Last month ASI announced that it has ceased publishing monthly issues of Counselor and Advantages. Counselor will be published quarterly and Advantages will no longer be published. We have transitioned our editorial team into a digital content operation that will publish through ASICentral.com. This was a difficult decision that carries a lot of disappointment for me personally, but also excitement for new possibilities. I want to take a few paragraphs here to explain why this decision was made, what it means for our content in the future and how we’re still going to be here for you, our loyal readers.

Why did ASI make this decision? The short answer is falling print ad revenue and additional economic blows stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The sad reality is that, as with thousands of other media properties, print ad revenue has been on a steady decline this past decade. COVID accelerated that decline last year. If there was no pandemic and no shutdowns, I absolutely believe the monthly magazines would have remained in 2021. But businesses everywhere were forced last year to make difficult decisions based on economic reality. I’m sure you had to do the same with your business. Unfortunately, ASI had to make difficult decisions as well, and this is one of the sad consequences.

This hurts me personally. I love print. I enjoy nothing more than a leisurely weekend breakfast where I can sit, eat and read a magazine. I don’t want to read everything on my computer, phone or tablet. But I recognize I’m an anomaly. And though I know readers enjoy our print publication, I also know lots of readers consume our content online. As we often talk about (now virtually) among our team, we have to go where the readers are.

January was the last issue of our monthly magazines. I’m sorry to see Advantages go. I was editor of that magazine for five years, and I loved the fun focus on products and sales strategies – and I especially loved hearing from readers how much the magazine helped them.

The good news is that Counselor will remain in print as a quarterly publication. January will be the first of four installments this year. In April we will publish our Big Markets issue; July will be our always-anticipated State of the Industry issue; and September will feature the Annual Gift Guide, an Advantages favorite that I’m happy to bring into the pages of Counselor. It provides some comfort to me that Counselor’s long-standing heritage in print (first published in 1954) will remain.

We’re still going to deliver the high-quality, award-winning content that you’ve come to expect from us. Now, all of it will be available here on ASICentral.com.

That’s the part that excites me the most. Many publications are doing amazing work online. We’ve been too. But the web offers so much creative potential, and I’m thrilled to think of ways that we can push the envelope. In print journalism, all the content you produce has to fit in a box. Sometimes, it fits perfectly. Other times, you trim, hack or shove it in to make it fit. You make compromises. Online, you build the box around the content. I’m very excited to do it a different way.

Again, this was a difficult decision, but I know our work online is making an impact. When COVID hit and the shutdowns began last year, our editors pivoted to delivering essential information as it was changing by the day. We just had our best year ever for pageviews. Digital has never been more relevant, and our work this year proved that.

Our goal with digital is to continue to be the first and the best at delivering the most important promo news along with in-depth articles on sales strategies, running a business, hot-button topics and more. We strive to deliver information in a variety of ways, from fun and informative infographics to multimedia content that matches the way you consume your news. Like I said, we’ve already been doing that. Now we’re going to do more of it. And do it better.

If you have questions or comments about our move to digital, feel free to contact me and share your thoughts. How am I feeling? I’m disappointed, but excited. I feel like it’s the closing of one era but the ascendance of another. I’m eager to continue the great work of our ASI Editorial team. And I ask you, our readers, to continue on this ride with us.