It’ll take more than a touchscreen to revive the hemorrhaging magazine industry, if pitiful recent sales numbers are any indication—iPad sales have taken a nosedive among the highest profile glossies. Wired? Down to a fifth of its debut.

Wired’s peers aren’t doing so hot either—and didn’t have the mammoth, 100,000 sale premiere to kick things off. According to the magazine circulation-tracking Audit Bureau of Circulations, only 8,700 people bought an iPad issue of Vanity Fair in November, down from 10,500 in August. Glamour? Even worse, with only a paltry 2,775 iPad issues sold in October, compared to a slightly less paltry 4,301 in September. Dude stuff powerhouse GQ? Also in the dumps, with a worst-ever 11,000 downloads in November.

Crowdsourcing, however, has become valuable for creative projects in a different way. While efforts to tap the wisdom of crowds may fall flat in bringing creative visions to life, tapping the wallets of crowds has been incredibly successful. Microfunding platforms like Kickstarter, alongside a handful of copycats and competitors, are liberating innovators everywhere from film to industrial design to programming. Just this month, Scott Wilson funded his TikTok+LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kit concept on Kickstarter, raising a staggering $941,718. His idea — a snap-in design that transforms the iPod Nano into a multifunctional timepiece — had so much merit in the eyes of the microfunding community that it raised 6,827 percent more than the original goal of $15,000. LoudSauce allows supporters of causes and nonprofits to buy media space to help their message reach a wider audience and facilitate mainstream awareness. ProFounder enables entrepreneurs to microfund small business ventures; IndieGoGo does the same for independent filmmakers. ArtistsShare and PledgeMusic give artists the means to subsidize tours, shows and installations by sourcing donations directly from fans. Founded by a pair of World Bank and UN Development Fund alums, Kopernik uses the model to connect innovative humanitarian designs and technologies with the communities that would benefit from them, allowing local organizations to take the fulfillment of their needs into their own hands.

The magCulture blog celebrates editorial design. All types of publication are covered, maagzines, newspapers, print and digital, all that matters is the degree of innovation, creativity and thought behind them. It is written by Jeremy Leslie, creative director at magCulture, but relies on submissions and suggestions from many others around the industry and the world.

Visual Editions, nicknamed VE, is a London-based book publisher, started in early 2009 by Anna and Britt. The idea for VE comes from our joint love of books and a (mischievous) desire to do things differently, so that everything we do translates into a new experience for our readers, and for all the writers and designers we work with. What we do is make sure we turn all that love and mischief into beautifully, lovingly, wonderfully written and crafted books.