The Times They Are AChangin

1
The Times They Are A-Changin

• Jane Friedman
• Editorial Director
• FW Media (not FW Publications!)

2
The Basics (Pre-Revolution)

• More books published than ever (but a higher
  number are not being sold)
  
• Saturation 400,000 new books per yr
• Publishers act as a distributor and depend on
  authors to sell/promote to their own readership
  
• Authors become platform-driven

3
CONTENT as Buzzword

• Newspapers are disappearing
• Magazines are fading/declining
• Book publishing is flat
• What is still viable?
• CONTENT

4
VERTICAL Content

• The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
• New York Times horizontal content (mass
  audience)
  
• OReilly vertical content(niche audience)

5
Niche Publishing

• Becoming driven by technology, by the Web, by
  diverse media
  
• Serves up content in the way the consumer wants
• More direct-to-consumer, fewer middle men

6
Communities Networks

• Examples of broad social networks
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Your value as an author will lie in the
  communities/networks you reach (and those
  communities that trust you).

7
PLATFORM What is it?

• What youre doing and will do to increase your
  visibility and reach to an audience/community. It
  includes
  
• what you publish
• where you speak or teach
• what you do online
• media appearances and mentions

8
Successful Author Formula

• Have a robust and growing platform
• Have a connection to an identifiable community or
  network
  
• Have an online presence that fits with their
  expertise and community
  
• Have experience with diverse media, formats, and
  ways of communicating

9
New Truth

• The Internet affects your ability to be
  successful and get published
  
• Not-yet-authors Whats your visibility on
  Google? Do you exist there?
  
• Already-authors How does your content compete
  with the many other options available online (and
  offline)?
  
• Does your content deserve book treatment? Why?
  Should it be a site first?

10
Using New Author Tools

• Web sites and/or blogs
• E-zines and e-newsletters
• Podcasts (and blogtalkradio.com)
• Free downloads and free content
• Online promotions and freebies for loyal fans and
  readers
  
• Those social networks. (Is that where your
  audience is? What you get out is what you put in.)

11
So What About E-Books?

• Amazon Kindle
• Key to remember E-book is yet another format,
  not a revolution in and of itselfnot until it
  changes how people read and consume information
  
• Eventually Electronic and digital will not
  be slapped on after the real book is
  finished/complete.

12
Future Interactive Books

• What if books could automatically update
  themselves in your device?
  
• What if you could see other peoples annotations
  and comments in your electronic book/device?
  
• What if you could touch any word or paragraph and
  get more info or additional experiences
  (video/audio)?

13
The Trend of Free

• Why would you ever pay for something you can get
  for free?
  
• Trust
• Immediacy
• Personalization
• Authenticity
• Accessibility
• Findability
• Interpretation
• Community

14
Fundamental Paradigm Shift

• The
• Book
• As
• Souvenir

15
Will Publishers Go Away?

• Who will channel attention?
• Who will find talent?
• Who will spread word about talent?
• Who points you to the good stuff?
• Who do you trust?
• Who aggregates the content, channels the content,
  stores the content?
  
• Who helps you find the content?

16
Resources Amidst Chaos

• OReilly TOC blog
• TheDigitalist.net
• BookSquare blog
• PersonaNonData blog
• Print Is Dead blog
• ChrisBrogan.com
• Google!