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People’s thoughts on the value of content diverge all the way from ‘Content is King’ to ‘Content is Worthless’.

This post will simply walk through 15 ways of looking at content and/or selling content.

#1 People tend to view Content according to what suits them

Consider ebooks -

1. Some portion of readers want to believe that ebooks cost little to produce and should cost $1 or perhaps even zero.
2. Some middle-men want to treat ebooks as worthless even though they profit from them.  
3. Other middle-men want to push the notion that their distribution channel is much more valuable than the ebooks themselves.
4. Some pirates subscribe to ‘information wants to be free’ and they not only want to get ebooks for free, they also want to gift them to others.
5. Publishers want to go from physical books to ebooks and still keep the same prices.

In each of these cases it’s the exact same ebook we’re talking about. Yet, people’s beliefs about the value of that ebook content morph according to what suits them.

#2 People in love with the Internet don’t want to believe it’s a tough channel to sell content on

Here’s a typical ‘I love the Internet, how dare you claim there’s a better place to sell content’ article (from Chris Dixon).

It mentions Mary Meeker’s presentation which points out that people spend a lot more on the Mobile Internet.

The article attacks this assertion in a rather roundabout way i.e.

It is certainly true that today people are paying for things on iPhones and Kindles that they aren’t paying for on the desktop Internet.

I think we are in the AOL “walled garden” days of the mobile Internet. Demand is far outpacing supply, so consumers are paying for digital goods

It then goes on to claim that people getting trained to pay for services and subscriptions on their phones has no significance -

 Now people are habituated to free stuff on the desktop Internet. Mobile is a chance to start over.I think this habit argument is greatly overplayed.

Actually, almost every single thing we do is habit based.

People learn to do things according to the context that is set for them. After that their experiences and the rewards they get and the rules they follow train them to behave in the same way in future.

#3 Technology Companies want to believe technology (and not Content) is King

This is a corollary of #1. Technology companies want to view technology as the beginning and the end. 

They subtly push the notion that Content is worthless and just exists to help spread the glory of technology.

This desire/push makes it simple for technology companies to fall into an utter sense of delusion -

1. We create great technology that helps the spread and consumption of content.
2. The technology must be more important because we are working on the technology. 
3. [Perhaps this is subconscious] If we convinced people (including ourselves) that technology was everything and content was nothing we could make a killing.
4. Content is nothing. Technology is everything.

Then they flip around and claim that they are doing content creators a favor by stealing their content.

However, look beyond the rhetoric and it’s clear that their real motivation is profits. It makes their strategy even stronger if, in addition to the world, they can delude themselves into thinking they’re doing the right thing.

#4 Companies that use content as a raw material or as a resource want to play down its value.

If your business pays for content (in some way), and profits off of a product made out of content, it makes a ton of sense to -

1. Downplay the value of content.
2. Find cheap sources of content.
3. Get people to work for you for free (or cheap) producing content.
4. Claim that high quality content is losing value because lots of people are producing low quality content.

Think about the companies that most profit from content. All the pipeline companies, all the middle-men. They are usually the ones doing the most to play down the value of content and exploit content creators.

#5 Communication oriented people and social people want to belive Content is secondary to Connecting and Communicating

This is another corollary of #1.

Consider this rather long article waxing poetic on the crucial importance of communication -

Content has never been king, it is not king now, and is unlikely to ever be king.

The Internet has done quite well without content, and can continue to flourish without it.

Content will have a place on the Internet, possibly a substantial place. However, its place will likely be subordinate to that of business and personal communication

Here’s the catch – The author is a Professor of Communications Technology at the University of Minnesota.

That obviously explains why he thinks the Internet can survive without content and that content is a distant third to personal and business communication.

#6 Find the right market and there’s a ton of money to be made

Content creators have focused so much on avoiding disaster and courting advertising revenue that they’ve forgotten that their core work is what people love and what people will pay for.

Content Creators focus too much on -

1. Markets that are over-saturated.  
2. Customers that don’t pay for content.
3. Number of potential customers as opposed to number of actual customers.
4. Future potential, at the cost of the current reality.
5. Areas they lack expertise in or have no passion for.  
6. Trusting companies that will benefit from fleecing content creators.

Why not take a different approach?

1. Find markets where people want insights and news and analysis.
2. Find markets where people have good intent.
3. Get into new niches before they’re saturated.
4. Build direct connections with customers.

