Media News
Wednesday, Jul 11
Newsfeed Update: 07.11.12
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Tracking Amazon: Top Bestsellers Average One Year on Chart (PW)
As of July 11, the top 20 bestselling Amazon titles, buoyed by mainstays like the 50 Shades books and the Hunger Games trilogy, have an average of 353 days on the bestseller list. By comparison, the top 20 Kindle bestsellers average 164 days in the top 100.
Can A Publisher Use Crowdfunding To Replace Ads? (GigaOm)
We have already seen Kickstarter, the popular crowdfunding platform, used to finance some fairly interesting media experiments, including books from authors like Seth Godin. But could a publisher use the service to crowdfund its way out of the advertising-revenue trap in which many media companies find themselves? Penny Arcade, which publishes online comics and puts on related events, is trying to do exactly that with an ambitious Kickstarter campaign aimed at replacing the revenue it currently gets from advertising with funding from fans. But will it work? And could it provide a model for other media companies?
Can Facebook Make You Quit Smoking? (Daily Beast)
Facebook is good for a lot of things, but not many of them are actually productive. That could change after the release last week of an article suggesting that the power of the social-network behemoth could be harnessed to help influence our behavior for the better—for example, by helping smokers quit.
