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Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

davemorin.tumblr.com

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Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#11

Post by ajdecon »

swombat wrote: post #3

This viewpoint fails to see that the author benefits just as much as the reader, if not more, from writing quality stuff that attracts eyeballs. A famous blogger has much better ways to monetise their fame than monthly subscriptions. A blog is a delivery tool to direct people's attention to places - you can sell stuff via your blog. A successful blog is also a powerful reputation-building mechanism. You can sell your…

Which works if you view writing purely as a way to sell your time or your other work. But if you want to make a living by writing, not by starting side businesses, then I don't think it's clear that your content should be free. Some people want to find a way to make a living as content creators, not as content creators + t-shirt salesmen + consultants.

How possible is this in general? I don't know. It's the same problem that exists with all other digital media. But I think it's likely that some people will probably find a way to make a living with paywalls or email newsletters, and be happier that way--even if they could make more by selling t-shirts. And I suspect they will do so with a very high price point, because exclusivity always sells.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#12

Post by mkramlich »

zeynel1 wrote: post #10

''Recently, Eric Schmidt, of Google, remarked that “There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003.” He continued, “Now that much information is created every 2 days.” We are creating more than ever across this ever expanding medium that we love.'' I feel like a visionary! I wrote recently that ''we have more written-word saved in Google's servers than all previous written-w…

I'm guesstimating that he guesstimated.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#13

Post by DotSauce »

Is it just me or is the letter.ly subscription page really bland? Too minimalist? I think it needs color, a more detailed description, anything compelling that might make me consider subscribing before closing the page.

A real subscribe 'button' and proper capitalization could help as well.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#14

Post by zeynel1 »

mkramlich wrote: post #12
zeynel1 wrote: post #10

''Recently, Eric Schmidt, of Google, remarked that “There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003.” He continued, “Now that much information is created every 2 days.” We are creating more than ever across this ever expanding medium that we love.'' I feel like a visionary! I wrote recently that ''we have more written-word saved in Google's servers than all previous written-w…

I'm guesstimating that he guesstimated.

Even just guesstimating seems difficult to me. I wonder then how did he guesstimate?

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#15

Post by bpm140 »

Maybe someone with great knowledge can chime in, but it seems like this is classic Prisoners' Dilemma. If only some people lock up their content, those who give it away for free will eat their lunch.

I applaud Dave for believing in his position enough to take his writing behind a pay-wall, but I think game theory is going to show this to be a poor solution in the long-term.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#16

Post by inerte »

zeynel1 wrote: post #14
mkramlich wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guesstimating that he guesstimated.

Even just guesstimating seems difficult to me. I wonder then how did he guesstimate?

It was his interview question at Google, now he has to live by these numbers. He became the choir.

Just kidding. He has no idea if these numbers are true. The important meat of the message, that humanity now stores more information than ever jedi hand and Google helps you make sense of it /hand is what he wants you to believe.

And believe you will. I mean, we're so much smarter than previous generations (as usual), we've got to be doing whatever, better than previously.

It fits their company purpose. They are the good guys. Add 2+2. Why do you have to make so much trouble with these questions?

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#17

Post by swombat »

ergo98 wrote: post #5
swombat wrote: post #3

This viewpoint fails to see that the author benefits just as much as the reader, if not more, from writing quality stuff that attracts eyeballs. A famous blogger has much better ways to monetise their fame than monthly subscriptions. A blog is a delivery tool to direct people's attention to places - you can sell stuff via your blog. A successful blog is also a powerful reputation-building mechanism. You can sell your…

>A blog is a delivery tool to direct people's attention to places - you can sell stuff via your blog. A successful blog is also a powerful reputation-building mechanism. Reputation goes down the toilet the moment you start selling stuff on your blog. Affiliate links are the scourge of blogs, because you don't know whether it was an incidental monetization, or whether the blogger thought "How am I going to get this th…

Actually it seems to me that affiliate links are the worst way to sell through your blog. Sell your own product. If you don't have a product, build one, around your audience. They like what you write, so some form of ebook makes sense.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#18

Post by swombat »

ajdecon wrote: post #11
swombat wrote: post #3

This viewpoint fails to see that the author benefits just as much as the reader, if not more, from writing quality stuff that attracts eyeballs. A famous blogger has much better ways to monetise their fame than monthly subscriptions. A blog is a delivery tool to direct people's attention to places - you can sell stuff via your blog. A successful blog is also a powerful reputation-building mechanism. You can sell your…

Which works if you view writing purely as a way to sell your time or your other work. But if you want to make a living by writing , not by starting side businesses, then I don't think it's clear that your content should be free. Some people want to find a way to make a living as content creators, not as content creators + t-shirt salesmen + consultants. How possible is this in general? I don't know. It's the same pro…

Then they can sell ebooks or even traditional books through their blog, and/or get their column syndicated by a paying newspaper (as long as those exist).

Note that I'm not saying that paywalls are always going to fail, just that in general the argument "I write good stuff so I should charge for it" is pretty unsteady.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#19

Post by lelele »

zeynel1 wrote: post #10

''Recently, Eric Schmidt, of Google, remarked that “There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003.” He continued, “Now that much information is created every 2 days.” We are creating more than ever across this ever expanding medium that we love.'' I feel like a visionary! I wrote recently that ''we have more written-word saved in Google's servers than all previous written-w…

Didn't Google start a project on scanning all existent books to build a digital library? Maybe they derived their estimate from there.

Re: Goodbye Blog. Hello Letter.

#20

Post by lelele »

_delirium wrote: post #2

It'll be interesting to see how this goes. It has some intriguing possibilities, but it's also a pretty saturated market. The "market" for free information is indeed super-saturated, but the market for pay information is quite saturated as well. I already have more books, e-books, journal articles, conference papers, magazines, e-zines, etc. to read than I can possibly buy and read in any reasonable period of time. W…

> I already have more books, e-books, journal articles, conference papers, magazines, e-zines, etc. to read than I can possibly buy and read in any reasonable period of time.

That's why I have made the resolution to read as few books as possible, and stopping there. I'm currently selecting the true classics such as Dale Carnegie's books.

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