81–90 of 91 posts
What is the catalyts for this? Apple's market share is similar to what is was a few years ago. Is there a decline in ad revenues? What is the reason for this.
I think it speaks volumes to the downward trend of Apple these days.
or the print business.
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I think that's a bit of an oversimplification. Straightforward reporting is in very good shape right now, particularly due to the effects you mention. Long form journalism and in-depth reporting is not doing nearly as well, and is not well supported currently.
Well, there are still a couple of good ones. The Economist is exceptional, but it's there. Foreign Policy is also pretty good, though it the opinions are less polished - it seems written by people who haven't had to defend their article in front of colleagues before publishing. Anyway, it's good. On the tech front there's Anandtech and partly Ars Technica. I doubt the world has seen much better journalism than those…
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So what? There are plenty of things that are really great to do once for fun, but still devolve to a grind when you do it all the time for work. I'd drive a tractor trailer or a tank for free, or work on a 787 assembly line. But that doesn't mean the people who do it every day for a living consider it a perk to do their jobs. Additionally, the people who cheerfully do this stuff for free are often the people you don'…
Are you seriously suggesting that we need more than, say, one person per language to type the things Tim Cook says into twitter? I think you're overstating the journalistic impact of MacWorld.
Today is a great time to be a writer. There are virtually no middlemen between you putting together a sentence and millions being able to read it. There are countless communities where you can find people to give you good feedback to hone your craft. Unfortunately, that also means it's a really terrible time to be a writer for a living. Like every job that is (a) creative and (b) can be distributed digitally, almost…
If you're trying this seriously, consider Patreon. I support some obscure stuff, and that obscure stuff is currently trending between "lucrative hobby" to "middle-class job pay". You still have to put in the work in the first place, of course, but I think the situation is slowly swinging around to being able to make a living at it again. But... not everybody is going to be able to make a living at it, and that's just…
Today is a great time to be a writer. There are virtually no middlemen between you putting together a sentence and millions being able to read it. There are countless communities where you can find people to give you good feedback to hone your craft. Unfortunately, that also means it's a really terrible time to be a writer for a living. Like every job that is (a) creative and (b) can be distributed digitally, almost…
>> almost all of the money is falling out of it. This always struck me as odd. Writers are clearly aware making money in their industry now is an uphill battle, yet in music (which has the very same environment), people seem to think the industry is thriving.
I think what you see is that more and more musicians do it for mainly non-financial incentives. That's been true for most musicians since time immemorial, but it's even more true today.
It turns out you don't really need to pay people much to get them to make and play music. They just need some gear and enough free time to do it.
Today is a great time to be a writer. There are virtually no middlemen between you putting together a sentence and millions being able to read it. There are countless communities where you can find people to give you good feedback to hone your craft. Unfortunately, that also means it's a really terrible time to be a writer for a living. Like every job that is (a) creative and (b) can be distributed digitally, almost…
> almost all of the money is falling out of it. Well no money because nobody's paying for it,and since nobody's paying for it the content is usually average at best. Free information is great,but let's face it,quality news cost money and time. What have we today?in the tech world? content farms (readwrite,thenextweb,techcrunch,mashable...) where writers often know nothing about the subject,or are using social justice…
I think that's an oversimplification.
I believe the lack of publishing gatekeepers means the bottom end of the bell curve isn't being truncated. The variation in quality has certainly gone up, but I'm not sure if the mean or median have really moved.
Sure, there's a lot of crap to wade through, but there are also a lot of talented people who wouldn't have been able to find an audience going through old publishing systems.
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> almost all of the money is falling out of it. Well no money because nobody's paying for it,and since nobody's paying for it the content is usually average at best. Free information is great,but let's face it,quality news cost money and time. What have we today?in the tech world? content farms (readwrite,thenextweb,techcrunch,mashable...) where writers often know nothing about the subject,or are using social justice…
The current quality and quantity of information previously classified as "news" is far beyond what has ever existed previously. Look at any news event and compare the information that's immediately available now compared to similar news events 20 or 30 years ago. People on the ground publish pictures, videos, and reports as the events are happening, and we can read reports from any source in the world translated inst…
Immediacy and media quantity have shot up, like you say. It's one of the most amazing things about living in the world today.
Depth and investigation has suffered, and I think accuracy and objectivity have too. Not every story can be revealed with cell cameras in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you have to dig and dig hard.
Today is a great time to be a writer. There are virtually no middlemen between you putting together a sentence and millions being able to read it. There are countless communities where you can find people to give you good feedback to hone your craft. Unfortunately, that also means it's a really terrible time to be a writer for a living. Like every job that is (a) creative and (b) can be distributed digitally, almost…
So to recap, terrible time to be a writer.
For example, for me, it's a great time to be a writer. I wrote a book that I'm self-publishing. If I couldn't do that, I would have had to compromise it in ways I don't really like in order to please a publisher.
I probably won't be making as much money (not that I would make much with a traditional publisher), but that's OK. I'm lucky enough to have a decent-paying day job.
The way writing works today is perfectly attuned to what I want to get out of it.