Comments on: Adventures in paid content, with actual payment http://owenyoungman.com/2009/05/21/adventures-in-paid-content-with-actual-payment/ Knight Professor of Digital Media Strategy, Medill / Northwestern Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:32:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Chris MacAskill http://owenyoungman.com/2009/05/21/adventures-in-paid-content-with-actual-payment/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Chris MacAskill Fri, 22 May 2009 05:25:51 +0000 http://owenyoungman.com/?p=835#comment-13 Hahaha, great post, and accurate too--which is quite an accomplishment considering how many years have passed. The untold part of the story was that we thought publishers would love us because finally we were making a marketplace for pieces longer than a magazine article, shorter than a book. In talking to authors like Clayton Christensen, who wrote the marvelous book, "Innovator's Dilemma," we heard over and over that "I didn't have enough material to make a great book and to commercialize it in book form I had to blow air in it. It was really perfect for 35 pages." And that turned out to be why publishers hated us. Authors like Doris Kearns Goodwin found she could write something really compelling for Mightywords, and she did. When she did, I got called into the President of Simon & Schuster's office, him being livid that we were distracting her from her Lincoln biography (which turned out to be Team of Rivals. When we understood what we were doing was not going to be loved by publishers but bloody war against them, we understood what we were up against. You notice that the Kindle is really an alternative venue for books, not mid-length pieces, which so many people still want to see. Chris MacAskill Hahaha, great post, and accurate too–which is quite an accomplishment considering how many years have passed.

The untold part of the story was that we thought publishers would love us because finally we were making a marketplace for pieces longer than a magazine article, shorter than a book.

In talking to authors like Clayton Christensen, who wrote the marvelous book, “Innovator’s Dilemma,” we heard over and over that “I didn’t have enough material to make a great book and to commercialize it in book form I had to blow air in it. It was really perfect for 35 pages.”

And that turned out to be why publishers hated us. Authors like Doris Kearns Goodwin found she could write something really compelling for Mightywords, and she did. When she did, I got called into the President of Simon & Schuster’s office, him being livid that we were distracting her from her Lincoln biography (which turned out to be Team of Rivals.

When we understood what we were doing was not going to be loved by publishers but bloody war against them, we understood what we were up against. You notice that the Kindle is really an alternative venue for books, not mid-length pieces, which so many people still want to see.

Chris MacAskill

]]>