Stuck between scouring Netflix for entertainment, cooking food before the power can go out and checking up on Tumblr - I’ve also gotten a chance to catch up on several long form articles that I’ve been meaning to read.
- Confessions of an Opium Seeker, Nick Tocsches
- The Place to Disappear, Susean Orlean
These two are, in my mind, excellent. It’s been a while since I’ve come across content that’s intelligent and finely crafted as the two articles. It’s been some time since I’ve been transported, informed, inspired and thrilled by actual good writing (versus reporting).
The problem is, why don’t I have more of these experiences? Where can I find good writing now? I don’t have a clear problem in my head about the current state of content, just a bunch of nagging thoughts that I think are somehow connected to each other (but I’m not sure how):
- The business model of online advertising isn’t sustainable for traditional publishers who focus on premium content - they have to appeal to the lowest common denominator (slideshows, gossip, headlines) to get enough impressions-click-throughs to tread water
- Creative writers aren’t paid enough to write and when they write, they’re not getting enough attention to justify payments - it’s the chicken/egg problem
- Distribution of quality content is beginning to go in interesting directions as proliferation of devices and innovation in interaction evolves; but the problem of relevancy and discovery remains
I’m totally willing to pay for great content. (The Economist and the New Yorker subscription models come to mind). I’m less willing to pay for great content that’s bundled with things I’m not interested in – but it’s much harder to predict what I’m interested in than what I’m not interested in. Currently, I discover content from Tumblr’s long reads tag, or Instapaper, or friends’ recommendation - none of which are comprehensive solutions.
The problem is solvable if the business model, distribution and incentive structures can be worked out. I hope so, because in the long term, intelligent consumption of content is the necessary lubricant in any healthy society that values discourse and innovation. And we’re quickly devolving at the moment.