Winner takes all or winner takes niche?

Performers and musicians have been living in a winner-take-all world for years. Maybe there's another world now, the winner-take-niche world.

A guitar player begins by studying, practicing and performing for small groups. The audience goes wild. The guitarist plays for a larger audience. The audience goes wild again. Eventually, the guitarist plays for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band. Only a microscopic handful of guitarists (or writers) can become international big-media rock-stars.

The Internet gives writers the opportunity to  focus on a tiny niche. Maybe it's possible to become a niche rock star. Chris Guillabeau does this by focusing on people who want to live an unconventional life. Adam Wilt does it by focusing on the technical intricacies of video cameras.  A tiny niche is all a writer needs in a web 2.0 world.

FS100 camera review by Adam Wilt

I think it is important for a writer to own a good camera, and know how to use it. Video and still cameras have been improving at light-speed for the the last few years. One of the most interesting high-end cameras ($5000 range) is the recently released Sony FS100.

Adam Wilt writes a good review of the new Sony NEX-FS-100 super 35 video camera at Pro Video Coalition.

One of the things that attracts me to the FS-100 is the availability of third party accessories. Third party accessories are a good indication that a camera has a strong, devoted following.

Pathwright for online courses

Pathwright looks like a scalable, easy-to-use way to create, sell and teach online courses.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/08/pathwright-launch/

I am seriously thinking of creating a online Digital Video Secrets course just to test it.

This is the first online education package that really excites me.

I've been at least aware of online education since the beginning of the Internet. I still remember the corporate push for online education at one of my big writing clients--12 writers, multiple millions of dollars, awkward Unix based course software... Everyone could see the potential but no one could make it work. Maybe Pathwright will make it work.

Seth Godin's lessons from the Domino project (reposted)

When Seth Godin closed down the Domino Project he wrote about what he learned in a blog post titled . The last hardcover. (If you are not familiar with Domino here's what happened: Godin started a publishing company caleld Domino. He published a string of 11 best-sellers. Then he SHUT IT DOWN because as he said, "It was a project...")


What Godin says in this has profound implications for any writer. The complete post:

"Today the Domino Project is publishing Sarah Kay's new book. It's a short poem, a great gift and a book I'm proud to publish by an author on her way to big things. I hope you'll take a look.

"Almost exactly a year after we started, Sarah's book is the last print book we'll be launching. Twelve books, twelve bestsellers, published in many languages around the world.

"I've posted a history of what we built, along with some of what we learned along the way.

"By most of the measures I set out at the beginning, the project has been a success. So why stop? Mostly because it was a project, not a lifelong commitment to being a publisher of books. Projects are fun to start, but part of the deal is that they don't last forever.

"The goal was to explore what could be done in a fast-changing environment. Rather than whining about the loss of the status quo, I thought it would be interesting to help invent a new status quo and learn some things along the way. Here are a few of my takeaways:

"Permission is still the most important and valuable asset of the web (and of publishing). The core group of 50,000 subscribers to the Domino blog made all the difference in getting the word out and turning each of our books into a bestseller. It still amazes me how few online merchants and traditional publishers (and even authors) have done the hard work necessary to create this asset. If you're an author in search of success and you don't pursue this with singleminded passion, you're making a serious error. (See #2 on my advice for authors post from five years ago, or the last part of my other advice for authors post from six years ago.)

"The ebook is a change agent like none the book business has ever seen. It cuts the publishing time cycle by 90%, lowers costs, lowers revenue and creates both a long tail and an impulse-buying opportunity. This is the most disruptive thing to happen to books in four hundred years. It's hard for me to see significant ways traditional book publishers can add the value they're used to adding when it comes to marketing ebooks, unless they get busy with #1.

"Booksellers have a starfish problem. Without permission (see #1) it's almost impossible for a publisher to be heard above the noise, largely because long tail merchants haven't built the promotional tools traditional retailers have long used to highlight one title over another. You used to be able to buy useful and efficient shelf space at a retailer. Hard to do that now.