There are huge new markets springing up all the time. Perhaps it’s time to stop covering celebrity news and every little ripple in the sports world.

#7 Any Content that helps people make money is extremely valuable

Giles Bowkett writes very well about this. The minute you have content that -

1. Helps people make money.
2. Helps people get better at their job and earn more money.
3. Helps people save money.

It’s instantly valuable. If your content can earn someone $10,000 over the next 2 years of their life, they’ll gladly fork over $100 for it.

#8 Any content that makes people feel good or otherwise entertains them is very valuable

A big problem with the Internet is it’s a very me-centric medium.

1. People update their Facebook status to talk about trivial things in their life. 
2. People blog about their lunch at the mall.
3. They twitter about things only they and their mother would find fascinating.

People who step away from me-centricity and focus on making other people happy (or on entertaining them) will instantly be on their way to producing content that earns a lot.

#9 New, emerging niches are dying to be covered

The same pattern repeats in most emerging niches -

1. There are few dependable sources for content and intelligence.  
2. There are lots of people trying to exploit the niche without adding any value.  
3. 1 or 2 sites do things the right way i.e. add value BEFORE trying to get value.
4. These 1 or 2 sites take over the niche and control the flow of traffic and the flow of money.

It’s never the newspapers though. A lot of the time it’s not content creators.

Content creators keep focusing on the lottery ticket scenarios and content equivalents of ‘get rich quick’.

#11 Good Content is not easy or cheap to produce

Good Content is not easy or cheap to produce because -

1. We are biased towards content we produce.  
2. There are multiple blocks – writer’s block, laziness, procrastination, lack of discipline, and so much more.  
3. Polishing content takes time.
4. Good ideas are hidden in between terrible ideas.
5. You have more failures than successes.  

Most of all, Good Content is terribly difficult to create because in our perspective what we write always seems right.

#12 Users decide what content they like and it tends to be random 

The first random factor is that you don’t really know how your readers will react -

1. They might love it. 
2. They might totally miss the intent.  
3. Even worse they might misinterpret the intent.  
4. They might hate it.
5. They might ignore it – perhaps the worst possible outcome.

As if that randomness isn’t bad enough you have additional randomizing factors -

1. Different days of the week see different behavior patterns.
2. Patterns vary according to the time of day too.
3. Everything is in flux – How hungry they are, how their day is going, what they’re feeling.

Exceptional content sometimes gets ignored and mediocre content sometimes garners grand rewards. Not all the time – just often enough to shatter the illusion that things aren’t random.

#13 People think the format or the channel is more important than the content.

A surprising number of people attribute all the value that content generates to the medium i.e.

1. YouTube is great because there are music videos and TV clips.
2. The Internet is great because you get free content.
3. Some site organizes news items well and suddenly it’s more valuable than newspapers.  

This is something the Internet is great at, and another reason why the Internet is a terrible channel to sell content.

The Internet weakens content creators and strengthens the aggregators.

Not only in terms of where people go to get their content fix. But also in terms of branding and revenues and customer love.

The most dangerous are the people who are middle-men and consciously or unconsciously spreading these beliefs.

#14 Monetizing content should be effortless

Creating content, by its very nature, tends to be painful. Finding customers and getting exposure isn’t very pleasurable either.

However, from that point the quality of your content and the appropriateness of your audience should make monetization easy.

1. If you found the wrong people go find your real audience. Your 1,000 true fans. 
2. If your work doesn’t vibe with your real audience – Figure out where your effort and plans went awry.
3. If monetizing your work is a struggle provide more value and make it easier for your customers to reciprocate.

The very best content draws money to it.

#15 Some Consumers and Some Companies will gladly exploit Content Creators

They won’t do it consciously – because that would be bad.

However, not all customers are perfect -

1. There are people who will not pay under any circumstance.
2. There are people who will not pay as soon as the threat of detection is removed.
3. There are people who will pay only if asked.

Even worse, most companies are unethical -

1. Some companies will promise your intangible things instead of money. Don’t buy into it.
2. Other companies will appeal to the higher motives while sticking a knife in your back. The more often a company appeals to the greater good the higher the chance the company is supremely unethical.
3. Companies will pull off the magic trick of pretending to be your friend at the exact same time as they’re bleeding you dry.

Trust only some customers and zero companies.

Content creators are on the verge of being turned into bonded, unpaid labor. It’s about time they woke up to the threat.

Filed under: content Tagged: | future of publishing, paid content