Happy Sunday, Pixie friends
It’s a long weekend in many parts of Australia this weekend: Labour Day in Victoria, Cup Day in South Australia, Canberra Day in the ACT and 8 Hours Day in Tasmania.
Whatever you are doing this weekend - from the Port Fairy Folk Festival or WOMAD, to camping by a river somewhere - I hope you’re having an absolute blast.
This week’s articles give you insights into sales, tools, and publishing business models. I’ve even given you two articles that directly contradict each other. Why? Well, it proves that nobody has the final say on any of this content stuff.
You can learn a lot about it, but ultimately the final decision is up to you. Getting that support is tricky, which is why I created the Daily Tips Email list: It gives you the foundation from which to make smart decisions about your business publishing.
Nevertheless, reading some of this week’s articles - especially the one about Elsevier Publishers - is eye-opening.
Enjoy!
~ Leticia, Queen Pixie at Brutal Pixie
PS. How cool is it that my parents just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary? Congratulations, mum and dad. You guys rock.
Tip of the Week
Few things are more important to your business publishing than consistency.
The Sunday Five
As always, if you find any sexy articles in the wild that we ought to share, email them to hello@brutalpixie.com. You’ll get recognition, of course. ;)
Gary V talks about why he loves selling
If you know me at all, you’ll know I really dislike Gary V. But in this piece he talks about why he personally loves selling, and why he gives so much away for free. It’s a completely different take from someone like Ben Settle, who is the introvert to Gary V’s extrovert. They both agree on one thing, however: You have to ask for the sale, and business exists because of sales, not because of giveaways. Read this at Alley Watch: https://www.alleywatch.com/2019/03/i-love-selling-heres-why/
A content marketer talks about why content marketing is a waste of time and money
Just to flip you backwards and make you confused, I’m going to contrast Gary V’s piece with this one. It discusses the realities of gaining traction, from the fact that professional editors create better content (for $$$ of course), to the inclusion of media, and distribution. The core argument is that you go hard and good or you don’t do it. My response to that is well, obviously: It was like that before it was competitive, too. You can read this at https://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-is-a-waste-of-your-resources-02178537
University of California dumps its $10 million contract with Elsevier
Elsevier is the largest and most influential academic publisher in the world. The University of California is the largest public academic system in the US. And the two are no longer aligned. Here’s why: UC has gotten fed up with knowledge kept behind paywalls, and thinks academic publishing costs have gotten out of hand. The subscriptions that UC paid for, just with Elsevier, totalled $10 million per year. There’s a big push for open access academic journals. This might be the beginning of a new age, perhaps? The Open Access movement presents huge opportunity for schools, writers, and publishers alike - and gives businesses like yours new ways of thinking about publishing. Read this in more detail at Vox: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/3/1/18245235/university-of-california-elsevier-subscription-open-access
A young design studio published all its docs on how it ran its business
When the alums of Google’s Creative Lab who created Hawraf (a design studio in the US) shut it down after only a few years, they decided to publish all their documentation. Yes, including their financial spreadsheets. The studio had started with the idea of being transparent about everything, but, well, couldn’t be. So when they shut down, they honoured their original intentions and opened everything up in Google Docs in a bid to inspire others. When I say everything, I mean everything. The reason it shut down is because of misalignment in the partners, not because it wasn’t profitable. It’s pretty amazing! Go have a read at Fast Company https://www.fastcompany.com/90315699/how-to-design-the-end-of-a-studios-life and check out the file of documents here.
Better Humans puts Hemingway App to the test. Will it make you a better writer?
In this article, a writer at Better Humans goes deep on one of my personal faves, Hemingway App. While I disagree with all the random assertions about how being a writer is harder than ever (pfft), the analysis is quite excellent. The piece is a non-writer’s guide to improving readability and grammar, really. For example, if you know the science behind readability scores, or you’re an editor, you’ll yawn your way through this. But if you’re not either of those types of people, you’ll appreciate it. My personal opinion? The only things that make you a better writer are (1) reading a LOT, and (2) writing a lot. ;) Read it at https://betterhumans.coach.me/will-this-tool-make-you-a-better-writer-4ce7d4e49dd3