The Writer of the Future

https://books.substack.com/p/notebook-the-writer-of-the-future

by agronaut • 7 years ago

34 17 7 years ago

books.substack.com

mirimir4• 7 years ago

Interesting.

But they want $45 for a one-year subscription to get book reviews. I have a hard time parsing that. Maybe if I were seriously into literary matters. Also, I can't see what forms of payment they accept, unless I provide an email address. Probably not Bitcoin, I'm guessing.

shantly4• 7 years ago

I'm still catching up on the last ( glances over at the three-volume Lichtheim ) 5000ish years of literature. I don't expect to be even half done before I'm dead. I can't imagine wanting or needing to know about new releases so badly I'd pay to receive frequent book reviews, unless I were in the industry.

[EDIT] also the author's misunderstood some things here:

Information, said the pioneers of digital reading, wants to be free.
[....]
the axiom that information means to be free determined that the economy of digital media would be based on advertising.

That's not really what that meant, and whatever actual dedication to information freedom that's manifested in tech circles has nothing whatsoever to do with advertising taking over the web.

mirimir4• 7 years ago

Yeah, that jump surprised me too.

I clearly remember the first online ads. And there was nothing ideological about it.

sramsay• 7 years ago

Maybe if I were seriously into literary matters.

Like the subscribers to the London Review of Books ($49 US / year), the New York Review of Books ($89 US / year), or the LA Review of Books? ($100 US / year for a quarterly, if I'm not mistaken).

There are lots of people who are serious enough about books to pay these kinds of prices, and the price they're asking is around market (though maybe a little high for digital only).

My question is this: Are they as good as these other very famous publications?

BookPost6• 7 years ago

Book post here! I worked at the NY Review of Bks for 30 years. One thing we heard over & over is that the issues pile up and no one has time to read them. Trying to develop a model that fits into modern life, makes people feel plugged in, not guilty. Looking not to compete with the old lions but offer something different.

BookPost6• 7 years ago

Book Post here! We need an email address because we're a newsletter. Process payments through Stripe. Thanks for having a look!

sixtypoundhound• 7 years ago

The problem is the reader world is bifurcating. It is no longer viable to write "for the middle" of the audience.

The two profitable price-quality points are:

- Cheap content for the masses (lowest common denominator, ad supported)

- Deep content for the vested (at a high price point)

"The middle" graces you with:

- High cost to produce (research, depth, diction)

- Limited audience

- Zero willingness to pay

A writer demanding the world take them seriously is the last step on the way down.... performance begets entitlement, not the reverse. There are critical writers in the business world: those who write landing pages, build core content, drive desirable activity. They are often very well paid and - in the event they aren't - are frequently positioned to go out on their own as an independent publisher. It's the ones that write what in retrospect was the filler who tend to complain....

BookPost6• 7 years ago

Book Post here. Thanks for giving us some thought! Agree, $45 subscription is a lift. Upside: Overhead is low & I don’t need a mass readership to make it work. The New York Review of Books and the New Yorker were built on an “aspirational” audience of people not necessarily seriously into books but wanting to keep up with culture in an approachable/manageable way. Would love to have enough readers to charge less. Isn’t there something between business reporting and “filler” that is a social good? Like, just because teachers don’t have the market leverage to earn millions, doesn’t mean we don’t want their salaries set at a level that attracts qualified people and makes the profession sustainable...

The Writer of the Future

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