What We Are Planning to Discuss on 8-19

Here at #editorchat we are always looking at the latest news about publishing. This week the sale of Everyblock to MSNBC has gotten many talking about reporting on the hyperlocal level. If you haven’t read the story in the NYT by Brad Stone, here is a small excerpt:

“The Chicago start-up, which has been funded by a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation, has been working to publish data feeds from governments in 15 American cities, including San Francisco, New York and Atlanta. The feeds deliver information such as police reports, new-building permits and restaurant inspections–providing a statistical glimpse into neighborhood news at a time when local coverage from financially deteriorating newspapers is weakening.” You can read the rest here.

Also, a CUNY study published in time to present at this year’s Aspen Institute FOCAS conference found that bloggers serving local communities of 50,000 people are bringing in revenues of $200K. “With traditional newspapers becoming less dominant in any number of local/metro markets, CUNY suggests that a new “ecosystem of news” will emerge and evolve.”

Despite the research, the Washington Post pulled the plug on its hyperlocal experiment this week. Greg Sterling, an analyst who blogs about these issues at Screenwerk said in the NYT, “I suspect The Washington Post maybe made assumptions about acquiring advertisers that didn’t turn out to be true.”

Finally, in the fourth of his four-part look at the book business on ReadWriteWeb, Bernard Lunn suggests that the digitization of book publishing will necessitate changes for authors as well.

“Four Big Changes for Authors
Fewer advances. The lack of an advance will be compensated for by…
A bigger share of the pie. We expect this to grow from 10% to 30% (or more) of the retail price. The retail price will likely drop, too, and so authors will have to…
Create the finished product themselves. Authors will have to pay for cover art and editing out of pocket, as well as…
Become savvier about online marketing. A lot of tools are out there: social media, affiliate networks, email lists, SEO/SEM, and so on. Some authors will leave this up to intermediaries (the next form of publishers), and some will do it themselves.
The future of authors can thus be summed up as: do more of the work, get a bigger percentage of the retail price (which will be lower), and hustle online.”

So we’re wondering:
What are the new requirements for writers? Example: If hyperlocal is the new journalism model, does that mean a well-oiled neighborhood rolodex is a must-have skill? Are social butterflies the new journalists?

What do editors think they’ll need in a changing business?

Should aspiring authors assume they’ll self-publish first? Should they skip the traditional route and go straight to e-Book?

We’ll discuss these questions and others tonight at 8:30pm EST. Join us.