ZineGenie is a publishing platform that allows its users to ingest magazine content in multiple forms (from PDFs to XML/JSON feeds), enhance it, then distribute it to multiple platforms including desktop browsers and apps for iOS, Android and Windows. 

In development since 2010, ZineGenie is a fully featured CMS capable of supporting multiple titles and publishers simultaneously. It offers social media integration, notifications, and the ability to add video and audio to articles.

As Connected Digital's Product Director I am responsible for working with clients to maintain and develop the ZineGenie platform.  I own the development roadmap; work with our visual designers and front- and back-end development teams to deliver feature updates that enhance the suite of apps used as a delivery mechanism; and manage the CMS where content is prepared and published.

The challenge has always been to deliver a satisfying and complete reading experience to consumers of a wide variety of different publications as digital publishing has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream content delivery mechanism. 

To ensure we were efficiently delivering value to our customers, I implemented 3-stage development process based on creating and validating designs before beginning development work.

Underlying this approach was the 1:10:100 principle: The idea that fixing something in design costs £1, fixing it in development costs £10 and fixing it post release costs £100.

Client-driven enhancements have included:

* The ability to make more than 100 branding configurations to the display apps without having to rebuild or resubmit them to app stores.

* The addition of "like" functionality and ability to display (subject to moderation) comments from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

* Full text search.

* The integration of rich media such as audio and video for online or offline consumption.

* Advertising models including banner ads and dynamic splash screens

* The ability to tag life feeds and create magazine issues on-the-fly.

ZineGenie has found a niche with large membership organisations such as the Royal Geographical Society, The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and both the Institute of Physics (IoP), the Institute of Chemistry (IoC), and the Times Educational Supplement.  It has also served consumer rights organisations (Right Choice India), professional bodies and travel providers (Travel Africa).

Simon Simmons, Operations Director of Syon Publishing adds: "Our customers have high expectations and ZineGenie exceeds them. When we were selecting a platform we could not find one that offered a greater range of functionality and choice. They work collaboratively with us to ensure we are always presenting the best possible customer experience - they’re smart and dependable with outstanding attention to detail and customer service."