectiveness. The right tools delivered at the right time improve marketing and selling effectiveness, thereby increasing revenue velocity and top line. FolksTech Technical writing, at FolksWriters, is considered as an art whose objective is to provide practical information to end users. Technical writing is the most widely read form of written communication around. Its very different from advertising, though. In a general sense, technical writing includes the how to of a product. It consists of directions for operating a particular product. Technical writing is arguably more difficult than other forms of writing because of the fact that it must be clear and to the point. Good technical writing should not leave any room for imagination and it must anticipate and answer any questions or problems that may arise. This aspect of technical writing is often seen in Frequently Asked Questions and Trouble Shooting.

Introducing FolksWriters

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Page 7 Our team has with it- not just skills, but also, exposure with experience to write, design and edit proposals, user manuals, web pages, newsletter services and several other types of professional documents. Rendering our services in technical writing makes definite sense because writing technical guidelines and about technical subjects is no cake walk and demands professional touch. Also, an effective technical content requires quality content, language format and more. The following are our offerings: Technical Documents Technical Reports Corporate Presentations User Manuals Employee Manuals Corporate Proposals FolksCreatives Writing, in itself, is creative to a great degree. Writers must think of words to use, how to organize their thoughts and how to appeal to an audience. However, creative writing tends to refer to writing specific types of things that include poetry, drama, short stories, personal essays, long and short fiction, and some nonfiction. It does go beyond writing in certain formats like journalism or technical work, and there are sometimes grey areas where writing is both creative as well as professional.

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To say what people cant say in the best way is what we at FolksCreatives call Creative Writing. Also, we consider creative writing as an art which helps our clients to put their ideas in perspective. Our creative writing services are best suited for: Copyrighting Brochures Content for In-house Magazine Corporate Blogs PR Materials The following are our domain areas where we excel in the business of creative writing: Travel & Travelogue Writing Food, also known as Culinary, Writing Life Style & Health Entertainment Write-ups Finance Writing For more information contact:
U. Mahesh Prabhu CEO & Editor-in-chief Folks Media Ventures mahesh.prabhu@folksmediaventures.com Voice: +1 217 960 4856 (USA)

New Appointments @ FMV

Priyadarshini Pai
Vice President (Healthcare Media Development)
Priyadarshini completed her undergraduate and post graduate studies from Manipal University and started off as a trainee researcher in reputed organizations like Biocon Ltd, India and Stem Cell Research Center, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, India; working in key research interest areas like stem cell research, cancer biology, immunology and infectious diseases. She moved on to applying her knowledge as a research associate in Osteogenic Regenerative Medicine at KMC, Manipal. It was during this period that she realized the need for individuals to bring in high-end research for public interest in a comprehensible and applicable manner. She later joined Folks Media Ventures as the Vice President (healthcare media development) to help the healthcare clan scale new heights in the scientific horizon. As a visionary healthcare media developer, public healthcare awareness enthusiast and responsible medical scientist; she brings in loads of zeal, ideas and opportunities for transforming perspectives of public towards medical disorders, treatments and research and development involved therein. Also, touching topics of ethics, rationale and philosophy in healthcare segments; she wishes to achieve better informed public and dependable healthcare professionals.

Priyadarshini P. Pai is an Indian medical biotechnologist, from Manipal. Being at the hub of medical research and development, she gathered an early impetus to pursue her dream of improving the quality of human life.

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About Folks Media Ventures

Folks Media Ventures is an upcoming media development and services enterprise with keen competence in the areas of new media content as well as business development. We partner with conventional media business and enable strengthening their future prospects; by helping them to take their publication(s) online. Besides, Folks Media Ventures also engages in strategic partnerships towards developing publications for several niche business segments at competitive propositions. At Folks Media Ventures we believe that trust is built on commitment. We are committed to our employees and our stakeholders. We also recognize our commitments to free markets and to the global community, especially the public who use our contents for various purposes.

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Editors U. Mahesh Prabhu Priyadarshini P. Pai Advisors Susheel Ladwa Dee Woo Stephen Schwartz Richard Benkin Folks Media Ventures PO Box 6, Manipal, 576 104 Karnataka INDIA Phone: +91 820 257 0515 (India) +1 217 960 4856 (USA)
folksview@folksmediaventures.com

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