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 p.2 #17 · Seth Godin on Photography | |
As for how this applies to photography, I think that Evan, Tony, and Spencer are all right. You’ve each singled out an area of the wedding photography value chain and analyzed the opportunities for differentiation. An overly simplified version being that Evan addressed the photography piece, Tony and Spencer the personal/marketing/branding chunk (there’s lots of overlap in there), and there also is the business model part that encompasses a lot of the hows… I don’t think that anyone with a novel idea of how to do business wants to share this here. Personally I think that the first and last have the largest number of opportunities to differentiate from the pack and provide real value.
lisy78 wrote:
His Domino project, on the other hand... sounds like the dumbest thing since the Eskimo refridgeration company. Well.. unless he just explained it poorly. it sounded like you when you buy a copy of his book you get 5, that you would then presumably spread around. he then points out that the average american buys ZERO books per year, so he feels his domino project will help his books reach all those Americans who wouldn't buy it.
IMHO that presumes that Americans aren't buying books 'cause they can't afford them, 'cause they don't know where the local barnes and Noble is, or because they haven't figured out that oh yeah, Walmart also sells books. Giving away books to people who aren't looking for books on their own is going to be as effective as giving me copies of Oprah episodes and soap operas on DVD on the assumption that I don't watch 'cause I'm working at that time.
But of course I could be wrong, or he could have left some crucial bit out.... like maybe the pages of the books are laced with crack cocaine or at least dipped in sugar....Show more →
A good (albeit somewhat stretched and not always applicable) analogy for the business model change however, may be the Domino Project. I think that Godin recognized that there were significant flaws in the publishing industry and that new technology had the ability to change the model. He probably looked at the old publishing houses and compared and contrasted these to the blogger/self publisher and recognized that he may be able to meld the best of both.
Old publishing
Cons: Long form -not good for bloggy ideas (but I’m not going to spend good money on a 80 page book), slow to print (bureaucratic editing, printing, etc.), expensive (paper costs etc.), middle men (bookstores govern what gets shelf space), no one is buying physical books nowadays
Pros: access to distribution, trust with customer
Blogger/self publisher
Cons: often too short/not an accepted long form medium (can’t really expound interesting ideas), no trust with customer, no one is getting paid
Pros: cheap, fast, relevant
Looking at the two of these, he recognized that new forms of distribution allowed him to become a virtual publishing house where he could build the access to distribution (probably cut a deal with Amazon), trust with customer (banking on his name and that the customer would believe that he would only invite talented folks), medium (short books that can properly explain ideas) and combined this with cheap and fast immediacy that long form bloggers can deliver. I think that his 1/5/52 is just lip service (look at the discounts, and I’m pretty sure nobody is buying 52 books at a time for a minor discount unless it’s for something like school) in trying to change how ideas disseminate, but he’s really becoming a virtual publishing house for shorter idea based books without the drawbacks of traditional publishing.
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So for me, I can't rest upon my portfolio or any single distinguishing factor to sell my services...at least I don't think so.