So many things that would have been money losers then can be profitable today.
When you run your own concert, selling tickets online and renting the theatre out yourself, you might be able to keep 85 cents of every dollar your audience spends on a ticket. In the system we grew up with, by the time the box office, Ticketmaster, the stagehands, the promoters and everyone else takes a cut, you might end up with literally nothing.
Or consider a hardcover book that costs $20. By the time the bookstore keeps half, the publisher keeps a share for the risk she takes, and don’t forget shipping and returns… there might only be $2 left for the author. With an ebook, the author might keep as much as $14 a copy… More if he hosts the store and sells it as a PDF.
A hairdresser with direct relationships with customers can give up the storefront location and make more money by charging less and cutting the hair in her home.
A newspaper can happily support a few reporters and an ad guy if it gives up the paper, the offices and the rest of the trappings.
Too often, we look at the new thing and demand to know how it supports the old thing. Perhaps, though, the question is, how does the new thing allow us to think skinnier. – SETH GODIN
The above text has been taken from Seth Godin’s blog – as quoted his full entry. The reason I’m posting the full entry here is because there wasn’t a way to just quote part of it, since it’s so important.
Everyone KNOWS all about the above paragraph….but life just goes on without stopping to really realize it. It’s just the way it is.
Knowing that I didn’t have the money to hire a publisher when I published my book, I did it for free in Amazon – Kindle store. They only take a small percentage of what I make. It cuts out the middle man, however, it also cuts out the majority of the world actually SEEING my book because I have no marketing team other than myself and… just me, myself and I can’t do it all.
I have always wanted to make it as an independent author – just for the fact that I wanted my money, the money I deserved because *I* wrote the book, *I* put the hard work into it. And, who knew, people still want actual books – therefore, selling a bunch of kindle copies is pretty much out of the question for the group of family and friends I’m associated with.
Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before I can do an actual paper or hardback book because it’s expensive to get the ISBN number. So, selling eBooks is my only way right now.
And also, right now, where I’m working is at someone’s house. He has a “storefront” — it’s called his own house. He does not pay for a shop, just mortgage or what have you. He uses Craigslist, I sell his stuff via eBay. What we rock out by selling or promoting is the jobs that we get or products that we sell. We’re saving money by taking advantage and being smart about it. We are also doing it right the first time, that way, we will hook those customers and they will keep coming back — as well as telling others about us.
In Seth Godin’s blog entry : when you really think about it, if you do cut out the middle man… you’re cutting a ton of people out of the picture and a lot of people will then lose jobs. We are all needed somehow, and we just need to make it work.
I’m also mainly partial to independent musicians, authors, artists and the entrepreneurs. They do it all. They are the superhero men and women. They create, they market, they produce, they do everything to make their product become popular or sold or what have you. There are a few middle men involved, but, those are there for good measure — to make life a lot easier and better for one.
But, it only takes a certain group of people do all that. That’s why there’s that much needed middle ground where the middle man plays the part.
The world can’t work on creation or innovation without everyone’s help.
