October 31, 2004

Nanopublishing is probably the next opportunity

Posted at 17:36 in Blogs & nanopublishing, Entrepreneurship | | 7 Comments | View blog reactions

Nanopublishing soars: Gawker Media continues its growth and WeblogsInc has just announced new hires and a goal of 100 vertical blogs on-line before the end of the year. As always, there are many intiatives in the US, few in Europe, few that are not in English. It is understandable as it is much longer to generate enough revenues for a small team on a French or a German vertical blog, but I am sure the opportunities are very interesting too.

So, when will Europe finally wake up on nanopublishing too ? I have met three VCs in Europe recently and they all complain that there are not enough entrepreneurs with new projects these days.

Hey Loic, just send your VC friends to me ;-) I have way too many ideas for a lifetime...

Franck, October 31, 2004 at 19:20

I'm finding a paradox about French blogs, Loic- or why there aren't more of them, more blog ideas etc.

As I see it, conversation is the most important thing in French culture- more so than food or wine, even.... heh. Just walk down Blvd Montparnasse any evening... and see how enagaged people are in conversation- at an intensity much greater than in England or the USA.

And so obviously you would think blogs- the world's most conversation-friendly major media, would be loved by the French.

However, French conversation seems much more full of ritual, gesture and nuance than Anglo-Saxon conversation (which is one thing I like about French conversation)... which cannot be expressed via blog so well, perhaps? Would that explain the cultural resistance to the blog and nanopublishing?

Am I making ANY sense at all here?

PS: Oui, Je suis a Paris. See you soon, j'espere ;-)

hugh macleod, October 31, 2004 at 19:57

LLM,

Fact is, publishing and media is not a VC game. VCs are looking for EBAY/Google style returns, and media business *NEVER* have those types of returns.

Media businesses take years and years of hard work and dedication more then they take capital. Media's about working seven days a week for seven years to build a brand in my mind.

All the great media brands you see today: Rolling Stone, ESPN, Martha Stewart (well, forget that one), MTV, etc. took years and years and years to become what they are today... and they all lost money for five to ten years!

If you're in media you do it cause you love it, and/or it's what you're good at. You don't do it to make money... there are so many other easier ways to make money in the world then publishing (i.e. software, services, etc).

all the best.... ring me when you are in LA/NYC next!

jason

Jason, October 31, 2004 at 20:15

Hey Jason, I bet you will find VCs even though Media is longer to take off.

Thank you Jason & all for your comments.

Loic, October 31, 2004 at 22:17

I aqree nano-publishing might not have the kind of returns that other internet opportunities do have, but, why do Nick Denton, and now Jason Calacanis, keep on trying to make everyone believe that they just do it for sheer love of the publishing business? I am noway saying they don't have that, but it clearly isn't the only motivation.

Julio Alonso, October 31, 2004 at 22:18

Well, I'm not saying it is not going to be a profitable business. I think blogs could be 5-15% of the average person's reading diet over the next five years. However, of that 5-15% only 10% will be a series advertising-driven blog. Most of people's time will be spent on blogs created by their friends.

So, you're looking at .5-1.5% of people's reading going to professionally produced blogs... that is a limited market.

Yes, you can make money from blogs.
Yes, many people are making money.
Yes, some people might start making a living from blogging in 2005.

However, you can't compare what Nick and I are doing to what Conde Nast, Yahoo or Viacomm are doing--and you never will be able to!

I think blogs are going to be huge, however they are much different then the one-way media formats that have already existed, and as such they are not going to get "huge" on an individual basis.

The only way to make them into any kind of a decent sized business is to have a large number of them, and that takes a significant investment of time and money.

Bottom line: You can't be in this for the big money, because it's not a big money space. It's something you do because you love it and you want to see where it goes.

Jason, November 01, 2004 at 00:17

I agree with Jason's comments. I also don't see where the VCs fit into this. I started Muniwireless.com in June 2003 with no VC money and only one purpose: to make it easy for municipalities around the world to find information on municipal wireless broadband deployments around the world.

My blog (based on Movable Type) is only now starting to make money from advertising. My market is tiny, I get a few hundred visitors a day, and it's business to business unlike Jason's. But each transaction (a citywide wireless network) is worth a lot of $$$ for a vendor. There are less than 50 major vendors, but they pay a lot per ad.

It is also a community. I run the blog because I enjoy it. I speak at conferences and network a lot. My initial idea was not to make gobs of money, but to provide a real service to cities and towns, especially those in rural areas that are trying to get broadband. I get readers and subscribers (to the weekly newsletter) from all over the world, including France. I am self-financed, made no money at all for the first year, and work seven days a week, many hours per day. This is NOT something I would casually recommend to anyone. Even if a VC were interested in funding my venture, I don't see where the massive returns would come from. I also don't want a VC involved. I can't stand working for a boss (that is why I have my own company) and I don't want anyone telling me what to do.

I think there are 2 models: Jason's/Nick's and mine. I remember meeting Jason at South-by-Southwest in Austin this year and he said that targeted/niche blogs like mine are perfect for consultants or B2B markets. I believe that for a niche blog to make money, the person behind it must have a combination of traits: (1) should enjoy writing and have a distinct point of view; (2) should not mind running around selling advertising and sponsorships [this is something many journalists/writers can't stand]; (3) should enjoy building a community and developing trust [takes a lot of time, as Jason says]; and (4) should come in at the right "level", that is, someone who can talk directly to senior management (CEOs, sales/marketing directors). Number 4 is very important. I could hire an ad salesperson to sell newsletter sponsorships and banner ads on my site, but I know CEOs won't pick up the phone when he or she calls. They do that with me. The drawback: it's very time-consuming and I find myself having face to face meetings with senior management (lots of travel to San Francisco/Silicon Valley), but I enjoy it and I learn a lot about new developments in the municipal wireless community.

Finally, I have to keep putting out new products: new reports on developments in citywide wireless networks, an upcoming ebook with sample RFPs, etc. This takes a lot of time but it can be done by ONE person. And I have to think about the next "hot" topic. It could be in wireless or maybe not. That's what's nice about nanopublishing. The biggest drawback is that if something happens to me (for instance, head injury from falling off a moto in Paris), the continuity of Muniwireless would be threatened, unless someone with the same dedication and nuttiness picks it up.

Esme Vos, November 01, 2004 at 09:50

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Welcome to my blog. Based in San Francisco, I am an entrepreneur and a blogger. I just started my fifth startup, Seesmic, a community driven video social software. Here is what TechCrunch says about it.

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