What actually happened is various platforms moved to monopolise distribution. Only some of those are true open markets with low access and marketing costs.
There are always a few exceptions. Like the TikTokers - always cute/hot - who make millions producing lowest-common-denominator content. And some writers on Amazon who make millions producing... lowest-common-denominator content.
The premise of the book was that creators of all kinds of content - including those making exotic, experimental, and generally not-lowest-common-denominator work would find it easier to make a living.
There's some great original music on Spotify and Bandcamp, but it's almost impossible for anyone to find it.
There are quite a few niche YT channels in the 25k -> 100k range who are getting by, but most of them only make any money from sponsorships and product placements.
The real cost of entry isn't access to a distribution platform, it's access to expensive marketing, advertising, and sometimes sponsorship.
That's what publishers of all kinds used to pay for - and still do, but only for TV/movies and the top music headliners.
Everyone else doesn't get access to that kind of reach and influence.
If you're marketing a cold project you can throw some money at Amazon and Facebook ads and try to get some TikTok virality. But producing that extra content and keeping track of impressions and ROI is practically a full-time job in itself and requires a much broader skill set than just being a good creator and requires spare cash to burn on paid marketing that may be a complete failure.
The 2008 book promised that good content/products would pretty much sell themselves. All you had to do was find your niche with a bit of Googling and start selling into it.
That was the sales pitch of this book, which - so far as I know - made the phrase popular.
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Tail-Future-Business-Selling/dp/...
What actually happened is various platforms moved to monopolise distribution. Only some of those are true open markets with low access and marketing costs.
There are always a few exceptions. Like the TikTokers - always cute/hot - who make millions producing lowest-common-denominator content. And some writers on Amazon who make millions producing... lowest-common-denominator content.
The premise of the book was that creators of all kinds of content - including those making exotic, experimental, and generally not-lowest-common-denominator work would find it easier to make a living.
There's some great original music on Spotify and Bandcamp, but it's almost impossible for anyone to find it.
There are quite a few niche YT channels in the 25k -> 100k range who are getting by, but most of them only make any money from sponsorships and product placements.
The real cost of entry isn't access to a distribution platform, it's access to expensive marketing, advertising, and sometimes sponsorship.
That's what publishers of all kinds used to pay for - and still do, but only for TV/movies and the top music headliners.
Everyone else doesn't get access to that kind of reach and influence.
If you're marketing a cold project you can throw some money at Amazon and Facebook ads and try to get some TikTok virality. But producing that extra content and keeping track of impressions and ROI is practically a full-time job in itself and requires a much broader skill set than just being a good creator and requires spare cash to burn on paid marketing that may be a complete failure.
The 2008 book promised that good content/products would pretty much sell themselves. All you had to do was find your niche with a bit of Googling and start selling into it.
That very much isn't what happened.