How the same? Claiming it doesn't make it so. And books cost more than 99 cents; ten dollars is not, in Graham's terms, an ignorable event.
But though I can't predict
specific winners, I can offer a recipe for recognizing them. When
you see something that's taking advantage of new technology to give
people something they want that they couldn't have before, you're
probably looking at a winner. And when you see something that's
merely reacting to new technology in an attempt to preserve some
existing source of revenue, you're probably looking at a loser.
In fact consumers never really were paying for content, and publishers
weren't really selling it either. If the content was what they
were selling, why has the price of books or music or movies always
depended mostly on the format? Why didn't better content cost more?
If audiences were willing to pay more for better content, why wasn't
anyone already selling it to them?
Publishers that understand how to leverage the existence of the long tail can reap rich awards for their efforts, but chasing it isn't easy. Can you afford not to chase it?
The content is, also, free of editorial interference or commercial pressure. The model, enthusiasts say, has a unique ability to capture “the long tail” — providing useful information on a wide swath of esoteric subjects, like how to make pasta in a paper shredder.
A former Senior VP and Executive Editor of Random House looks back on the industry to provide a measure of change and suggests some overlooked opportunities.