We can’t deny that digital publishing is here to stay.
Apple appears intent on introducing a new tablet and amid the flap about the new Kindle, Best Buy and Verizon are preparing to take on I-Rex, a new e-reader that will partner with Barnes & Noble for bookselling. Though I-Rex has its critics, even they have to admit that it will challenge the Kindle because it supports eBooks purchased anywhere, allowing users to keep their books even if they switch devices.
So we’re wondering, if digital is the new form, what do we all need to do to prepare? Specifically:
Writers: Are you thinking about obtaining electronic rights and portable rights to your work?
Editors: Are you planning and formatting more content for e-readers? How much work does this add?
Publishers: What parameters are you setting for acquiring new work?
Join us to discuss these and other questions on www.friendfeed.com/editorchat tonight at 8:30pm EST.
This week, Google introduced Fast Flip, a portal that presents content in a format that looks and feels like a newspaper or magazine. More than three dozen major media outlets are participating. (See Tim’s Foolish take on Fast Flip here.)
We like the technology but we’re curious of its implications for writers and editors hoping to build communities of readers. Why? Fast Flip is self-organizing. Each experience is custom to the reader. Is there such a thing as community when every reader gets a 100% unique experience? Or are we entering a new age of hyper-focused media where communities are built around articles and threads rather than publications?
Let’s continue last week’s conversation about community. Specifically, we’re wondering:
- Editors: Does community-building always have to take place at your site?
- Writers: Where do you encounter readers most often? Has the venue changed with the arrival of social media?
- Book publishers: Do social media outperform book tours when it comes to community building?
Join us on FriendFeed from 8:30-10 pm tonight as we discuss these questions and more. Those who prefer Twitter can follow the #editorchat hashtag to see the questions as they’re posted. (Yes, Fail Whale, we still love you.)
Community. It’s become quite the buzzword across all media. Book, newspaper, and magazine publishers alike are scrambling to tap into the potentially fertile network of their readers to do everything from strengthen their brand to contribute content.
Alan Mutter wrote an entire blog post at Reflections of a Newsosaur on the success of community contributions at Yelp. “Apart from seeing some frighteningly atrocious spelling, I have been struck time and again over the years by the wit, thoroughness and fairness that most Yelpers put into their reviews. With good reason, too, because each author is identified by first name and last initial and a link back to all of her previous reviews. Thus, each Yelper becomes a mini-brand with a reputation to uphold in the community. Because no one wants to look bad on Yelp, people for the most part seem to put considerable care into their contributions.” You can read the entire post here.
Others who have tapped into their reader communities include BusinessWeek.com. A recent slide show on how readers saw economic growth and signs of recovery was drawn from comments to the question and compiled into a story by Greg Spielberg. You can see it here. (Full disclosure, I make an appearance in this). In addition to her own expertise, Wendy Perrin at Conde Nast Traveler has been culling readers opinions for years to present “Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know” on her blog Perrin Post.
But community doesn’t build overnight, so it is interesting to see that both the NYT and WSJ are attempting to produce regional editions in the Bay area.
So we’re wondering what it takes to build a vibrant community, one that participates actively, contributes regularly and (most importantly) generates revenue both through direct sales and advertising or peripheral sources.
Writers: What part do you play in generating community engagement for your stories, books, etc.
Editors: How do you encourage your writers to produce content that will create conversations?
Publishers: Can you really just plug into a community?
Join us tonight at 8:30pm EST when we’ll discuss these questions and more on www.friendfeed.com/editorchat.
We love Twitter enough to set it free. In this case, we’re moving Editorchat — which began on Twitter in (can you believe it?) February — to FriendFeed. Tim describes why we made the move in this post at his blog. Click over and give it a read.
If you’re already familiar with FriendFeed and want to get connected, find Lydia here and Tim here. You can also find our digital Editorchat chalet, styled in a decorative light gray, here. See you there tonight when we ask about hiring help. Is outsourcing administrative work the only reasonable survival strategy when editors are asking writers to do more than ever?
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.