"There is still (and probably will be for a while) a market for collectible editions, signed books and other special souvenirs that bring the emotional component of a book to the fore. While most books merely deliver an idea or a pasttime, for some books and some readers, there's more than just words on paper. Just as vinyl records persist, so will books. Not because a reader can't get the information faster or cheaper, but because there's something special about molecules and scarcity.

"When you combine #1, #3 and #4, you get to Kickstarter, which it seems to me, is going to be ever more important, particularly to new authors, authors that don't write genre ebooks and anyone with a tribe who wants to produce something like a book.

"Sponsored ebooks are economically irresistible to readers, to sponsors and to authors. I'm proud to have pioneered this, and I think it's a trend worth pursuing. The value transfer to the reader is fabulous (hey, a great book, for free), and the sponsor gets to share in some of that appreciation. The author gets a guaranteed payday as well as the privilege of reaching ten or a hundred times as many readers.

"The ebook marketing platform is in its technical infancy. There are so many components that need to be built, that will. Ebooks are way too hard to give as gifts and to share. Too hard to integrate into social media. And the ebook reader is a lousy platform for discovery and promotion of new titles (what a missed chance). All that will happen, the road map is there, but it's going to take commitment from Apple, B&N and Amazon.

"If you're an author, pick yourself. Don't wait for a publisher to pick you. And if you work for a big publishing house, think really hard about the economics of starting your own permission-based ebook publisher. Now's the time.

"Most of all, the character of people in the world of books hasn't changed since I started in this business 27 years ago. Every author I dealt with was a delight. Smart, passionate, honest, humble (and yes, good looking). Readers sense this, I think, and treat books and the people who make them very differently than someone hawking a vitamin or a penny stock. Publishing is about passion and writing is a lifestyle, not a shortcut to a mansion and a Porsche. Bestselling authors are like golfers who hit holes in one. It's a nice thing, but there are plenty of people who will keep playing even without one."

new paradigm for publishing

Building an audience

The old paradigm said, "Find a publisher, publish a book, and hope for sales." The old paradigm favored long development (writing) times, extensive research, and depending on the publisher for marketing.

All that is gone.

The new paradigm, enabled by web 2.0, is based on immediate feedback.

It goes something like this: "Write. Publish. See how people react. Write better. Repeat." Continue until you have an audience.

The traditional publisher only comes into the picture after the writer has an audience. The traditional publisher's job is to get the book into the global book distribution system. I don't believe the publisher builds the audience any more -- unless your name is Stephen King.

Kickstarter success tips by Jennifer Fox

Excellent tips for Kickstarter success. A series of 7 articles by Jennifer Fox on indieWIRE / Hope for Film. In which she explains the Kickstarter program for her film My Reincarnation. Although Fox was raising funds for a film, the tips would work for any project.

• May 20, 2011: “Change Or Die: How 22 Years On One Film Lead To Desperate Measures”
  Read the Article
• May 24, 2011: “The First 6 Tips For Launching A Six-Figure Kickstarter Campaign”
  Read the Article
• May 25, 2011: “The Next 14 Things I Learned From Our Six-Figure Kickstarter Campaign”
  Read the Article
• June 8, 2011: “How MY REINCARNATION Broke All Kickstarter Records & Raised $150,000”
  Read the Article
• June 22, 2011: “PART 2: How MY REINCARNATION Broke All Kickstarter Records”
  Read the Article
• June 23, 2011: “PART 3: How MY REINCARNATION Broke All Kickstarter Records”
  Read the Article
• June 24, 2011: “PART 4: How MY REINCARNATION Broke All Kickstarter Records”
  Read the Article

The Power of Free

In his latest report, The Power of Free, Peter Broderick tells how the creators of  Hungry for Change used free screenings to connect with their audience and build a following. With minor modifications, the techniques should work for book promotion, too. This may be Broderick's best report so far.

 And it is free.