This is the sixth and likely final post in a continuing series from a technology seminar by Creative Strategies at Thomas Nelson on October 23, 2009.
The connected world is driving new business models. Here’s a few we publishers need to consider:
Free/Freemium
The consumer tests a chapter or two of our product. If they like it, they buy the whole thing. Amazon has pioneered this through its Look-Inside-The-Book feature.
Ala Carte Micro Transactions
This involves taking our content, breaking it into smaller bits and selling to the consumer just what they want. Apple pioneered this with iTunes; just buy the song you want for $0.99 instead of the whole album at $13.99 for a bunch songs you are never going to listen to anyway.
Many have argued against this as unhealthy for the music industry, but it will continue to be successful because it is a better solution for the consumer. Yes, it is convenient for the very small percentage of the US population that’s employed by the music industry, but many more benefit from this new model and thus it can’t be stopped.
We need to pioneer this in publishing. It is especially relevant to our reference and self-help books. Could we piece meal fiction with cliff hangers so the consumer can’t wait to buy the next scene?
Subscription
This business model has been talked about so much, and has been around for so long, I think some don’t give it enough credit as a viable model in the connected world. Subscriptions are most likely for the “Tribe” that is really passionate about your content and just wants to keep the facet flowing.
The beauty of the model is that it’s an annuity. It is the opposite of the Ala Carte Micro Transactions model where you only pay for exactly what you want. This is for the person who can’t get enough of our content and this is a better deal. We will take that annuity all day, but we have to keep offering enough new interesting content that they want to keep paying us that subscription.
I can see this working for nearly all of our clearly defined specific genres, including Bible, Reference, Self-Help and Fiction.
These models will take on more relevance as our online communities grow. What do you think?
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2 comments:
I think we need to be testing all of these, including the advertising model, which you did not mention. This is where advertisers would pay to get access to a specific audience that our content creates.
While mass advertising has fallen on tough times, niche advertising, particularly via social media, has become increasingly attractive. I think it is another option we should consider.
Thanks for laying all of this out so simply.
Mike - Thanks for pointing this out. Good catch.
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