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Modest millions

I was once told that the secret to riches was in the ‘make one, sell many’ idea. Do something once, do it well, make sure it’s easily reproduced, then sit back and collect the profits. In other words, have a hit. It doesn’t matter whether that thing is a game, a record, a radio serial, a book or a movie— just make sure it’s a hit.

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

By Chris Anderson

Random House, 2006. $37.99

As a guiding principle for success, it’s quite seductive, and I think it still holds. But it’s hard to do. I haven’t cracked it yet, and I’ve had a reasonably good go at everything but the movie.

The good news for somebody like me is that you no longer need to have hits. We still probably won’t become fantastically rich, but at least on the Internet we can make it to market.

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, wrote an article on the topic in 2004 and has now expanded his argument into a book. The Long Tail is a broadly optimistic work about the decline of the hit, and the ways in which niche products come into their own online. Amazon, for instance, sells more books outside the top 1,000 hits than all its bestsellers. The majority of its revenue comes from the books most retailers don’t even stock.

The key message here is simple: the future of business is selling less (quantity) of more (range). Whatever you make or do—put it online, then help people find it. You still may not have a hit, but at least you have access to the marketplace.

More importantly, the long tail is a phenomenon that business ignores at its peril. The future, as Anderson says, is selling less of more—and most industries are simply not set up this way.

For those of us destined to continue to not make hits, this is very encouraging news. Perhaps ironically, it’s a message from a runaway bestselling book; one of those ones that Amazon sells fewer of these days.

Andrew Dubber is a researcher, lecturer and consultant in online music, radio, new technology and media. Originally from Auckland, he is now based at UCE Birmingham, UK

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