User-Generated Content - What's In It For Publishing?
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (AUGUST 2006)
In our emerging wiki world – with Newscorp and Viacom hot for properties like Myspace and You Tube – “user-generated” is the “it” business model of the moment. Companies across the board now routinely invite customers to develop content. Getting the customer to do the work for you is cheap and (when it works) incredibly effective, but for all of the hype, pitfalls abound. To succeed, companies must be disciplined enough to elicit meaningful user participation – and then know how to package and market it.
Below, PT profiles six publishing-minded companies that embrace user-generated concepts, along with the pros and cons of their approach.
Gather.com, www.gather.com
Designed for “the public radio crowd” to “connect around a Supreme Court nominee, an Umbrian chicken recipe, a new album by Aimee Mann, or [their] child's soccer game” Gather.com is to greying temples what Myspace is to youth. But, Gather members are rewarded for their participation (content creation – like writing articles, uploading photos, etc.) with cash and Gather Points that users can spend to purchase goods and services from Gather partners. Gather also runs contests on the site, partnering with Houghton Mifflin to host a short fiction competition last fall, and with Amazon Shorts this spring.
Objective: To create an advertising supported web forum where Gather can host (and organize) it’s users’ content.
Pros: Strong focus on an underserved demo; Incentives for frequent users; Partnership with traditional publishers
Cons: Older (possibly slow-to-adapt) demo; Broad focus that makes traditional publishing initiatives more difficult
Blurb.com, www.blurb.com
A cross-over into print-on-demand, Blurb.com is a site that allows users to lay out their own books, upload them, and have as many copies as they desire delivered (hardcover, full-color, dust-jacketed) in 7-10 business days. Available software provides templates to accommodate everything from photo albums, to cookbooks, to a blogs (there’s a “slurper” that sucks text from your blog and arranges it). After books are created, they’re added to the online Blurb store for purchase. Collaborative book making software is in the works.
Objective: To make POD services user-friendly and profitable
Pros: User-Friendly; Well-designed site; Appeals to a wide demo (from kids making albums, to professionals preparing presentations)
Cons: Amateur feel; Expensive
Hundreds of Heads, www.hundredsofheads.com
Books on various “How to Survive” themes (such as Divorce, Babies, Freshman Year) compiled through interviews with hundreds of “real-world experts” a.k.a. “ordinary people” who have been through the experience. Existing books, the website, and a nationally syndicated column explain how to contribute. More interactivity planned going forward as the website undergoes a major relaunch.
Objective: To create a strong brand identity and sell books to participants (along with the general public).
Pros: Concept that works for a range of topics; Wide-reach through multi-platform approach; Easily updated content
Cons: Small publisher; Poorly Designed Site; Little reader crossover from topic to topic
Write Harlequin, www.writeharlequin.com
A new initiative by Harlequin to canvass readers for the answers to weekly questions like: “What is love?” Readers are asked to submit 25-250 words detailing their response (multiple submissions welcome) for possible inclusion in upcoming Harlequin publications. Possibilities include – using the full quote in a collection, an excerpt as a sub-title, “or some other vehicle.” Plans to expand and enhance the site to make it more interactive, including the ability to post favorite samples, ask questions, solicit votes, etc.
Objective: To reaffirm the Harlequin brand with readers, to sell books, and to generate free content.
Pros: Aims to more fully engage consumers
Cons: Targets returning customers, but does not reach out to potential customers
Post Secret, http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
A worldwide community art project started by Frank Warren in November 2004, Post Secret invites people to anonymously contribute (by mail) their secrets on 4 by 6 inch postcards made out of any “mailable material.” What started as a call for submissions in art galleries, book shops and metro stations around the DC area, developed into a website, and subsequently a book by HarperCollins. PostSecret has collected over 60,000 secrets.
Objective: To create a community art project, and to sell books.
Pros: Multi-platform; Viral; Strong focus
Cons: None that we can see
HarperCollins/FanLib: Avon FanLit, http://AvonFanLit.com
The Avon FanLit “Express Your Desires” contest is the first in a series of “online community events” being coordinated by HC and FanLib. The website invites romance fans to submit chapters (based on a story premise and story line that has been voted on) that will be reviewed, discussed and rated on the site by other fans, HC editors and Avon writers. Each week, a winning chapter is chosen for inclusion in the developing, collaborative Avon Romance Fan Lit E-Book. Prizes are offered for participants, and writing tips are handed out. This October, a similar initiative called HarperTeen FanLit will be launched.
Objective: To reaffirm the HarperCollins brand with readers by getting them more closely involved, to generate content for free, and to eventually sell the ebook.
Pros: Co-Marketing initiatives; Incentive-based; Brand building
Cons: None that we can see, yet
Del.icio.us, http://del.icio.us
Del.icio.us, the über-trendy social bookmarking tool, allows users to “tag” content they find on the web and share it with other users on the site. Saved content is organized by tag and users can create a network of friends with similar tagging language to their own. In one instance, Elise (of Elise.com, the recipe and cooking blog) explained how techy epicurians could collect and keep track of their favorite recipes on del.icio.us and share them – a social ecookbook.
Objective: To help users organize and share content.
Pros: User-Friendly, Innovative, Very Web 2.0
Cons: Links only, to print users must return to original pages
©2006
Publishing Trends
