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Is Phased Distribution the Future of Self Distribution?

09.7.10 @ 12:56PM Tags : audience, books, distribution, diy, publishing, revenue

Last week I wrote about bestselling author Seth Godin’s switch to self-publishing and what it could mean for filmmakers. Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker Magazine linked to the post in his invaluable Instapaper Sunday Morning Links, along with a pro-publisher argument written cogently at TechCrunch by author Paul Carr (whose book Bringing Nothing to the Party: True Confessions of a New Media Whore has been in my queue for a while). The slug of Carr’s post — “Self Publish and Be Damned” — makes his views pretty clear, but upon further reflection I think both Carr and I are oversimplifying the argument and missing out on a viable distribution strategy for the published and unpublished alike. More »

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What Could a Bestselling Author's Switch to Self-publishing Mean for Filmmakers?

09.1.10 @ 12:03PM Tags : books, distribution, egoods, publishing, sethgodin

Lately I’ve been reading a number of books for independent creatives — in film, in art, in business — and the one I’m currently working my way through is Linchpin by Seth Godin. As soon as I can find the time I’ll post reviews of these books, most of which I believe are very helpful in planning an independent career — and most of which align very closely with my own manifesto. Recently Godin announced that Linchpin will be the last book he’ll publish “in a traditional way.” For me to say I’m interested in distributing films in a new way is not news. For Godin (who has written twelve bestsellers) to say the same thing, however, is worth noting. And as it turns out, the decisions he’s faced with as an author aren’t much different than the decisions we’re faced with as filmmakers. More »