Sam Missingham of The Bookseller and FutureBook blogs today about Brightline: the newest candidate for the crown of book industry disruptor of the week/month/ year/ decade. Reading Sam’s post brought two things to mind: This morning’s dog walk (which incorporated scrumping blackberries from the farmer’s hedges) and my first ever IPG Autumn Seminar in 1999.
Why? In reverse order, a speaker at that 1999 Autumn Seminar was one of the venture capitalists behind Babyworld website before its sale to Freeserve (Babyworld potted history here). The point he made (and which I have often reflected on since) was that the founders of Babyworld should not have had the space to successfully create that special interest site in the way that they had done. He observed that the publishing community (or the part of it publishing in the area of lifestyle & parenting) should have been way ahead of the game and had a go-to web site set up and a community established around it long before anyone from outside the industry had even had time to dream it up. Publishers had the content advantage – and they failed to leverage it because they were ignorant of the opportunities the Internet was presenting.
Which gets me to blackberrying. How irritated was I this morning to arrive at the loaded briar I had been eyeing up yesterday morning only to find it plundered of its luscious berries? The previous day I had been unprepared – and had no container with me to carry off a juicy haul. And just like those 1990s publishers, it was nobody’s fault but my own that I was unprepared for the opportunity in front of me.
So return to Sam’s informative post. I don’t think it is Brightline’s core intention (or that of the Brightline investors, which include Eric Schmidt of Google fame) to “further disrupt the publishing industry”. I think it’s their intention to seize the opportunity in front of them. And that opportunity is there because the publishing industry isn’t. It’s time to stop worrying about disuptors. And start seizing opportunities.
Sheila, I was the person giving the talk at the IPG seminar in Autumn 1999! Surprised (and more delighted than is probably appropriate) to think that I am still remembered. I think your point is still timely. Day by day, month by month, corporate budget cycle by cycle, our focus has remained on refining the trick that earned last year’s bonus. The revolution that would sweep away traditional publishing threatened in the late 90s but then came the next dawn came and it was much like the last. The changes came so slowly. It is tempting to think that perhaps, after all, traditional publishing virtues endure. But with the hindsight of more than a decade and the distance that comes with no longer being involved in the industry the revolution is upon us now. The blackberries must be gathered now – the winter will be long.
Chris
Thank you so much for coming by and commenting. I have thought of that presentation many times over the intervening years – and the people I see doing well are invariably small independents who are not scared to meet communities of interest with innovation and passion (and excellence).
Meanwhile the blackberries this year are surprisingly good – given the cold and rain!