Publishing: Changing realities (II)

There is some wisdom in saying that when you are in the jungle and are faced with a hungry bear, you'd better be good at thinking on your feet. If you're not strong, be quick. This is also the case in today's publishing environment.

If you are looking at these ezine articles, you are either in need of content, or have just submitted your own article and are now seeing if it stands out from the crowd. Whether you are an upstream or a downstream customer doesn't matter, but if you want to survive in today's publishing environment, it is essential that you have a clear view of some of the intersecting points in this industry itself.

Any surface work quickly learns that 'free content' is among the largest intersections where editors and webmasters meet.

Many people wonder who facilitates all this sugar-and-spice world of content. How is it possible that whilst you pay good money for your daily newspaper, you can get whatever is written in the paper times 500 for free on the internet? The short answer is one word: distribution.

Distribution, or aggregation of content as a totally free commodity is quite a new idea but it started to become important seven years ago, when publishers became more and more enticed with the idea that advertising revenue based business models were overtaking subscriptions in terms of attraction. It meant quite a gamble, but when new titles showed the viability and profitability of this model, very many other publications followed suit. It was going to be the idea of the future and the advertising driven revenue model has dominated the internet publishing sector from its very start.

Free content has since evolved and is very likely here to stay, since new business models are adopting the principle and weave alternative income streams around it. As Jeff Jarvis from www.buzzmachine.com says; "This is the new distributed world. I don't know how anybody makes money in it but I do see how many people save money. As has been cited too often now, Craig destroyed -- did not transfer but destroyed -- an estimated $65 million in classified revenue in San Francisco alone. But Craig still charges for listing jobs. Indeed doesn't; it merely finds them."

Craig being Craig's list, a highly successful aggregator, first of jobs and now everything under the sun in the classifieds market and Indeed being a similar outfit. Jarvis goes on to point out that "aggregation is cheap. Aggregation is efficient." And he's right. I have yet to come across estimates of the value of the so called 'free' content market across the internet, but this is of less relevance than its new role. Companies looking to cut costs, turn to free content. This way, it is playing an incredible role in the economy. It is valued but as an economic instrument, rather than a commodity with a usual price tag.

Content is King and at a 'Kingly' fee. You might say that the tax exemption that most countries reserve for their royalty translates in cyber ventures as publishers' inability to use content as a control tool in the traditional way. "The technology won't allow that to happen. You can't "get to scale" that way", says Jarvis.

The open source idea of content makes all of us a little bit more amenable to outsiders. It is simply impossible for one player to have all the goodies on one particular subject. "You must be open to others owning pieces of the equation. You must let the users get the value of scale however they choose to create that scale. You must facilitate the creation of virtual scale", says Jarvis.

As we are being democratised by technology this way, we are likely to adopt a totally new idea of achieving economies of scale and critical mass. This term as such is slowly dying out. Scale simply don't scale anymore. It's over guys. Nobody believes in authoritarian pretense no more. There's always a fifth if not sixth opinion if you've managed to convince everybody you monopolise the first four.

"The old days of big players in the economy collecting consumers, audience, distribution, manufacturing efficiency, buying power, or capital in the grip of centralized control are waning. That used to be the way to find efficiency and size. That used to be the way to scale. But they are being foiled by our new distributed world. And they are being replaced by a more efficient means of finding size and efficiency," says Jarvis.

Aggregation is the new scale. To get through to target markets, you need to be simple and craft your message clearly, concise and on target. Aggregation in cyber space is similar to decentralisation in the rest of society. It's getting more popular. People all over the world are getting the hang of spontaneously forming clusters grouping together in schemes, outmanoeuvering companies and governmental organisations. Anarchy in its positive format is expanding.

So whether you were just looking to find content, this might only just be the beginning of your search. Sure, many aggregators won't let you have their news for free when you are not a private entity, but the general idea has been born and it's cottoning on. Fast.

Are you wondering how you can be part of the new content revolution? Clustering is the key around which everything evolves. News aggregators are all very busy categorising their news in recognisable categories. All you need to do is hitch up with a few people in creating either a new category or establishing yourself as a player in a recognized field and submit your feeds. People that take them are of course Yahoo.com, but also lesser known entities such as Newsnow.co.uk and Daypop.com. Not to speak of the blog possibilities, which are endless.

You can go around this in a myriad of ways, but it's best to center your efforts around a hub, make sure you coordinate everything before submitting anything. Why would you do this? Well, dumbass, for the same reason as why you are visiting this website! To publish news about your area of expertise, or to find articles about topics you are interested in.

If you find it difficult to do this all by yourself, there are of course people specialising in this field. Notably ourselves. If you are interested in getting customized newsfeeds only, you can also go to www.newsknowledge.com. But just remember; what they create is something you and a few likeminded peers can OFFER. Getting on in the world's no longer black and white affair, but more like a Be-With-It affair.

