My friend Heath Row recently outlined a subscription model for books. The Book of the Month Club still exists I think and is an example of this as is McSweeney’s Book Release Club and Re/Search Publications’ system where you lay down a chunk of money and they send you books until your “tab” runs out. if you’re still into it then, you re-up.
Business models like this work on a couple of conditions. 1) The publisher most roll books out slowly enough so the reader doesn’t become overwhelmed and 2) The publisher have a strong brand since the system is all about trusting what they’re sending you. It’s why The Subscribtion Model works so well in the music world where you can atomize content (a song instead of a whole album) and build a recognizable brand through careful selection (nobody expects to get their polka fill from SubPop).
Sadly, large publishers are terrible at both of these. They have to roll out books quickly to recuperate the advance they’ve already paid the author. Editorial judgement is diffuse, spread across several imprints and staff members, each with their own tastes. “Branding” to many old timers is a still a dirty word, smacking of advertising so it barely exists. Knopf and Vintage paperback might sorta mean “quality” but just what are you getting when you buy a book published by Harper Collins?
Smaller houses have the upper hand here just like, in the age of mass customization and individual delivery of culture, smaller producers are simply more fleetfooted and able to create an identity quicker. They wont have the reach of the giants but perhaps they don’t need or want it.
If I were a betting man or a billionaire (I am neither), I would guess that, within a decade, two things will happen. We will see a mini-conglomerate of independent content providers acting in loose confederation to share advertising dollars (John Battelle’s Federated Media in the online space for example) but remain autonomous editorially (will they acknowledge federation membership? Not sure yet). Second, a wave of high-end media customization services will come along, a Platinum Membership book/music/movie club if you will. In platinumland, you’ll pay a high fee not just for media customized to your taste but a personal relationship with your media curator. Like a personal trainer, he/she will have an individual relationship withb you and your tastes and make suggestions accordingly.
With the glut of culture offered to us everyday, services that allow us to turn off the noise and focus(Tivos, rss, podcasts) are both where we’re at and where we are headed. The challenge will be how to break in on an audiences already predefined menu of choices and how to catch them when they are looking for new media and culture. I hope, as cultural producers, we’re ready for this brave new world, because we just woke up in it.
