While we ramble on about pulp fiction, everybody else is writing about pirates! Over at Publish.com, Steve Bryant sums up the hullabaloo:"John Cassidy reviewed Chris Anderson's new book, The Long Tail, in the New Yorker. For those of you who haven't made the pilgrimage to Wired's pages or Anderson's blog, a large part of the Long Tail argument focuses on the decline of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean ... But Cassidy's review urges us to take another look at Anderson's argument, especially at the idea that our demand for blockbusters will decrease over time."
As a fledgling writer plugging away in a super niche-y blog while print jobs dry up around me, I feel like a significant chunk of my career is invested in Chris Anderson's theory that smaller, dedicated audiences are the future. So I felt better when copyblogger weighed in, level-headed as usual:
"Internet marketers have been mining niche markets long before there was a nice buzz phrase for it, and the importance of continuing to do so in the future is critical. And Anderson never said that hits would disappear — they’ll only come less frequently, and can no longer be manufactured."
Finally, Chris Anderson responded, initiating a conversation about how blockbusters are created.
What do you think? Was I duped into thinking that I could survive if I found my pocket of readers? Is the zombie blockbuster coming back to feast on puny writers' brains?
Hollywood gets a get out of jail free card from the long tail effect, because of one of the basic human needs to connect as a tribe. Not sure if print has the same effect, except few and far between, like The DaVinci Code. Anyway, the long tail effect can certainly help publishers, and we've written a free tool to help show you the way. Demo link can be found on my name.
Posted by: Mike Levin of HitTail | July 11, 2006 4:49 PM | Permalink to Comment