ideas

How much to launch a new title online?

February 7, 2010 By Dan Thornton

I’ve often wondered, and indeed directly questioned, why traditional publishers pondering new markets haven’t tested the water by launching an incredibly cost effective online trial for a new idea?

I suggested it quite a lot in the past – especially using external hosting and services to launch something for a total cost that’s less than a day’s pay for the lowliest of staff writers. And don’t claim that your market doesn’t use the internet – there are more than enough people from any demographic to give you a better idea of what they’ll do than a lot of panel-based research surveys of what people might claim they’d do.

How much would it cost?

Well some web hosting would cost around $60 for a year from a mainstream hosting provider.

A domain from the same place bought at the same time would be as low as $1.99 at the moment.

And having removed the potential roadblock of an uncooperative IT department, you might come up against problems getting design help?

Well, you could install WordPress and use a free theme.

Or, if you’re not happy and want something that comes with a more ‘professional’ look and guaranteed support, you can get a Premium, or Paid WordPress Theme for a good price.

For instance, for Online Race Driver, I went with the great Metro Theme from Studiopress. The cost for that theme is $59.95 – or you can buy access to all their themes for $199.95. My experience with them has been good enough I’m looking to upgrade my membership shortly. One benefit is that although many free themes are supported by their developers and support forums etc, the paid option tends to provide a slightly better guarantee of service levels etc.

But anyway, the cost to test your next idea with a website that can be set up in about an hour or so?

About $121.

Add in free website analytics from Google, and even include your own advertising, or bung in some Adsense ads.

And that’s what I’d have suggested for anyone – there are cheaper options, such as hosted blogs, but they tend to lack a little flexibility, or the chance to test advertisers etc.

But then I found out about the Secret London Facebook Group. As reported on Techcrunch, it’s reached 182,010 members in a handful of weeks.

Started by a university graduate competing for an internship, it’s now becoming a startup with not only 180,000+ members, but already 5000 photos uploaded.

Total cost? $0.

I’m not saying that it will necessarily translate into business success, but it’s a pretty effective way of tracking interest – and Facebook Connect would allow most of those interested to also interact with any new website.

Whenever someone has an idea for a new publication, it might be worth pausing before you dismiss it – and instead investing some time and a tiny amount of cash to see if it might fly…

Ideas and friction

September 1, 2009 By Dan Thornton

When you’re working or marketing a new idea, it isn’t just about having a new idea – it’s about that idea gaining traction.

The important thing to remember is that you have to have some friction (internal or external) to be able to get any grip.

That’s why roads get covered in sticky Tarmac, and why off-road tyres have bigger tread.

If there isn’t any friction, you’re trying to drive on ice. Or you’re heading downhill with no way to stop.

Creative flow?

March 6, 2009 By Dan Thornton

I recently watched an interesting TED presentation by Elizabeth Gilbert on ‘a new way to think about creativity’ (found via Lateral Action where there’s a good post about the content of the talk):

The presentation looks at how creativity was often assigned to divine assistance in historical times, and the benefits that approach had – and could still have.

And examples include dancers in Spain, who for one night might be seen as channelling that divine creativity, or an American poet who felt like she had to catch poems as they passed her by.

But the insight that people, including Gilbert, can work for a long time before having that moment of celebrated divine creativity struck a chord, and reminded me of another interesting TED talk:

It also ties into the idea of practice, and of 10,000 hours being about right for expertise in any field, as written about recently in Outliers: The Story of Success. (My own thoughts on Outliers)

As a writer/journalist/blogger/marketer/geek, I’m always fascinated by insights into creativity and expertise – Lateral Action has proved a constant source of great insight, along with Springwise and many more sites (Many of them appear in my Google Reader Shared Items). All accompanied by music – usually Last.fm.

It did bring up one question on a marketing theme – with so many new social networks arriving, and so many new social media marketing experts appearing – how many people can honestly claim to be approaching 10,000 hours working in social media marketing or especially on a single social network?