Angelique van Engelen runs http://www.contentclix.com which is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She writes tailormade articles on any subject and also creates highly specialist RSS feeds on topics relating to arts and culture.

spotless home service Lake Forest ..
In The News:

A Columbia University breach exposed names, Social Security numbers and academic records of nearly 869,000 people, with notifications beginning in August.
Rental car drivers use AI-powered apps like Proofr to protect themselves from unfair damage fees as major companies deploy automated inspection tools.
Fox News' AI newsletter brings you the latest on technology advancements around artificial intelligence.
OnTrac data breach between April 13-15, 2025, exposed personal information of over 40,000 people including Social Security numbers and medical records.
A woman named Wika announces her engagement to an AI chatbot sparking worldwide debate about virtual relationships and technology.
The notorious people search site National Public Data relaunches despite a previous breach affecting 3 billion individuals, raising fresh privacy concerns.
Revolutionary TRAUMAGEL gel controls life-threatening bleeding from gunshot wounds and traumatic injuries, helping first responders prevent prehospital deaths.
Protect your home network by enabling proper encryption, creating strong passwords, checking connected devices and using VPN and antivirus software.
The Navy's solar-powered Skydweller drone flew nonstop for 73 hours in Mississippi, proving renewable energy can power long-endurance military missions.
Moving and downsizing expose seniors to identity theft and scams as data brokers collect real estate records and personal information to sell to criminals.
ShengShu's Vidar technology revolutionizes humanoid robot training by using AI-generated synthetic video, reducing required training data from hours to just 20 minutes.
Apple's older Mac computers face security risks without regular updates, but 10 essential tips including FileVault encryption and strong passwords can keep aging Macs protected.
Self-driving trucks from PlusAI could reshape freight transportation by 2027, addressing driver shortages and reducing logistics costs for businesses.
Solar farms are turning to sheep instead of mowers to cut grass under solar panels, lowering costs, reducing emissions and creating new income for farmers.
Fraudsters posing as local officials are making fake calls about missed jury duty, demanding payments in a rising scheme that exploits fear of arrest.
Honeywell Aerospace engineers developed a "surface alert system" that gives pilots two aural warnings when they are 15 and 30 seconds away from a collision on the runway.
Anonymous researcher has scraped public Spotify accounts of politicians and celebrities, highlighting major privacy risks in default platform settings.
AI chatbot toys marketed as screen-free playmates could undermine children's empathy and critical thinking skills, according to pediatric specialists.
TransUnion confirms a major data breach affecting 4.4 million U.S. consumers after hackers exploited third-party Salesforce apps to steal personal info.
Scammers use fake DocuSign emails claiming Apple Pay charges to steal personal information using fraudulent phone numbers and fake receipts.
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
Farmers Insurance confirms data breach affecting over 1.1 million customers nationwide, exposing customer info including addresses.
The iconic Mary Kay pink Cadillac goes electric with the Cadillac Optiq, available only to the company's top 1% of sales force performers.
Cybercriminals abuse trusted Intel driver to gain kernel access and shut down Windows Defender, enabling undetected malware deployment since July 2025.
Using email aliases for online shopping and subscriptions can protect your privacy by preventing companies from linking your activity across websites.

Four Reasons Why Freelance Article Commissions Dry Up

Every time I run a course on Freelance Writing, students... Read More

Article Marketing for Real Writers: Launch Your Freelance Career!

Looking to build your freelance writing career but don't know... Read More

Writing for Dollars - How To Get Started

"When you provide good information from which readers can learn... Read More

Web Design Information And Resources

People who have an idea for a website sometimes require... Read More

Write Articles Geared to Your Local Market to Bolster Your Local Search Visibility

The Shortest Distance to Your Home Town Enterprise is Over... Read More

Writing Articles To Build Your Online Presence - A Beginners Guide

One of the most effective (and free!) ways to get... Read More

Need to Write an Article? Three is a Magic Number!

Writing articles for magazines, the Internet or the local community... Read More

6 Best Places to Submit Your Articles

You know that writing articles is the best free way... Read More

Writing Articles - Two Aspects Of The Surge

Writing articles for publication on the Internet is, at the... Read More

Ten Tips Articles

"Ten Tips" articles are the easiest piece to write because... Read More

SEO Article Writing 101

SEO writing is very different from content writing, article writing,... Read More

How To Write an Ezine Article

Writing can be fraught at the best of times but... Read More

The Online Writing Business Requires Constant and Regular Writing

Many writers do not understand that the online writing business... Read More

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines

It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More

Understanding That Online Writing is Business Writing Will Make You a Fortune

Never before in the history of the business of writing... Read More

Thinking in Articles

I have a confession to make.I think in "articles."As a... Read More

Writing a Statement

You have decided on a great idea and researched a... Read More

Where to Get Great Ideas For Your Next Article

There are times when I want to write an article... Read More

An Article about Articles

Everyone that publishes a newsletter or ezine knows that the... Read More

How to Find Ideas for Articles & Speeches

Do you have problems finding ideas for articles and speeches?I... Read More

Web Content Barn Blasted by Shotgun Software - Article Marketers

As we prepared to move our 12,000 article database from... Read More

Promoting Your Affiliate Programs with Articles

If you are not creating articles for your website and... Read More

Financial Planners Publicity - Increase Your Search Engine Ranking with Web Articles

The goal of free publicity is to get your name... Read More

Writing Ezine Articles - 4 Reasons Why You Should Do It

Anyone who's been in the business for 2 or 3... Read More

Personal Promotion Through Publishing

One of the best ways to build credibility and promote... Read More

weekly home cleaning Mundelein ..