Chicago Tribune
Say goodbye to Printers Row Journal. The premium weekly book section produced by the Chicago Tribune will cease publication at the end of the year.
December 27 will mark the final appearance of the print section, which was launched with great fanfare as a 24-page weekly supplement in 2012. In addition to books reviews, it featured author interviews, essays, literary news and a weekly work of short fiction.
Printers Row Journal
Printers Row Journal will continue as a digital-only product, according to a Tribune spokeswoman, who said the company is developing a new app that will “offer extended book coverage to keep loyal book lovers throughout Chicago engaged.” The app will allow users to buy and download e-books.
The spokeswoman declined to provide circulation figures, but sources said fewer than 4,000 subscribers paid $99 a year to receive the weekly print edition.
Chicago Tribune publisher Tony Hunter declared the effort “a successful experiment” despite the numbers.
"We launched the printed edition of Printers Row Journal almost four years ago to target book lovers across Chicagoland,” Hunter said in a statement Thursday. “It has been a successful experiment, and we look forward to continuing to engage with this niche audience through an enhanced digital product.”
The new digital-only edition will cost $29 a year for new subscribers.
Readers will be notified of the change in a letter to be published in Sunday’s edition of the Tribune from Jennifer Day, editor of Printers Row Journal.
The latest cutback comes weeks after Tribune Publishing approved buyouts for hundreds of employees companywide under a voluntary separation program, including more than 40 editorial staffers at the Chicago Tribune.
Here is the text of Day's letter to readers:
A new year, a new Printers Row
Dear readers,
Big changes are coming to Printers Row in the new year, and I wanted you to be the first to know. The Dec. 27 issue of Printers Row Journal will be the last print edition; starting Jan. 3, Printers Row will move online to become an innovative, new digital publication.
All of your favorite features — book reviews, author interviews and the weekly short fiction supplement — will be available in a new reader-friendly app designed specifically for book lovers like you. Inside the Printers Row app, you'll be able to:
- Read your weekly Printers Row in one of two formats: A publication view that gives you the look and feel of a traditional print section, or a web-based scrolling edition that's great for mobile phone use.
- Sample first chapters of books featured in Printers Row.
- Purchase and download e-books within a new digital bookstore — which features special discounts, including free e-books, for Printers Row subscribers.
- Find out what other book lovers are reading in a corner of the app devoted to local book clubs.
The best part of the new Printers Row is that you can access it on your desktop, on your tablet or on your mobile phone. How often have you been in a bookstore and couldn't remember a recommendation from the Biblioracle? Now you can call up not only the recommendation but the book itself within the Printers Row app.
Watch for more news in coming weeks about how to access the app. In the meantime, please make sure your current email address is on file so your subscription continues without interruption.
Printers Row readers are loyal readers — and I truly appreciate that. I've met many of you at our annual Printers Row Lit Fest and I've enjoyed the conversations we've had over the past four years, both in person and in the pages of Printers Row.
I look forward to continuing that conversation in the new year online in the Printers Row app.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and the rest of our team at printersrow@tribpub.com.
Best regards,
Jennifer Day
Editor