Sublime

“books were no longer the sacred touchstones of any culture, any society, and surely not of the one in which he and Paola lived. When had he last heard a reference to a book as part of normal conversation? When had he last heard a character from a book–much less from a classic–used as a measure of good or bad for human behaviour? Harry Potter had p... See more

Never before has so much culture been available to so many at such little cost.

There’s just one tiny problem.

Where’s the audience? The supply of culture is HUGE and GROWING. But the demand side of the equation is ugly.

In many cases—newspaper subscribers, album purchases, movie tickets sold, etc.—the metrics have been shrinking or even collapsing.

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I admire how Dunham’s character, Hannah Horvath, doesn’t have the typical body we normally see on television. There is some solidity to her. We see her eat, enthusiastically. We see her fuck. We see her endure the petty humiliations so many young women have to endure. We see the life of one kind of real girl and that is important. It’s awesome that... See more

While launching a premium newsletter might sound appealing for writers, it can also take a long time for creators to attract enough paying readers to make it financially sustainable. “The two types of people who seem to be making it work right now. They either have an existing kind of audience – Andrew Sullivan is certainly one – who can jump in an... See more

A common feature of all four horsemen of the textopia, from the publisher point of view, is that they trade quantity for quality. You want a more controlled, better gated, more intimate, and more financial relationship, with smaller audiences.

The apparent limitation of the ad-supported media business model is that there will never be enough traffic to satisfy the beast. But while subscription revenue is stickier and gives creators more runway and short-term security, eventually the flame that started any new project will be extinguished. A new muse will need to be found.