Robert Niles: August 2011 archive
The 'high quality Web content' experiment has *not* failed - but some news publishers have
August 31, 2011
If you follow as many journalists as I do on Twitter, perhaps your timeline blew up last week, too, with links to Paul Carr's piece on TechCrunch asking Now Can We All Agree That The "High Quality Web Content" Experiment Has Failed?Slate's decision to lay off media critic Jack Shafer, among other staffers, prompted Carr's essay, which asked "what better illustration could there be of online media's woes than an ezine laying off its media critic because the economics of web content don't support a writer of his stature and specialism?"
As you might guess, I'm going to answer "no" to Carr's headline question. Let's not conflate the economics of Slate with the "economics of web content." Carr lost me completely when he wrote of Slate's "minuscule staff of 60."
Sixty's a gargantuan staff for a Web-only publication - one that could be supported only by a global publication with a worldwide advertiser base. Don't blame the Web for Slate's decision to operate with a too-large staff for the advertiser base its audience would support. That's Slate's bad call. (Blame Slate, too, for turning off the audience it could have had. I - and many others, I suspect - gave up long ago on Slate's smug brand of neo-liberal contrarianism, honed under the direction of former editor Jacob Weisberg.)
This has become standard repertoire on OJR, but plenty of people are making plenty of money with Web content. And millions of readers are enjoying rich conversations online, featuring voices of individuals whose experiences too often were not heard or told by newsrooms of Slate's size and larger.
True, it's hard to find examples of Slate-sized newsrooms producing general interest publications that are making 1980s-newspaper profits online. Carr's correct to link to an explanation that niche-topic websites are doing better financially today than general-interest news websites.
But, so what? What makes a general-interest publication like Slate inherently of higher quality than a niche publication? And what makes a story reported and written in a traditional journalism format inherently of higher quality than other forms of storytelling online?
Nothing. More...
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Why journalists shouldn't be afraid of advertisers
August 26, 2011
Are you afraid of being labeled a shill for advertisers if you get involved in soliciting income for your news website? Don't be. If there are themes to my writing here on OJR, one of them must be that you can control your own future as a journalist. You need not leave your fate in the hands of others. If you don't want to be a shill for advertisers, you won't be.You don't have to be afraid of advertisers
In my experience, most advertisers are business people who want to be associated with reputable means for communicating with their customers and potential customers. If they're going to spend their money advertising with you, they become invested in your success as a journalist and publisher.
People who don't care about you and your success are not people you want to be doing business with, either as an employee or as an entrepreneur.
Advertising is part of the content of a publication
That's why advertising works, when it does. Readers come to the publication looking for the advertising information within it, as well as for its editorial content. Don't buy into the idea that advertising is a necessary evil. It's simply additional content on the site - content that's selected not by your editors, but paid for by sponsors whose support helps you pay the expenses of providing your editorial content.
If people don't see or pay attention to the advertising in your publication, then it is not effective and you won't be able to earn income from advertising for very long.
You can, and should, develop standards for your advertisers
Just because advertising is paid content in your publication doesn't mean that you can't have a say in what it includes and who gets to place it. Every publication should have an explicit standards policy for advertisers. Are there businesses, industries or causes to whom will you not sell ads? Is there anything that must be in an ad placed in your publication? Is there anything you will not allow?
On our violin website, part of our advertising policy states that we will not sell ads to organizations that are on the American Federation of Musicians' International Unfair List. That's because my wife is a union musician and she has no desire to do business with or help promote any organization that in a dispute with the union.
Again, you control your business. Advertising contracts should provide mutual benefit. Sure, they get eyeballs and you get cash. But if you feel that an association with a specific advertiser (or type of advertiser) is hurting your reputation, then you're not getting benefit from that deal. Turn down the business and don't take the ad. That's why part of your policy should state that you have the right to refuse an ad placement.
Be respectful of potential sponsor's time, though. Think about, and state upfront what your criteria for accepting advertisers and creative are, so that other business people don't waste their time, and yours, developing campaigns that you won't accept. More...
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A journalist's guide to the scientific method - and why it's important
August 23, 2011
Why should journalists care about the scientific method? I suggested in my post last week that journalism students should take a lab science class to learn about the scientific method. Here's why I think that's so important to journalists today.The scientific method provides a standard procedure through which scientists gather, test and share information. Obviously, part of that should sound familiar because gathering and sharing information is what journalists do, too.
But there are substantial differences between the scientific method and journalism reporting. And while I believe that those differences did not affect journalism's viability when newspapers had an information monopoly in their communities, our lack of standards for testing information is hurting us in today's more competitive information market.
Before I go any further, let's introduce the scientific method, for those readers who aren't familiar with it. More...
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Advice for this year's incoming journalism students
August 19, 2011
I'm making this an August tradition, so here is my advice for this year's incoming journalism students. These tips are given to encourage new students to look beyond the typical j-school curriculum, to help them develop the skills that they will need in their future careers, but that j-schools too often fail to teach.Take at least one laboratory science class
I'm not talking about those general, survey courses that university science departments typically offer non-majors. Cajole your way into an actual lab science class - a physics, chemistry or biology class with a weekly lab session. Learn about the scientific method - how scientists develop a hypothesis and test it using observational data. Then compare and, if applicable, contrast that experience with what you are learning about reporting in your journalism classes.
Much of what passes for "objectivity" in news reporting would be laughed at as naivete in the much more rigorously tested world of science. Learn what objectivity really means by spending some time in a science department. Think about how you might apply what you observe and learn there in your reporting.
