authors beware: 80% of books sell less than 100 copies
Most published books attract few readers and sell few copies. But such books in aggregate can be publicly valuable. … Read the post authors beware: 80% of books sell less than 100 copies
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blockbusters triumph for Internet-era business
Anita Elberse’s new book Blockbusters convincingly argues that promoting blockbusters is the best economic strategy for business even in the Internet era. … Read the post blockbusters triumph for Internet-era business
misery of literary writers in the ancient Islamic world
Intense literary status competition in the ancient Islamic world created considerable misery among literary writers. … Read the post misery of literary writers in the ancient Islamic world
early history of paper not closely connected to elite writing
Paper was more important for wrapping, toilet paper, and record-keeping than for storing and transmitting high-value symbolic arrangements. … Read the post early history of paper not closely connected to elite writing
book curses reduce exchange value
Owner-specified book curses can make new owners of a book feel uncomfortable because of others’ suspicions of theft. … Read the post book curses reduce exchange value
Donnolo the doctor: asserting rights in early personal authorship
Medieval Jewish physician Shabbetai Donnolo encouraged others to copy his work, but he demanded correct authorial attribution and fidelity in copying. … Read the post Donnolo the doctor: asserting rights in early personal authorship
users transforming content forms
Content that users can reform is more accessible, more useful, more fun, and more valuable. … Read the post users transforming content forms
online social communication much more important than online video
According to a representative survey of U.S. adult internet users in mid-autumn 2009, social communication is a much more important online activity than is watching video content. Asked to rate independently the importance of various online (Internet) activities, 63% of adult Internet users described “communicating online with friends and family, even if they are far … Continue reading online social communication much more important than online video
challenges to mass media generate interest in FCC
Consider by publication year the normalized frequency of “FCC” (U.S. Federal Communications Commission) in the text of a large corpus of books published in the U.S. from 1934 to 2008.[1] While you might think that the communications industry keeps getting more complicated and more contentious, the normalized frequency of FCC references is lower in the … Continue reading challenges to mass media generate interest in FCC
a testament to content business difficulties
The Shahnameh, an epic that Ferdowsi wrote a millennium ago in Iran, describes eternal content business difficulties. In the concluding section, Ferdowsi laments: Nobles and great men wrote down what I had written without paying me: I watched them from a distance, as if I were a hired servant of theirs. I had nothing from … Continue reading a testament to content business difficulties