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Eat Sleep Publish

Thoughts on the future of publishing

There’s a good post on Publishing Insider today that points out a shortfall that I think exists more or less throughout the industry: everyone seems allergic to the idea of sales.

Like it or not, newspapers are a business, and they no longer have the luxury of “not engaging” on those “sketchy business tactics” like, you know, marketing and sales:

Does any buyer ever get sold? We think we sell our media inventory, but we would rarely admit to being “sold” when we are doing the buying. This example I shared can be an eye-opener, if I can convince you that the process of buying my glasses and what online publishers sell is relatively the same.

The intent to purchase has to be in place (consciously or subconsciously) for any product to get sold, so let’s focus on how this salesperson made me feel good about the exorbitant amount I paid for what I bought.

More evidence that display ads workJanuary 6

I keep saying that newspapers need to be very careful with offering free branding to advertisers. CPC ads cheat the publisher, and they need to be largely obliterated from the online publishing industry.

New study info from Specific Media:

According to 12 months of proprietary Specific Media Ad Effectiveness data, by comScore, display advertising significantly lifts Online search activity. The study demonstrates that consumers exposed to display advertising were more likely to search for brand terms (i.e. automotive manufacturer), and segment terms (i.e. vehicle class), than unexposed consumers.

Hmmm…better charge per impression then, hadn’t we?

Questions with Sarah Zettel from Book View CafeJanuary 5

I recently ran across an excellent and innovative site called Book View Cafe, whose idea seems simultaneously very straightforwad and rather forward-thinking. A collective group of professional authors have pooled their work together and created a site that offers a combination of free and paid work for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans the world ’round.

As it happens, I’m a Science Fiction fan the world ’round, and I was excited to see some recognizable names on the author list, such as Ursula K. Le Guin.

I recently exchanged e-mails with Sarah Zettel (whose short fiction work you can find on the site here), the project manager for Book View Cafe, and had a chance to ask her a few questions about the scope and direction of the project:

Jason: You’re the project manager for Book View Cafe, which is a collaboration from a number of authors. How did this concept come about?

Sarah: By accident, as many of the best concepts do. I was looking at setting up a website to sell my out-of-print work, and possibly some new work, because I knew a number of authors had had success with sellin

Worth paying forJanuary 2

I think one of the most important ideas that needs to spread through the internet at large is that some things are worth paying for. That’s how businesses are formed.

In past, newspapers have been worth paying for largely because the news was hard to get for free. The delivery service—the transmission of news—was worth paying for.

As everyone and their three-legged-dog now knows, the internet makes it close to impossible to build a business that charges for delivery of information. So if delivering information is no longer a service worth paying for, what is?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the reason I’m writing this post is because of a particular sentence in a resolutions for journalists post on everyday journalism:

The first step to reversing journalism’s tarnished image is to have the guts to dig for information the public can’t easily find themselves, and be an advocate of unbiased, straightforward truth.

That sounds like to key to a good news business plan to me: dig for information the public can’t easily find themselves. That’s your value right there.

I’ve argued

Journalism in Social Media Pitfall #5: AstroturfDecember 31 2008

Grassroots is the way to go. Green is the new green. And authenticity is a key component of successfully leveraging any kind of social media. The whole internet is out to Find You Out.

And if you’re laying down AstroTurf instead of cultivating some real grass, you will Get Found Out. It happens almost invariably, and the backlash is usually quick and ugly. I cannot underscore enough the importance of being authentic.

That’s why Obama’s online campaign resonated so well - it played to authenticity. And he’s our new President, so he must have done something right.

Laying down AstroTurf is a sure-fire way to get yourself burned (get it?). Don’t make that mistake.