Archive
Links, 29 June 2007
Prince is giving away his new album, for free, with the Mail on Sunday. How awesome is that? Interesting not only from a Chris Anderson style perspective (that the future is free content, and paid-for experiences, i.e. gigs; see “Give away the music and sell the show“) but also because it is a totally new [...]
Published: June 29, 2007. Read more →
Spring Clean
I’ve had a couple of long train trips recently, which have given me the chance (with enough foresight to open all my bookmarks in the presence of an internet connection before getting on the train) to go through everything I’ve wanted to flag up for the past couple of months.
These things are never really [...]
Published: November 19, 2006. Read more →
Specialist Outlets
There have been a couple of articles this week about ‘non-traditional’ retail outlets driving sales of niche titles through recommendation. The first, in the New York Times, discusses how a Bronx deli sold half the number of copies than were ‘booktracked’ (through traditional outlets) across the USA,
Published: November 4, 2006. Read more →
Long Tail promo on YouTube
Here’s the YouTube link for the final version of the promo for Chris Anderson’s astonishing business book of the year, The Long Tail. (click on the title of this blog to view full post) It’s also available on Google Video.
Published: August 7, 2006. Read more →
July Emissions
None of these is necessarily fresh, but came up in my scouring of what had been happening whilst I was away.
The Wrong Tail. Slate takes a pop at the LT’s theory of everything.
What are the Long Tail’s limits? As a business model, it matters most 1) where the price of carrying additional inventory approaches zero [...]
Published: July 25, 2006. Read more →
‘Recent’ Emissions
In no particular order:
Wired reviews Google’s new payment system, Checkout.
GOB was very into the idea of this guy’s online book; I trust GOB, but the chapter headings sound so full of jargon that I’d really want to give it a wide berth unless heavily pursuaded otherwise.
Believe it or not, Umberto Eco on why Macs and [...]
Published: July 2, 2006. Read more →
Portobello Pictures
We’ve launched the Portobello Pictures website.
The site is a modest collection of the projects Portobello has produced for cinema, TV and the stage, and includes the Oscar-winning Kolya, Dalziel & Pascoe, Tim Roth’s the War Zone (which was coincidentlly shot by my mate Seamus McGarvey) and the current west end adaptation of Sandor [...]
Published: June 17, 2006. Read more →
Graffiti My Soul
I’ve just read the MS of this title for Canongate and it’s phenomenal. One of thebest things I’ve read in a while and, strangely, I’ve enjoyed it more than David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green. Strangely because both are written from the point of view of a young boy: GMS a 15 year old mixed race [...]
Published: May 13, 2006. Read more →
Ottakers Edinburgh
I walked past the soon-t0-close Ottakers on George St yesterday, and it was mobbed. All books 75% off. Which made me wonder about the economics of that. Anyone know?
Published: May 7, 2006. Read more →
Bland to run Canongate?
Fascinating interview with Sir Christopher Bland in today’s Guardian, where he declares that on leaving BT next year, at the end of his contract, he will
spend more time running Leith’s and Canongate, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he is chairman.
Published: February 10, 2006. Read more →