Print is not dead, or so says Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet magazine, a daily online magazine featuring Jewish news, ideas, and culture. In fact, Newhouse believes print is exactly what Tablet readers want. That’s why the almost-seven-year-old digital magazine is launching a bimonthly print magazine later this year.The magazine won’t be a duplicate of Tablet’s free online content though, nor will its print stories appear anywhere online. Instead, the magazine will include unique content like reporting, essays, fiction and more – only available to subscribers.”All of the content in the print magazine will be exclusive to subscribers; it won’t come from the web, or end up there afterward,” says Newhouse. “The two Tablets will be like siblings: though obviously from the same family, each will be its own entity.”

So why is Tablet going against the grain by adding a print magazine to its offerings? In last week’s announcement, Newhouse explains that the web was the ideal platform for a “new American Jewish conversation.” As time passed and the magazine’s relationship with its readers deepened, Newhouse and her team realized that their readers, even younger ones, were rethinking their relationship to print. Tablet felt it was time to try something new.Currently, online Tablet content is free to readers, supported by advertising. The business model for the print magazine will be different, however. While the magazine will accept advertising, it will rely on newsstand sales and subscriptions for the bulk of revenue, says Newhouse.The inaugural issue will be released just before Hanukkah. For $40, a first year subscription will include the first 2015 issue and six issues in 2016, and hopefully, increased frequency in 2017.Newhouse responds to her detractors:

“As I should have expected, I’m again being asked questions I can’t manage to answer to anyone’s satisfaction: Who is this for? Isn’t the written word dead?

Frankly, I haven’t a clue. What I do know is that in the Jewish story, God-who presumably could’ve had human brains come loaded with the Ten Commandments, like iOS on your phone-chose instead to write them down, on something that could be seen and felt and held. Given how long those have endured, it seemed prudent to wonder: Maybe there’s something to that idea.”

Insider Take:Earlier this year Tablet made headlines by experimenting with how it handles comments. Instead of doing away with comments altogether as outlets like Reuters and Popular Science have done, Tablet started charging commenters, hoping that the change would lead to a more civil discourse. Now Tablet is experimenting with a print edition.Frankly, we love Tablet’s willingness to try new things and to take risks. They have taken the time to get to know their readers and have studied how they interact with the digital magazine. They see their readers’ habits changing. Based on that data, Tablet is adapting to retain current readers and attract existing ones with a print magazine that will be self-sustaining. They’re starting slowly with a bimonthly magazine, taking the temperature of the marketplace before jumping right into a monthly magazine.Another element other subscription companies can learn from is something we say over and over again – openness and transparency. Tablet is doing this intelligently by making its announcement to readers early and explaining how they came to this decision. They explained their rationale, and how the new product would pay for itself. They’ve even started capturing data from potential subscribers.

    Over the next few months, as Tablet designs and builds their new product, they’ll get a pretty good idea which readers will remain loyal to the digital magazine, those who will prefer print, and those who will be loyal to both. As those differentiations become clear, Tablet and its editorial staff can tailor their content to the right audience, and the publications will evolve. Based on the publisher’s thoughtful process thus far, we anticipate that two Tablets will, indeed, be better than one.Mazel tov.~ Dana E. Neuts, Subscription Insider