Learn how to run a business
Get involved in a student organization where you need to handle cash - raising income from sales and budgeting expenses. Watch how others make decisions about how to get money and how to spend it. Be attentive, and work hard, so that you can move into a position where you have budget responsibilities.
Journalism schools frequently bring guest speakers onto campus. Ask every one of them about the business side of their publication and organization. Learn about the various business models in publishing (and not just in journalism publishing).
Ignore anyone who tries to lecture you about "the wall" or the impropriety of editorial employees knowing too much about the business side of the news industry. Those individuals' time is past in the journalism field, and while they might be able to teach you some editorial skills, the skills they can teach you are incomplete for what you will need as a journalist. More...
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What is journalism worth?
August 17, 2011
What is journalism worth? That's the question journalism managers and entrepreneurs have been trying to figure out ever since it became clear, years ago, that the Internet was disrupting local publishing monopolies.And so we've endured years of conference panels, email exchanges, and blog posts about paywalls and paid content strategies, as publishers try to figure out exactly how much people are now willing to pay for news content.
Lost in this is the realization that people have been telling us - for generations - how much they're willing to pay for news.
Start with newspapers. For most of my life, newspapers cost 25 or 50 cents per daily copy. Think how many stories appeared in each of those papers - perhaps a dozen or so staff-written stories at smaller papers, up to several dozen or more at a major metro. Add in the wire stories and syndicated features, too, and we're talking about hundreds of items of content in each daily paper.
Now consider that the cost of the daily paper included home delivery of a physical copy and usually included a fair number of coupons, too. Subtract the value of the delivery, the copy on paper and the coupons. How much of that 25 or 50 cents is left? Not much. Divide that paltry remainder by the number of items of content in that paper. It ought to be clear that the marginal value to a consumer of each newspaper story is pretty much zero.
Let's think about magazine stories. Magazines cost more, from a couple bucks to several dollars a copy. And they include fewer, though often longer and more in-depth, stories. Again, you've got the benefits of home delivery and a copy on paper (but typically not so many coupons as a newspaper, if any). Once you subtract the value of that delivery and the paper copy, you're left with a much more than you had after you subtracted the same from the cost of a single issue of the newspaper. Divide that remainder by the number of stories in the magazine and you will probably find that each magazine article has some value - though it is small, ranging from a few cents to closer to a dollar for exceptional examples.
Still, it's better than the newspaper articles' value.
Now let's consider books. More...
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Tips for promoting sales of your eBooks, and other digital content
August 11, 2011
I'd like to follow my previous three articles on how to publish an eBook with some tips for increasing sales. While these tips are intended for promoting eBook sales, the principles behind them apply to promoting any digital content.Ask your current readers
Any time you launch a new product, present it to your current readers and customers first. They've already demonstrated an affinity for your work.
I also think it's a good idea to "beta test" new products, including eBooks, with selected readers before introducing them to the public. Your readers can provide fresh perspectives that alert you to issues you might have missed before launch.
While beta testing's invaluable for catching buggy code, I think "early reviews," if you will, from an audience can help you clean up and sharpen an eBook before publication. They are especially helpful if you're truly publishing on your own, and haven't otherwise had another set of eyeballs on your copy before you publish.
Your current readers are your viral agents, too. You need them telling their friends to tell their friends to buy your book, just as you need them telling their friends to tell their friends to read your website, "like" your pages on Facebook, etc. Do what you can to get them excited about your book.
You ought to know by know what resonates with your audience, so I won't get specific here. Some audiences love a direct approach. Others like a sarcastic take. Pick what works with your readers. But do not neglect to engage them as you prepare your eBook for sale.
In the marketplace, pick your targets wisely
If your eBook is successful, most of your sales will come from people who aren't your current readers, but who find you through the big online book retailers, most notably Amazon.com.
But how will prospective readers find your book among the millions for sale online?
More...
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The news business needs to escape the 'Logan's Run' economy
August 3, 2011
One of my great frustrations in running online publishing businesses is with the nation's devotion to what I call the "Logan's Run" economy.For those of you who aren't connoisseurs of 1970s science fiction movies, "Logan's Run" was a 1976 dystopian portrait of a future America where all people are put to death on their 30th birthday. (The title references the film's hero, Logan, who says 'to heck with this' and, well, makes a run for freedom.)
In the world of "Logan's Run," as soon as you stop growing, it's time for you to die.
That's the attitude that's infected too much of entrepreneurship and business management in American and other Western economies. Investors are looking for businesses that are poised to enter a sharp growth phase, so that they get in now and later can bank a strong return on their investment. There's no inherent harm there. Venture capitalists long have been with us, and can perform a valuable function as the catalysts which allow great ideas to grow quickly.
The trouble is when this Big Bang model becomes the only model that business managers are interested in pursuing. When that happens, businesses that no longer can (or never could) show the steep growth that professional investors demand are left to die, or like the 30-year-olds in "Logan's Run," are killed even when they could offer many more valuable years of life.
No manager wants that for her or his business. So they do whatever they can to make their businesses look like perpetual adolescents, always growing, growing, growing. When that growth can't be found naturally, through productive new businesses, managers often fake a blackening bottom line. They lay off employees, cut benefits, play tricks with accounting and, ironically, cut or abandon the research and development that they need to create real growth for their businesses.
But what's wrong with a business that doesn't grow? What's wrong with a business that simply maintains its market share, maintains its revenue, and provides living wages for its employees and a consistent flow of income for its owners? Why does a business have to keep providing an ever-increasing level of profit beyond that? More...
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