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. While it’s good to have an instinctive reaction against censorship, some books should be banned for some people in some circumstances. The phrase “book banning” conjures up images…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Summary: In 2025, individuals will rely on personalized AI agents to curate content based on their interests and behavior. Users will set monthly budgets for content and preferences such as format and timing. Publishers will negotiate with user AIs, offering content in various formats and languages. Human creators/editors will become brands, and platforms will be…
Summary: The article questions the viability of creating print magazines in the digital age, highlighting the challenges of costs, environmental concerns, and declining readership. While acknowledging the preference for print among some audiences, the author suggests that successful magazines use print as a brand face, monetizing through other means like product sales and events. The…
Summary: Large Language Models (LLMs) like Bard and ChatGPT pose a significant threat to publishers as they answer reader queries, diverting traffic and revenue from publishers without credit. The article argues for copyright protection, suggesting LLMs should strike deals with publishers before using their content for training, emphasizing the need for a reevaluation of the…