Freelance Unbound

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Part 1;    Part 2;    Part 3;    Part 4;    Part 5;
As promised yesterday, more from Karl Schneider’s talk to UCA journalism students. We’re moving into multimedia territory now – with a handy summary underneath the video in case you actually prefer, you know, reading.

Karl Schneider – editorial development director, Reed Business Information

Money

In brief:
On Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge for web content:

“To a lot of journalists that’s very reassuring. But I’m very sceptical of the ability of mass publishing – for news as most of us understand news – to be charged for”
Karl Schneider

Key points:

• More than 50% of Reed business Information’s revenue comes from the web
• Newspapers aren’t viable financially if the only money they make is from sales
• None of Reed’s magazines is viable from subscriptions or newsstand sales alone

We will make money in a number of ways:

• Advertising will work (once the recession recedes)
• Old-fashioned, untrackable brand advertising in print is “smoke and mirrors”
• The interactivity and trackability of web advertising has much more potential to attract advertisers
• We haven’t come up with the definitive models to do this
• Don’t let the pursuit of the interactive advertising experience undermine your editorial content

How can we make this work?

• Forget the old print model. Publishing is much more like being in a virtual space – think of it as a big room.
• One analogy is with the world of events and exhibitions. You don’t just suggest an advertiser just sticks their ad on a wall. You let them interact with the audience.
• But you don’t let them run across the stage when the keynote speaker is on. Instead, you create a parallel exhibition space that lets the advertiser interact with delegates and add value to the event.
• We’re still only at the beginning of how to make this work.

Part 1;    Part 2;    Part 3;    Part 4;    Part 5;

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