Summary: Most print fulfillment systems were designed before the concept of digital access was even a glint in Al Gore’s eye, and trying to make them work in the modern world can seem like running ChatGPT on a typewriter. But it can be done. Reconciling the capabilities of legacy fulfillment systems with the needs of … Read more
Summary: I asked ChatGPT to write an e-newsletter on recent developments in B2B publishing. Here’s what I got. I did not change the text, but I did provide some additional formatting, and included some of the sources at the bottom of the article. B2B Publishing: Navigating New Frontiers AI Integration Reshapes B2B Publishing Landscape Artificial … Read more
Summary: Changing fulfillment providers can be a nightmare, but it’s also an opportunity to simplify outdated processes. This article explores the complexity of publishing fulfillment and makes a case for radical simplification. Yesterday, I spoke with some publisher friends about the possibility of changing fulfillment companies. I’ve done that a few times. I’ve also had … Read more
Summary: Our free speech culture should be skeptical of any form of censorship, but there are times when it’s appropriate to restrict children’s access to certain books. It’s good to have an instinctive reaction against censorship. Still, we should ban some books for some people in some circumstances. The phrase “book banning” conjures up images … Read more
Summary: Reduce the cognitive load on your customers by personalizing content and interfaces to their needs. There’s an old book on website design titled Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. It’s a good book, and if you’re involved in design, you should read it. But that basic concept applies to … Read more
From time to time a publisher will ask me how they can improve their business. I’m first and foremost an operations / tech guy, but I also have ideas about growth and business development. To help a publisher figure out where they can grow, it’s first necessary to find out what they’re doing — good … Read more
Introduction In this 4-part series I’m going to try to give some perspective on how the publishing industry got into its current mess with artificial intelligence. Part 1 covers some background information about copyright. In Part 2 I’ll discuss the search bargain – why publishers allowed tech giants to crawl and index their content. In … Read more
Summary: Following the lead of Troy Young in his latest email, the author discusses the evolution of the internet from a “seek” model to a “be served” model, characterized by AI-driven and personality-driven content delivery. It highlights the challenges content creators face in getting compensated, especially in the AI-driven model. The piece also reflects on … Read more
The Audiencers has been collecting some good information on the correlation between renewal and engagement with an e-newsletter. That is, people who read an e-newsletter are less likely to churn. This becomes a chicken and egg question. In scenario 1, people who are loyal to the brand are more likely to sign up for and … Read more
Is it neesh or nitch? I take the majority view, but … which majority? I’ve been involved in niche media for almost my entire career. When I started out – back in the days when having a hard drive in your computer was a luxury reserved for the few – everybody said “nitch.” Then apparently … Read more
Summary: Content consumption is broader than just web pages. Find ways to compete profitably in other mediums. The world of content consumption is much bigger than web pages, but some publishers seem to be stuck on the webpage. There’s a new type of dinosaur in the publishing world. The old dinosaur was the publisher who … Read more
Summary: Media struggles are the logical consequence of the tsunami of new content available online. The solution isn’t in business model innovation but in identifying and leveraging extraordinary talent, as only a few exceptionally talented individuals significantly impact the market. Here’s the bottom line to the crisis in media right now. The vast majority of … Read more
Summary: The strategic imperative for publishers right now is not to get money out of Google, but to change the terms of the deal. They say that one sign of colonization is that the people colonized start to believe and repeat the rhetoric of their colonizers. Sometimes that seems to apply to publishers and Big … Read more
The image for this post — and the strange words — was created by Dall-E Summary: The article discusses Robbie Kellman Baxter’s “Customer Retention Metrics Kit,” focusing on the challenge of retaining customers in a fragmented media landscape. It explores the evolving definitions of ‘customer’ and ‘subscriber’ in the context of diverse media platforms, stressing … Read more
Summary: The article discusses the challenges facing the publishing industry, emphasizing the need for long-term, strategic thinking. It references Dominic Young’s ideas on revitalizing publishing through casual sales, akin to buying a newspaper without the hassle of subscriptions or giving personal information. The concept is compared to micro-payments, which haven’t been widely successful due to … Read more