3 ms·
OK I see where we disagree I think. You (and the author) think this transformation is over, I think it's just starting. IIRCC self publishing is still at 5%-1
by grey-area 6y ago
OK I see where we disagree I think.
You (and the author) think this transformation is over, I think it's just starting.
IIRCC self publishing is still at 5%-10%. How does book publishing work today, 13 and 30 years after kindle and the wordwideweb were digitised publishing? A writer sits around wondering who they need to shag to get a publishing deal. If they're lucky, they get a publishing deal, like in 1988. Then Amazon sells it.
This is not an accurate summary no. Today an author doesn't need a publishing deal to get in front of millions of readers in a way they most definitely did in 1988. They can set up a web page and sell their book themselves (and many are doing so). Just to pick one example, this book is self-published[1] and has its own website, on Amazon - Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. There are certainly problems, Amazon is a predatory monopoly which will suck the margins out of any successful seller on its platform, but the entire industry is being shaken and self-publishing is growing in importance. Many of the old publishers see this coming but have no idea what to do about it, they're either watching their business slowly die or moving online selling curated content and leaving books behind.
To pick another example, video, channels like youtube and twitch have lead to the rise of internet celebrities not chosen by any producer or channel, but who set up their own stall and sell themselves. Gaming channels like steam or mobile have led to a boom in indie game studios and small games. There are certainly excesses and mistakes involved in that, but it is an entirely new mode of production enabled by the internet, and again I think it's in its infancy. It's not a fad which is going away - broadcast TV itself is going away and being replaced by a more interactive mode, it just doesn't know it yet.
So I don't agree the information revolution is over, it's only just beginning and will probably take about 50 more years at least to play out fully. We only just started carrying powerful internet connected computers in our pockets about a decade ago; the implications of that alone are far-reaching.
[0] http://momtestbook.com http://momtestbook.com
- dalbasal 6y agoMaybe we're getting closer but I don't think "You (and the author) think this transformation is over" is accurate. There is no pre/post. Change is continuous. Business is tumultuous. Speaking for myself, I think over/not-over is part illusion to shake. It is part of the theory, which has failed. A pre-digital world and a digital world... where our first principles economics will finally play out. That day is not coming, marginal cost economics is not going to play to the "logical" conclusion. There is a real reality out there. In it, digitisation of content has consistently led to monopoly. Google produce the world's most popular operating system and web browser just to support their search monopoly. They have no intention of being a neutral pipe. To get grandiose... I feel like we are/were misguided by deterministic thinking. We see the possibilities of digitization, and assume they're inevitable. They aren't. They were opportunities, but they were never just going to manifest themselves. The WWW was/is free because TBL made it that way. We believed that openness was an inevitability. Reality has schooled us.