Amidst all the fretting and nail-biting among magazine editors that are worried about the future of their industry, along comes Esquire with its first digital cover. Hailed as a revolutionary move for the magazine industry, the cover was released in September 2008 as part of the magazine’s 75th year of publication, using a firm called E Ink to serve as their vendor.

But has Esquire’s investment paid off? And more importantly, what does this mean for the rest of the magazine industry?

As Mac Slocum over at Tools of Change for Publishing states, “Future E Ink screens are projected to be ultra-light, interactive and updateable via Web connections. But millions of consumers already own mobile devices with the same functionality.”

And while the idea of merging digital elements with an analog medium is a worthy idea to explore, there’s still something to be said for adaptability within a medium, just as TV, film and radio had to adapt to the digital age. Simply tacking on a technological novelty item won’t be the panacea the magazine industry is looking for.

However, in light of the magazine juggernauts either adapting to new technology or freezing in terror, it seems the burgeoning niche magazines are holding steady. It comes as no surprise, considering these small-time publications have low corporate overhead and pay special attention to their core market, rather than relying on the pockets of advertisers.

A good example of this is EnlightenNext, a spirituality magazine that started as a newsletter in 1992 that currently has a paid circulation of approximately 25,000. They attribute their success to a wide and loyal audience-base, as opposed to counting on advertisers for revenue. This works to their advantage, as ad print in traditional media is on a serious decline.

But can the “big-time” publications adopt an independent approach? From what it seems, some big-time publishers are reluctant to embrace the independent path and would rather focus their energy on merging digital and analog, as displayed be the E Ink cover.

However, both paths could be worth venturing into. The digital analog merger shows promise of being integrated in a much larger and innovative format, while the independent niche market pathway displays profitability and sustainability by catering to a loyal base with a decreased overhead cost.

If these two ideas could somehow combine themselves into a profitable business format, then perhaps it can help revive the suffering magazine industry.