# How will publishers (and authors) adapt to the data economy?

> Ten years ago, we were living in a beautiful apartment in Paris and sending our kids to private school there. This was all subsidized by generous ex-pat benefits from BusinessWeek, which was then one of the richest magazines around. Last…
> URL: https://www.smartdatacollective.com/27563/
> Last modified: 2010-05-28T18:35:31+00:00

***Ten years ago**, we were living in a beautiful apartment in Paris and

sending our kids to private school there. This was all subsidized by generous

ex-pat benefits from BusinessWeek, which was then one of the richest

magazines around. 

Last winter, McGraw-Hill [sold](http://paidcontent.org/article/419-bloomberg-wins-businessweek-pearlstine-will-be-chairman/)

money-losing BusinessWeek, at a firesale price to Bloomberg Inc. And

after 23 years at a business that made its money by printing and

distributing tons of paper, I left.

Despite our

efforts, BusinessWeek never figured out how to adapt the age of data.

As luck would have it, I covered the very forces that were destroying the

magazine’s business and, eventually, my job: Blogs, social networks, and the math-driven data economy. 

		
							
					

				
					
		
Here’s why I’m writing this now. A couple days ago I was on a panel at Book Expo America: Are eBooks Good for Authors? (Here’s [one account](http://www.teleread.com/2010/05/26/bea-are-ebooks-good-for-authors/) that identifies me, for some reason, as “Murray.”)

			
				
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The

discussion left me thinking that some in the book industry aren’t ready

for what’s going to hit them. When the data economy plows into an

industry, we learned at BW, it lays siege to the part of a business

based on secrets and unmeasurable values. As advertisers

gained experience online, they started to demand ever more performance

metrics for their ad buys. Google and other Web players could provide

the numbers; paper magazines couldn’t. The old model, which was based

on relationships and the mystical and unquantifiable value of

advertising, crumbled. 

Now, look at publishers. Much of what

they do is based on the same problematic long-standing,

person-to-person relationships. The sales teams pitch the books to

buyers at the books stores and to Amazon. The marketers prod their

media contacts to get their authors on radio and TV, and to get

reviewed. As the digital economy takes over, these relationships count

for less, while the importance of Google rank and Facebook buzz grows.

For

authors, high Google rank will matter more than good table displays

in bookstores. Yes, they’ll still want to get on TV and radio (No amount of viral marketing bumped my sales as much as a BusinessWeek [excerpt](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_36/b4098032904806.htm), a Wall Street Journal [review](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122143747437734337.html?mod=2_1167_1) and an segment on NPR’s [Fresh Air.](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95166854)) But

the buzz they generate online will be crucial in winning that mainstream attention, too.

		
							
					

				
					
		
What

can publishers offer in this changing world? They have tiny Web

presence and they lack tech teams to come up with cutting-edge apps for

the next generation of books. Their one trump card, as I see it, is

good editors–people who can help authors create the best possible

books. But what’s to stop good editors from jumping to Internet

companies?

As atoms shift to bits in the industry, the Internet

companies are positioned to assert their power. Apple and Amazon, of

course, are already busy, as is Google. I would expect Microsoft, Yahoo

and Facebook to join them, each with a different approach. I can

see a few of those companies hiring editors, cutting revenue-split

deals with authors, and plowing into ebooks themselves. It’s a business

that plays to their strengths–and not to those of traditional

publishers.

One common question is when the industry will reach

a tipping point. Will the dynamics of digital take over when it

accounts for 25% of sales? 50%. I don’t know the number, but it doesn’t

have to be that high. Even while sales remain relatively strong in

paper, the momentum will shift when the most influential readers–the

reviewers, top bloggers, investors–make the move to digital. After

that happens–and it’s coming soon–the perception will grow that paper

just a legacy market. Perception will precede reality, and ultimately

shape it.