Comments on: Monetizing content now, monetizing community later http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/ A raucous public discussion of the publishing revolution. Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:20:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mshatzkin http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/comment-page-1/#comment-7 mshatzkin Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:28:40 +0000 http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/#comment-7 Mike: I agree that the payoff for community won't come mostly from voluntary contributions for the content instead of just purchasing it. We'll have to be more creative than that. Once again, Cader's model is that you create a service layer and community-added content that provide enough value to make a subscription fee work. So Publishers Lunch was the bait that brought in the community; then the community's interaction created the added value worth paying for. Rob: the question of what is "free" and what you can charge for is driven by economics, nothing else. The net is making a lot of competitive content available free; that is challenging to the industries that have charged for content in the past. You're right that we don't "let" beer be free, but if somebody down the street from your bar ever decides to start giving it away, you'd have a much harder time selling it. Mike: I agree that the payoff for community won’t come mostly from voluntary contributions for the content instead of just purchasing it. We’ll have to be more creative than that. Once again, Cader’s model is that you create a service layer and community-added content that provide enough value to make a subscription fee work. So Publishers Lunch was the bait that brought in the community; then the community’s interaction created the added value worth paying for.

Rob: the question of what is “free” and what you can charge for is driven by economics, nothing else. The net is making a lot of competitive content available free; that is challenging to the industries that have charged for content in the past. You’re right that we don’t “let” beer be free, but if somebody down the street from your bar ever decides to start giving it away, you’d have a much harder time selling it.

]]> By: Rob Preece http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Rob Preece Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:55:46 +0000 http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/#comment-5 If information wants to be free, don't communities want to be free, too? Monitizing intellectual property does become the key issue not just for publishing but for our entire economy as we move into a real 'information' economy. I think we need to think of 'free' as a limiting end case, rather than as the usual model. Remember, beer wants to be free too, but we don't let it. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com If information wants to be free, don’t communities want to be free, too?

Monitizing intellectual property does become the key issue not just for publishing but for our entire economy as we move into a real ‘information’ economy. I think we need to think of ‘free’ as a limiting end case, rather than as the usual model.

Remember, beer wants to be free too, but we don’t let it.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

]]> By: mjensen http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/comment-page-1/#comment-2 mjensen Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:23:07 +0000 http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/07/monetizing-content-now-monetizing-community-later/#comment-2 Community is great, and will be increasingly important -- the challenge is to figure out ways to entice community. Monetizing content is tough. Free content and upselling is one way -- we at <a href="http://www.nap.edu" rel="nofollow">NAP</a> are just scratching the surface. But enticing community support (a la NPR, to support your good service, via quasi-voluntary donations, "membership," or guilt-driven giving), or via another quasi-voluntary mechanism like adboxes (implicitly encouraging your readers to click), will be a challenge. Much depends on raw traffic, as Tim suggests. I like to hope/think that a billion+ Web users will be the fertilizer for a million sites to bloom in this new environment. That is, that the proportion of reader to content providers, and the proportion of visitors to "conversions" (=money), will even out so that high-quality, specific-interest publishing will flourish. Community is great, and will be increasingly important — the challenge is to figure out ways to entice community.

Monetizing content is tough. Free content and upselling is one way — we at NAP are just scratching the surface. But enticing community support (a la NPR, to support your good service, via quasi-voluntary donations, “membership,” or guilt-driven giving), or via another quasi-voluntary mechanism like adboxes (implicitly encouraging your readers to click), will be a challenge.

Much depends on raw traffic, as Tim suggests. I like to hope/think that a billion+ Web users will be the fertilizer for a million sites to bloom in this new environment. That is, that the proportion of reader to content providers, and the proportion of visitors to “conversions” (=money), will even out so that high-quality, specific-interest publishing will flourish.

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