Blogview with Rafat Ali
Today, a blogview with Rafat Ali, the creator of PaidContent.org, which won the coveted "news weblog of the year" prize at the European Online Journalism Awards last week in Barcelona.
Rainy Day: PaidContent.org is one of the most professional blogs out there. Does PaidContent pay its way?
Rafat Ali: Well, yes...I can live off it, though most people are somehow not willing to believe that. Of course, as you probably know, it is what I call a "hybrid blog", with the flagship blog and a lot of original breaking news as well. I have cut my teeth in journalism for almost five years now, and now using blogging tools to further the craft, so to speak. I am earning almost double of what I was as the managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter, in New York City, where I was until September last year. Now, of course, I am based in London.
Rainy Day: Glenn Reynolds predicts that we'll see the growth of "niche journalism journalists who can make a living providing reports to a relatively small number of subscribers". Is this your future?
Rafat Ali: Yes, I do have smaller number of subscribers/visitors, compared to say Glenn. But then, I sharpen my knife on a very thin edge — the digital media universe. The art is in identifying your edge, or niche. As a good journalist, you should know the trends, and ride them. That's what I am doing; that's all I am doing. You have to be aggressive in selling your site, especially as a one-person enterprise. In other words, good journalism sells, if you know how to sell it.
Again, since you are in a niche, which may be constantly re-defining itself, you have to expand into other areas: that's why I launched two new sites on mobile content and digital music, each potentially a big area of coverage in the near future. I also have a couple of events planned, and an award, tentatively called the Content Commerce Awards...the name probably explains most of what the awards will be about. That's all still in planning, though.
Rainy Day: Simon Waldman, head of the Guardian's online operations, says that the "nano" in nanopublishing means low revenue and cost bases because people are wrapping a very thin layer around someone else's content. Do you agree?
Rafat Ali: Yes, there's a great cartoon in a recent New Yorker magazine issue: My business model is riding the coat-tails of other people's business model. That may be an exaggeration, but you get the point. Why duplicate the effort: just link to it. It is about efficiencies of effort and speed. Yes, speed, a virtue which we thought died with the "new new economy". The fact is that weblogging as a format promises that you will have your news in reverse chronological order, which creates an implicit social contract with your readers that your site will stay current [Not my original thought, see Anil Dash "posts are the atomic element of weblogs".]
My cost base is the money I use in hosting: that's about it. The rest is my contacts. The barrier to entry is very little or huge, depending on how you value intellectual capital.
Rainy Day: The next great American newspaper will be online. That's what David Gelernter claims. What do you think?
Rafat Ali: Well, I read the story and I am confused, as lot of people who read it are. I presume that is right, but by online I am not sure it will mean the current version of Internet. A lot of the time, it is best to push people offline...so it might be digital, yes; online, maybe.
Rainy Day: "Subscription businesses are hard to build," says Eric Schmidt, the Google CEO. "The notion that people will have 1,000 subscriptions at $3 each is not going to happen. How many subscriptions do you have and can you remember your passwords?" How do you feel about the subscription model?
Rafat Ali: Well, I should be positive about it, shouldn't I? Firstly, I don't think there is a "subscription or paid content" model...your model, as a business, is what works for you and you alone. If you know your content is great enough — and if you don't know that as a business, then don't expect that to be communicated to your audience — then your audience will pay for it. For general news sites, that is very difficult, though packages of content can be sold. Wrapping your content around tools which makes life easier for the consumer — that is what a targeted sub-section of people will pay for.
Rainy Day: The head of marketing at Playboy TV, Richard Gale, has pointed out a disconnect between content providers and consumers on what comprises "Premium Content". According to providers, it is something expensive to produce; according to consumers it is something that fulfils a desire. How can content providers get it right?
Rafat Ali: Again, pointing to my answer above, if I could give you a mantra, I would be incredibly rich by now, wouldn't I? Unfortunately, there isn't. And the truth is, I don't know...everybody is groping in the dark. I am trying to make money off my online content, as everybody else is. That I also reporting on it is perhaps coincidental. The disconnect between consumers and content providers is huge, and the exception proves the case: consider sports, which is an exception. Why is it doing so well as a category online? Why are people willing to pay for it? Why are utilities such as sports scores generating good money through SMS alerts? Think about that...
Rainy Day: For $39.95 a year, Jewel is going to give fans her diary, exclusive audio and video content, and access to premium concert tickets before they go on sale to the general public. Is this a good deal?
Rafat Ali: Well, depends. I am not a Jewel fan, so I think it is wasted money...for someone who is a big Jewel fan, that is pittance. I would pay $100 for a legitimate Van Morrison fan club...unfortunately there isn't any good one to speak of, for the simple reason that his output has slowed down. Of course, fan/loyalty based services online are and will make good money.
Rainy Day: PaidContent.org was one of the finalists for the European Online Journalism Awards. How did it feel to be up there with Guardian Unlimited and Weblog de Volkskrant?
Rafat Ali: Well, I am honoured. I have tried to be very international in my coverage, even though most of my coverage comes out of the US. I have the UK covered, even though I could do so much more with other European countries. Of course, language barriers means a lot of news about online media in each of these countries doesn't cross the borders.
I have to say other countries in Europe have been smarter about blogging, the UK is somewhat of a laggard. Maybe it is the inherent resistance to change. How come only the Guardian gets it? [Of course, that the Guardian doesn't have to be worried about making money online is another matter altogether] Name one other major UK news site blogging? BBC? C'mon, that's not blogging.
Rainy Day: What's going to be the next big story in the "paid content" sector?
Rafat Ali: I really think it is wireless content: not all news content. But infotainment, as they call it. Media companies are in for a shock if they don't port their content to wireless media.
Rainy Day: Finally, at what point in the future will so many successful business models be in place that PaidContent.org will change to FreeContent.org?
Rafat Ali: Well, I think I have answered that question before: there is space for all kinds of sites. Advertising has, and will always be the biggest revenue generator for the media business. Niche sites and services will make money through premium services. It is all about diversification of revenues. The ultimate arbiter is: is making money online a business model? No, that's the whole point, isn't it, for commercial businesses. The rest is mere details.
Our sincere thanks to Rafat Ali for taking the time to talk with us. PaidContent.org is a marvellous example of the marriage of independent journalism and independent technology, Movable Type. Long may both prosper.
Diarist of the day: Sofia Tolstoy, 7 July 1910"Lev Nik [Tolstoy] went to see his idol [his publisher Chertkov] today, despite the weather. I realise today that although his last diaries are very interesting, they have been composed for Chertkov and those whom it pleases Mr Chertkov to show them! And now Lev Nikol never dares to write a word of love for me in them, for they all go straight to Chertkov and he would not like this."
