From hol-owner Mon Mar 6 11:55:36 1995 Return-Path: owner-HOL-announce Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id LAA06068 for hol-announce-out31415; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 11:55:36 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id LAA06024 for hol-announce; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 11:55:11 -0800 Received: via =-=-=-=-= from carlson@odin.net for hol-announce@hungary.yak.net (hol-announce) Received: from odin.net (root@omega.odin.net [193.130.116.3]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id LAA05931 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 11:52:57 -0800 Received: from [193.130.116.13] by odin.net with SMTP (8.6.10/1.2-btv) id VAA00836; Mon, 6 Mar 1995 21:03:48 GMT Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 20:46:54 +0100 To: hol-announce@hungary.yak.net From: carlson@odin.net (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) HOL> the guerilla publishers Sender: owner-HOL-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: HOL@hungary.yak.net It's been a while, and I've got quite a few columns stacked up ready to send. enjoy - =steve= --- hungary-online the guerilla publishers by Steven Carlson According to the Newspaper Association of America at least 60 US daily papers now offer, or will soon offer, some sort of electronic service. With the Internet boom on, traditional news media are angling for a piece of what they consider an emerging mass market. It's not hard to see why: publishers are hoping to profit by eliminating their printers and distributors. Meanwhile editors and writers see a chance to ditch their publishers. This point hit home last year during a newspaper strike when San Francisco found itself with three daily newspapers available only on the Net. Less than 24 hours after an employee walkout at the San Francisco's _Chronicle_ and _Examiner_, both papers were publishing virtual editions on the World Wide Web, an Internet medium combining text and pictures. Not to be outdone the striking reporters and editors launched their own publication, the _San Francisco Free Press_. Many observers agreed the _Free Press_ utilized the Web medium more effectively than the two mainstream publications. The lesson was obvious. On the Net, individuals can leverage their creativity to compete with larger news organizations. These days, all it takes to publish is a computer, a modem, and good knowledge of your subject. Well, you'll need a little determination too. But there seems to be plenty of people out there willing to slave away for their intellectual creations. A new breed of publication is winning over readers on Internet. These are usually one-man operations covering niche topics. You might call it guerilla publishing. It's surprising how professional some of these publications are, or how diverse. There's Fitz's Shop Talk, which discusses late night TV; another called OFFSHORE [tm] bills itself as a guide to offshore asset protection. Of course it's no shock the majority talk about some aspect of computers or the Internet. Most Internet publishers do it as a hobby, or to enhance their professional reputation. A very few Internet publications call themselves newsletters and charge a subscription fee. But most are free. Sometimes a non-profit organization subsidizes an Internet publication; most are volunteer efforts. But while traditional print publishers balk at the idea of giving away their product, a few pioneers are proving that Net publishing can garner the readership to be commercially viable, too. CET-online Coming from the perspective of radio, Trevor Cornwell finds it natural to "give away" data - and to sell sponsorship. His company WordUp! Kft produces Central Europe Today, a daily radio show that is broadcast throughout this region. Cornwell's latest project is CET-online, a transcript of the radio show that goes out free each day on Internet. Cornwell's interest in Internet crystalized when he met Cameron Hewes , 23, a business development consultant in Prague. Hewes was already active on the Net representing a client, an information broker and CD ROM producer. Once a week Hewes sent out a free newsletter on Internet, ACCESS Czech Republic, based on the client's data. The newsletter was a marketing tool. Hewes and Cornwell decided to use that model to publish CET-online. It seems to be working. In the first month, the service has built up well over 1,000 subscribers and is picking up 20 to 30 new subscribers each day. Cornwell intends to offer advertisers two business-card-sized spaces at the the top of each page. Each ad will have an auto-response email address readers can use to retrieve more information. Though WordUp! has not yet began selling the service, Cornwell says he's already had calls from four interested advertisers. "We reach a very selective audience this way," says Cornwell enthusiastically. "Advertisers want to reach these people." Unlike junk mail, CET-online subscribers choose to receive the information. And in contrast to radio, Cornwell knows exactly who the CET-online audience is. They're mostly in North America and the UK, and a "good percentage" are commercial. The online audience also talks back. CET-online gets three to four email letters each day, and Cornwell says this is giving him valuable feedback. "You get a tremedous insight into your own product," he says. What is CET-online's potential readership? A similar publication already exists, originally put out by Radio Free Liberty/Radio Liberty, but now published by Soros' Open Media Reseach Institute in Prague. The OMRI daily report currently has just over 10,000 subscribers. The difference? OMRI offers so much data, 10-13 pages each day, the average reader can hardly deal with it. CET-online offers a much more digested format, something a harried businessman could skim in about five minutes. In an info-saturated world people are getting pretty discriminating about their data. For more info: WWW: TidBITS How far can the medium go? One of my favorite stories is that of Adam and Tanya Engst , the patron saints of Net publishing. In April 1990 the Engsts started TidBITS, a weekly electronic newsletter about the Macintosh, to help co-workers keep up with the computer industry. The couple posted an announcement to Usenet, and set up an electronic mailing list. Interest grew, the readership expanded, and the Engsts soon found allies and industry sources. Now in its fourth year, TidBITS is available on the Internet and all the major online services, as well as on many private bulletin board services. It's hard to determine the exact circulation, but Engst estimages his readership is 115,000 each week. "And that's a conservative number," he says, "we ignore places where we can't get hard numbers." As the audience grew, TidBITS picked up sponsorship from a hard drive manufacturer. The salad days came in 1993, when Engst wrote the _Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh_. He started mentioning his book in the newsletter, and his publisher agreed to accept credit card orders by email. Sales boomed,and Engst was soon working on a second edition. He now has three books out, including the _Internet Explorer Kit_ as well as a Windows version of the Starter Kit. While the Engsts aren't millionares yet, Adam says they've probably sold close to 250,000 copies, and are "doing pretty well." Its clear the Engsts started TidBITS with altruistic motives. Yet Adam has become a key figure in the commercialization of the Net. A culture clash is occuring over what is correct behavior on the Internet. Adam's example has been to offer value; to win attention by making himself useful. The quality of TidBITS is the best possible advertisement for his books. For more info: There's one more thing to say about the guerilla publishers: they answer a LOT of email. And that means they're at high risk for repetitive stress injuries. My wrists are starting to ache and that means it's time for me to sign off. However I'd like to mention that I've compiled a list of e-publications about Central Europe, and I'd be glad to send it to you if you drop me a line. [blurb] Steven Carlson is an Internet trainer and a guerilla publisher. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1995. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. Contact me for reprint rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Steven Carlson Moderator/Publisher - hungary-online Critical Mass Media Inc. Internet trainer, consultant [+361] 133-4647 in Budapest, Hungary carlson@odin.net ############# # This message to HOL-announce@hungary.yak.net # was from carlson@odin.net (Steven Carlson) # # To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe" to # For a full subscription (rather than this announcement-only subscription) # mail "subscribe" to # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############