Economics/Geekonomics

Welcome to The Everything Wars

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Bonnie and I write on video wars, text wars, audio wars, book wars.  I'm starting to think that we may have this wrong.  Not that we're wrong about there being a LOT of competition over standards, delivery methods, media, etc.  I think we're not looking at it from a big enough picture.

We've seen Google announce an OS aimed at Netbooks.  Microsoft suddenly announces Office for Web really isn't as far away as it seemed.  Amazon is working on text deployment (Kindle of course), which conflicts with Barnes and Noble, and also runs on the iPhone.  The iPhone now has to cope with Android (Google), but Verizon is also getting in on the phone app store act.  EVERYONE is busy with some kind of video, while Hulu finally explains why PS3 people got locked out for awhile, and Netflix is scrambling to work with Microsoft.  Microsoft as we noted, is tussling with Google, so who knows what's next.

We don't have video wars.  Or audio wars.  Or text wars.

In the technical side of the Geekonomy we've now got the EVERYTHING wars.  Everyone at some point seems to be butting heads with everyone else in the technology and media side of things.  I'd say we've got unprecedented conflicts, changes, and just plain weirdness coming our way for at least two years.

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The Changing Role Model

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I'm big on advising people to find role models to learn what to do (and what not to do).  However I've been darkly speculating that some role models as of late may not be as good as they once were because of changing economic and technological conditions.

Specifically, be careful of your role models in fiction writing, manga, and comics.  Those media who are experiencing rapid industry and distribution change.

I'm not saying you can't learn from your favorite artists and authors, but these are areas of the geekonomy that are underground rapid change.  Publishing is having issues, web distribution is up, serial fiction is poking around a potential comeback.  Written and graphic media is changing rapidly.

This means that even your best role model may have less to teach you as they became famous and respected in a different environment than you are.  Even someone who hit the big time as  a writer or artist or mangaka a few years ago was in a far different world than you are now.

So when you go looking for lessons from your favorite role models, keep in mind what is relevant today and what isn't.  You may even need to seek new role models to learn from.  Your comic idol from ten years ago may have less to teach you than you can learn from Penny Arcade or Girl Genius today.  There may be no new J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer ever – their success stories may be no longer relevant.

What made success even a few years ago is not the same as today in some media markets..  It's a hard lesson, and it makes learning from others harder, but it's something we have to face.

As for what is coming next?  We'll, I've been speculating and may try that in another column . . .

– Steven Savage

Thoughts on future media models, and freeness.

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Right now on the internet there's a lot of discussion on the book "Free", a book exploring, well, the impact of freeness (and the internet's way of delivering it) on business models.  I've not read it yet, I probably should, if only to know where I'm going to fall on what appears to be a lot of inevitable arguments.

The discussions have made me speculate on the future of media – because media is a repository of geeky jobs.  Comics, books, reviews, games, etc.  What does free mean to us in such industries – or those of us who want to go into them.  I will attempt to keep my thoughts somewhat above the level of "ramble".

So imagine you're going online to provide some media – a game, a comic, an online novel delivered in snippets, etc.  You're going to do free because Free gets attention and there's a lot of competition.  Here's what I think it means for you, the professional geek

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