New Media

More Fun In The Digital World

August 1, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Isn’t it curious that the most profitable aspect of the publishing business is also the hardest to control? Backlist, especially those lovely older titles with lower associated costs, prop up the houses — much like the catalog of motion picture studios. It is this evergreen product that keeps the lights burning and air conditioning cooling.

For years now, the smarter studios have been digitizing their backlist. This is an expensive — extremely expensive — and time-consuming process. Yet the industry has been moving toward digital with grim determination. They don’t like the free-wheelin’ ways of the Internet, but the lure of digital distribution, satellites and fast wires and sometimes no wires at all, is irresistible. Even now, as they step warily into new media markets via services like CinemaNow and Movielink, and even now, as the dollars are relatively small compared to the initial investment, they worry about piracy.

Suggestions For The New Media World

July 31, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Possibly one of the most inadvertently candid comments I head last week came from an executive at a publishing house who said (and I paraphrase), “We’re just throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see what sticks.” Fair enough. The way people access entertainment is changing rapidly, and it’s better to try and fail than to sit on the sidelines and wonder how you missed the Next Big Thing.

Failure is hard, I know, so I have a little advice:

Keep It Simple – Don’t invest large dollars in a complex projects that take years to launch. Services like iTunes work when they’re easy-to-use. They fail when they grow overly complex or illogical (note to iTunes: time to rethink the basic navigation!). Build your technology in a way that encourages modularity and expansion.
Keep It Free – When I wrote about consumers being nickle-and-dimed to death with new media offerings, I wasn’t joking. Think about what consumers are paying and determine if what you’re offering is worth another buck or two a month. Consumers are already paying for cable, broadband, phone service, extra phone services, fees and surcharges, and regular entertainment. At some point, there’s going to be a backlash against all these fees.
Keep It Open – Don’t lock your business into a single service provider. Don’t hook up with Verizon to the exclusion of Cingular. Don’t lock in to iTunes and ignore other services. Don’t assume that everyone knows that your website is the only place to access “your” content. Likewise, don’t assume that everyone is using the same media player or, gasp!, a Windows customer. Embrace diversity like you never have before.
Keep It Social – Do not fear your customers. Let them talk back to you. Let them talk to each other. Keep the barrier for interaction low – and make sure you have someone on staff who is smart enough to judge the difference between healthy debate and outright destruction. Allowing a little dissent creates a level of authenticity largely missing from corporate new media offerings.
Keep It Moving – Don’t assume that you’ve met the demands of the market with your latest killer app. After everyone else steals your idea (and you know they will), you’ll need something just as cool as a follow-up.

Finally, make sure that you and customers are having fun.

You Can’t Take It With You

June 26, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Right now, the various motion picture studios are debating the various issues surrounding mobile and digital media. They are trying to slot new distribution streams into existing boxes. At first glance, this is a fairly simple process. It’s not. Trust me. The New Media Wars are just starting to heat up in Hollywood and they’re going to be very expensive for the studios, but I think there’s another war a’ brewin’: consumers versus content providers.

What? You’re saying this is an old war? Au contraire, mon frere. The consumer wars have barely begun.

All Hail Digital Publishing!

June 6, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Kevin Kelly’s recent New York Times article, “Scan This” (link via the Updike article below), really struck a nerve. While the publishing industry has dismissed most of the article in public — the dismissal that both rallied the industry and showed its naivete was John Updike’s BEA speech, the literary equivalent of “bring ’em on” — behind the scenes, there’s been a lot of soul-searching and slow, literary-style reaction.

Ah, the publishing industry. Even its outrage comes at its own pace.

Books And Bytes – It’s All Good

May 30, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

After a delightful weekend away from the keyboard, I’d planned to return, refreshed and ready to talk about something other than publishing. But even as I was shopping and cooking and pretending to clean, something kept nagging at me. It became more insistent as I parked myself in my the backyard yesterday, book in hand.

When it comes to new media, it’s not paper-versus-bytes argument. For those who have a “passion for paper”, as Inside Higher Ed’s Alex Golub does, there is no issue. Except that of the cost of paper increasing while the cost of bytes decreases, but I think we’ll still be at the very affordable level for the foreseeable future.

Copyright And The Artistic Process

May 24, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

I am a writer. I am a writer. I am a writer. When it comes down to things I know how to do, number one (and quite often number only) is writing. I think in story. I fantasize scenes. I hear voices. If you’re not a writer, this means you’re crazy; if you are a writer, this means you’re normal.

Finally, normal.

Publishing Versus The Net Generation

May 23, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Despite the fact that it’s had ten years to prepare, the publishing industry doesn’t have a new media plan. To suggest that the rapid changes appear to be blind-siding the industry might be harsh, but, yeah, it looks like someone got caught with their strategy down. As the world is changing — for proof, oh publishers, talk to your younger editorial staff — the industry remains mired in Old Ways.

For an example of what happens to an industry that refuses to acknowledge external change, please see the annals of music history, particularly the chapters on Napster and Kazaa.

Old School Rules For Very Serious Magazines

April 4, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Funny conversation at lunch today. Kirk asked me if any of the major media — as in the monolithic entities, not the individual parts — got it. By it, of course, he meant new media. Or as we like to call it, digital entertainment technology.

It didn’t take me long to analyze the various mediums and come back with a solid answer. “No,” I said. “None of them get it.”

What Really Keeps Studio Executives Awake At Night

March 9, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

I’m going to tell you a little secret: Hollywood is in a state of panic (it’s also in California, but that’s another issue). Those of you who have been paying attention have surely noted that the new media is moving at warp speed. Now you could say, in the studios’ defense, that this rapid turn of events has been, well, rapid, but the Dawn of the New Media has been predicted since Amazon.com sold its first book.

Hollywood has been actively digitizing product for years now. Every studio has been scrubbing and remastering and relicensing music in anticipation of a digital windfall. Maybe it’s that DVD has been so dominant, so profitable for so long, but the studios remain unprepared for the future. Item Number Ten on the Absolute Value analysis of Google’s Analyst Slide Show asks the question that has Hollywood biting its nails:

Do you know exactly how many assets you have? By assets, I mean all the content you’ve ever owned or created. Do you know exactly? Do you have the count? (Remember, I’m a computer scientist. I have to ask these things.)