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Oh, if you have good enough content that's also important to people. People will pay. The question is how many will pay (not just say they'll pay) and for how

Oh, if you have good enough content that's also important to people. People will pay. The question is how many will pay (not just say they'll pay) and for how long. I used to pay for Molly White's excellent Web3 reality check newsletter. She changed the platform and I didn't follow her. It was interesting while she was reporting all of the BS and fraud, but after the bubble has popped it's less compelling. For someone getting into a hot field like AI, will the paid subscriber interest still be there in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years? If the writer expands to an adjacent area, will that make some of his existing subs bail? Ben Thompson keeps Stratechery going not only because he's a strong, insightful writer, but he didn't go too narrow (for instance, only Apple strategy) and there's always something to write about for people who follow this stuff. Benedict Evans works in a similar way in terms of not going too narrow.

aiappreciator 4y ago
Two factors here: 1. Journalists don't necessarily want to write about 1 topic for their entire lives either. They can pivot, and its no harder than finding a different job for a journalist. 2. Journalist writers have a responsibility and freedom to choose more durable topics. If you built your brand on a fad (web3), even if to criticize it, you make yourself vulnerable. Whereas if you built on on say cloud computing/ancient history/how to find jobs in tech, you'd be on way safer grounds. I would say AI is the rare topic that is both insanely hyped and permanently durable. The industrial revolution lasted centuries, so will AI.
- ghaff 4y ago
  So, say, "cloud computing." I've had a conversation with a successful consultant and having a "cloud computing" business for him is mostly about specializing in AWS (and costs specifically). Which is a very different business from what writing about cloud was 10 years ago. The money probably is in being a specialist but the caveat is that specialties often go out of fashion.

aiappreciator 4y ago

Two factors here: 1. Journalists don't necessarily want to write about 1 topic for their entire lives either. They can pivot, and its no harder than finding a different job for a journalist. 2. Journalist writers have a responsibility and freedom to choose more durable topics. If you built your brand on a fad (web3), even if to criticize it, you make yourself vulnerable. Whereas if you built on on say cloud computing/ancient history/how to find jobs in tech, you'd be on way safer grounds. I would say AI is the rare topic that is both insanely hyped and permanently durable. The industrial revolution lasted centuries, so will AI.

ghaff 4y ago
So, say, "cloud computing." I've had a conversation with a successful consultant and having a "cloud computing" business for him is mostly about specializing in AWS (and costs specifically). Which is a very different business from what writing about cloud was 10 years ago. The money probably is in being a specialist but the caveat is that specialties often go out of fashion.