Putting a Price on Words

That’s precisely the problem: the sheer volume of words has overwhelmed a business model that was once based on scarcity and limited choice.

andrew does a great job of breaking down the business predicament surrounding digital journalism.  the greater publishing industry of yesterday didn’t understand the value of their content in relation to the new technology driving advertising’s evolution.  so, set that aside for a minute.

his piece goes on to imply that tomorrow will look just like we think it will look.  sites like gawker essentially playing “red rover” with revenue and profit until something shakes out and sticks.  the issue i have with all of this is that everyone, both traditional publishing & mr. denton, are showing their hand.  the majority of the revenue might sit within a common denominator of audience but what happens when we reach the point of scraping the bottom of a big barrel for 1/80th of a cent?  i don’t even want to imagine what kind of stuff you’ll be reading then.

denton is right, the delivery mechanism (“blog posts”) are a commodity - the money is made in building empires based on attention.  oh man, wait a minute, attention?  that - to me - is the golden ticket.  it’s the end game and is best captured not by vague click-through traps, rapid-fire posts within a 24hr period but by the stuff that sticks to the wall long after you’ve walked away from it.

the stuff that gets you to read the entire article, entice a desire to share publicly and even offer my own point of view on.  think about where you find stuff like that and who is producing it (more so, who is capable).  at the end of the day, you have to eat the food that is going to satisfy you the most and focusing on delivery mechanisms might keep you afloat for now, but what happens when someone does it better?

sustainability in our society’s intellectual culture isn’t built on the traps we set but instead the meals we make.  i’m convinced the day will come when people turn and walk back towards whence they came - the thirst not for “scarcity” or “limited choice” but a thirst for quality and concise editorial.