Every Saturday morning, we invite a publishing pro to put together their top media links. This week’s guest editor is Kevin Anderson.

Kevin is a Manager for Digital Products and Platforms at ideastream. You can find Kevin on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Kevin says:

"From the first time I used a web browser in a university computer lab (on the same campus where HAL 9000 was created) in August 1993, I knew that digital media was not only the future of journalism but my future. A pivot to product management that began while I was working for the BBC in 2005 is now complete as I manage digital products for a major regional public media group in the US that serves almost 3 m people each month.

When I started my career, my passion was about creating entirely new forms of storytelling that digital media allowed, but for most of the past decade, I realised that another priority had emerged: Great storytelling needed new ways to sustain itself. As Atlas Obscura’s Amanda Hale used to have in her Twitter bio, “The First Amendment needs a business model.” These articles about ways to start, grow and sustain your media business. "

“Can’t pay? We’ll take it away” is a strategy to kill local journalism as we know it — davidhiggerson.wordpress.com

I count David as a friend, and I was fortunate enough to consult with teams at Reach, then Trinity-Mirror, from 2016 to 2018. David does not believe that reader revenue and paywalls are the future for local journalism. Instead, he provides this rallying cry: “Don’t rage against click culture, empower your newsroom to protect local journalism by making local journalism valuable to lots of people.”

Journalists getting paid: how online platforms are boosting income for writers — knightfoundation.org

One of the themes of 2020 is that as mass media struggles while COVID-19 decimates advertising niche or solo-preneur media is showing promise. “(T)he stage is set for independent journalists and even staff reporters to look into creating ‘side hustles’ or even full-time businesses if they build up enough fans and paying subscribers by offering unique, insightful content,” Mark says. I have to agree with him that email are the cockroaches of digital media.

The Guardian grows Instagram followers over 60% in one year — www.facebook.com

While it may be a bit of promotion from Facebook, this piece is full of good tips on how to grow both audience and engagement on Instagram. What really struck me is the range of content that is finding success from serious pieces for IGTV about removing colonial statues at Oxford University to positive news to counter the gloom of COVID.

‘We’ve really reset our floor’: How The Atlantic gained 300,000 new subscribers in the past 12 months — digiday.com

Their goal was 110,000 digital subscribers after the first two years of their paywall, and they now have triple that. Bottom line: Smart beats scale. It’s not about the biggest audience or the biggest staff. “I don't need all the coronavirus writers in the world; I just need the best ones," Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said.

′From start to success′ — New handbook to support startups striving for media viability — www.dw.com

For all media entrepreneurs around the world, German broadcaster’s media development wing has a book for you. They look at 21 startups, 18 countries across 3 geographic regions to develop an art of the start, as Silicon Valley VC Guy Kawasaki would put it. They offer up a three-step approach in the 84-page e-book available for download.

British Airways scraps its High Life magazine after half a century — simpleflying.com

This isn’t just another story about print-dying or the closure of another publication. As media trainer Corinne Podger says on Twitter, “Good idea, @British_Airways IMO. Printed magazines takes 5 min to get wrinkled & covered in grime. Downloadable opens up partnership opportunities galore.”

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