The Monetization Question at Custard In The Ether

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The Monetization Question

By admin | April 13, 2009

Thanks to Cromarty, who neatly picked me up for avoiding the monetization issue in digital publishing in my previous post (thought I’d got away with that!).

I think the danger is to think that there will be one solution to the great question of how to make money out of selling digital creative content - just as there was traditionally really only one fundamental model for selling physical objects such as books. However, there being no one clear way to sell digital content is obviously one of the main things hampering publishers. It also makes it difficult to picture what kind of activity the sales department at the digital publishing houses of the future might be undertaking.

I think it is becoming increasingly evident that they will need to be flexible - there will be a different way to capitalise on different pieces, depending very much on how the user experiences them. We may see a rise in the number of subscription based serialisations and micro payments (following the iTunes model). We may also increasingly see content given away for free, but revenue gleaned from advertising, and sales of associated merchandise. There is then obviously the dubious role of e-books, where publishers try desperately to compromise by putting digital writing content into a format they can understand.

The key thing to remember is that the word “free” has become so intrinsically linked with the Internet, that it would be a mistake to think that one can make money out of every little bit of creative content to drip from the virtual gold-nibbed pen of digital writers. There will be a higher proportion of free content in digital publishing, with money being made only if publishers can justify the added value to discerning consumers.

In many ways, this should be extremely liberating: publishing sales teams will have to work much harder to sell content to consumers in a relevant way, whilst writers/creators will be driven to produce really high quality (or at least, popular) work to generate an income. However, for this to come to pass, both creators and marketeers need to get a much better idea of what people are prepared to pay for online, and what they want as consumers. Audiences online also need to become exposed digital writing as a valid way of reading - stepping beyond the current misconception that serious reading is only done through the medium of the book.

Whatever the solution(s) turn out to be, digital publishers will no longer be able to think of sales in terms of physical units. The importance of a flexible approach is the only guaranteed prediction anyone can confidently make at the moment.

It is also worth remembering that, believe it or not, the problem is far older than the arrival of the Internet. Art has always been difficult to sell….

Topics: Creative Writing, eBooks, new media |

The Monetization Question

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