So the word is out. I've sealed the deal on my next book, to be called "FREE". Here's how New York Magazine described it: Long Tail Author Sells Next: Chris Anderson, author of much-cited paradigm-shifter The Long Tail, sells new book Free to Will Schwalbe at Hyperion. Agent is John Brockman. New title explores "the most radical price of all — zero — in the context of the economics of abundance."

I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm actually delighted to see that my book has been pirated and is available on Bittorrent. (Presumably this is the audio book version, even though it claims to be an "ebook", which I wasn't aware existed. UPDATE. One file is the pirated audiobook, the "ebook" is actually this ChangeThis pdf of the original Wired article, which was already freely available). My pub

One of the problems with having coined a phrase that has become something of a cliche is that it invites criticism and backlash. There have been dozens of articles or blog posts that questions some part of the thesis or the data that underlies it (along with the many that support it, of course). Sometimes the writers make good points, but more often their arguments are based on misreadings of the

I worked with Nintendo a bit before the launch of the Wii, helping them think through how to build a marketplace for the Long Tail of videogames. Because the console, like all others from this current generation, is designed from the ground up to be connected online, it's a natural delivery platform for small, independent and older games, to say nothing of additional levels, characters and other d

Well, it depends who "you" are. If you're an aggregator, sure. But if you're like the majority of Long Tail microproducers, direct revenues can be harder to come by. I was reminded by this Valleywag post that one of the most common misunderstandings of the phenomena is that it somehow makes it easy for individuals to translate low popularity into riches. Here's the key part of the post: I'm beginn

My speech last weekend at Pop!Tech on the Economics of Abundance is getting some attention, which is really gratifying. It's something I mention in the book, but am now fleshing it out in a series of presentations and, I hope, some forthcoming blog posts. I'd like to link to a video of the speech, but Pop!Tech only streamed it live and it's no longer available. I'd embed a copy of the Powerpoint d

A couple times a year, I take a statistical look at mainstream entertainment and media in decline. All figures are year-on-year comparisons unless otherwise noted. (The last version of this, from November, is here). Down: TV: network TV had its lowest ratings week ever in July. Music: weekly album sales set a 10-year low in July. For the year, CD album sales are down 4.2%; although digital single

On Saturday I was in LA speaking at the Directors Guild of America, opening their annual "Digital Day" with a talk about the declining share of blockbusters in much of media and entertainment (Hollywood being a glaring, but perhaps not lasting, exception). Aside from showing a bunch of low-res web video to make the amazing 4k and 3D video that came later in the day look all the better, my main fun

A few weeks ago, I cheekily quoted my favorite author, Malcolm Gladwell, saying "Without the New York Times, there is no blog community.  They'd have nothing to blog about." Acknowledging that Malcolm meant this at least partly tongue-in-cheek, I nevertheless argued that it echoed a notion oft-heard in media circles that blogs were simply derivative ("low-value-add chatter about our stories"). And