The NYT just went free and likely the WSJ will follow. Once something goes free it is hard to start charging for it again – just ask Prince.

Getting Real Information From Google

A few years ago some Google human review documents were leaked stating things they considered spammy at that time. Google usually gives webmasters misinfomation about organic search results, but their advice on AdWords ads is typically clearer in how they want to shape the web. The Inside AdWords blog just classified ebook sites as being similar to other types of sites that are likely to get hit by quality score issues.

Google will push selling ebooks that are published by a publisher they have a deal with, but if you are selling information outside of a large Google partner and Google is not hosting your content (and getting a cut of the action) they don’t want you to be selling ebooks on their web. To be fair, for every satisfied ebook purchaser there are likely many people who paid to buy an ad formatted and sold as information, as marketers have abused the ebook format.

General Web Publishing Trends

• each day the web collectively improves how page elements are used (example: using tabs better)
• relevancy algorithms and ad networks make the most useful or most profitable business models easier to find while less sophisticated or lower value formats / models / businesses die
• a near endless sea of information becomes freely available, as information gets commodified by open competitors
• technology decreases the cost of creating interactive experiences (you can embed Google presentations in your web pages and hold live real-time chats)

Profitable Longterm Sales Growth

Given those trends I think the 4 big things we will see in selling information are

• demise of one time sales based business models – they are nowhere near as profitable as subscription based models, and they expose the merchant to lower end customers that are less likely to invest enough to succeed or invest in recurring charge based models
• the rise free and ad supported – if information is generic in nature and not time sensitive then it is going to get harder and harder to charge for it, especially if little value is shared before the sales pitch and Google is trying to clean these types of sites out of the advertisement slots as well
• people paying to distribute valuable information for free – I recently saw an AdWords ad for OpenCourseWare from the Sloan Business School. They are not only giving their courses away, but now they are paying to give it away. This means that if you go to MIT you are paying for the interaction, format, certificate, and atmosphere. You are not paying for learning or information. In a couple years, in many industries, better free information will exist than what you currently pay to access.
• subscription for interactive stuff with various formats – Google just launched their Gadget ads. As ads get richer and can show more I think the keys to selling will be to use a variety of formats to convey your messages, give people more than they want and let them consume the parts that are most interesting to them, and come up with formats that feel personalized and interactive. Publishing will become less about investing in a variety of projects until you find a hit and more about the art of investing in relationships.

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Prince Pops Off At YouTube, eBay

Throughout his long-running battles with the recording industry, Prince always seemed more enlightened than certain other major acts that took the Internet as a threat rather than a potentially lucrative marketing aid. His recent UK giveaway of nearly three million copies of his latest album, "Planet Earth," delighted fans and likely rankled the suits in the music industry.

His latest move comes right out of the RIAA playbook. A Reuters report said Prince will sue YouTube, eBay, and The Pirate Bay among other sites as an effort to "reclaim his art on the Internet."

Prince’s website doesn’t note the lawsuit, but we’re sure the Pirate Bay will make it part of their legal threats page if and when it arrives for the customary merciless mocking the Swedish torrent tracker gives these notices.

His claims mirror those of other content providers: YouTube can filter out porn and pedophile content, it should be able to figure out when copyrighted material has been uploaded as part of a video. YouTube has always answered these claims by pointing to both the Telecommunications Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

YouTube has been developing technology to automate the process of detecting and removing copyrighted content. That process has taken a long time without bearing any results.

It should be interesting if the case comes to court. We really want to hear what Prince has to say if and when a YouTube lawyer asks the Paisley One what value he places on his work, considering the CD giveaway he promoted in the UK.

For those who might be wondering, "Planet Earth" is no "Purple Rain." Idolator talked about the latest from Prince in July.

Heh! ‘Noticed’ isn’t the word – this display took up the whole window area. Other displays inside the shop as well with copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince everywhere you looked.

Today is the day of the official launch of the latest Harry Potter blockbuster, which launched at midnight GMT. Thousands of kids (and not so kids) worldwide snapped up their copies, with ten million expected to be sold worldwide within 24 hours, according to a BBC report, including two million in the UK:

Book retailer Waterstone’s opened 140 of its stores at midnight and online retailer Amazon received 350,000 advance orders in the UK alone. Britain’s WH Smith chain, which took half a million advance orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, said it sold at a rate of 13 copies per second overnight. Royal Mail said 150 extra trucks shifted more than 500,000 copies of the book from warehouses across the UK for delivery on Saturday.

Quite a phenomenon. As is the author of all the books, JK Rowling. What a rags-to-riches tale with someone who, according to the Sunday Times 2005 Rich List, now has a net worth of ₤500 million (728m / $876m) and has become the world’s richest author and the richest woman in the UK.

The Harry Potter books, movies and merchandise make up a massive billion-dollar-plus global industry which has generated millions of sales and been credited with reviving children’s interest in reading.

And on that last point, The Financial Times’ editorial leader today says it all:

[...] So is the whole phenomenon nothing more than a triumph of marketing? Would that it were so, for then you could sell anything.

But although a lot of clever marketing has gone into the Harry Potter brand – the decision to use Joanne Rowling’s initials instead of her first name to avoid putting off boy readers, the secrecy over the plots, the midnight launches – children do not read long works of fiction and recommend them to friends because they have been suckered by the marketers. They do it because they enjoy them.

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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Both agreed that rising prices were having an adverse effect on the worldwide economy by driving up inflation in other sectors, but disagreed on what was at the root of the problem.

Seen walking hand in hand through a flower garden at Bush’s Crawford ranch, the pair had an intimate discussion on the topic. While President Bush asserted that the solution rested in upping Saudi crude oil production, Prince Abdullah cited other concerns.

Chiefly, according to Abdullah, the lack of refining capacity was at the helm, not the level of Saudi production. The prince also pointed to instability in oil-rich countries like Iraq and the seemingly exponential growth of China and India, where energy demands are skyrocketing.

The meeting concluded with an announcement that Saudi Arabia would spend $50 million to increase oil production.

Though oil futures seemed to drop immediately this morning, many analysts believe it will be short lived, as the Saudis appear to have been producing close to capacity already. Other concerns, some previously mentioned, will continue to influence prices.

Amongst the tame chit-chat about today’s event (eg, was the Prince feeling nervous and how many letters of support there have been from the public) came an interesting comment regarding the Prince and a press photo call last month.

The Prince and his two sons took the photo call while on holiday in Switzerland. Posing at the resort of Klosters, an ill-at-ease Prince muttered, “Bloody people. I can’t bear them” in reference to the assembled press photographers and reporters, which was picked up by microphones. He also muttered, “I can’t bear that man. I mean, he’s so awful, he really is” in reference to BBC reporter Nicholas Witchell.

I remember thinking when I saw the broadcast: I bet the communication people will be cringing about this! It is bound to be spread across all the papers the next day (it was), presenting yet another potential PR headache for the royal communicators. It’s not really much different from a commercial scenario – you organize the event and your client spokesman royally (pun wholly intended) screws it up in some way.

So the interesting comment from Harverson in today’s BBC TV interview was his reference to that event by saying the Prince had a “momentary lapse.” He said it with a broad smile on his lips, but that smile didn’t touch his eyes.

Probably all he could say publicly, really.

I wonder what he’s thinking about Prince Charles’ latest gaffe – shaking hands with Robert Mugabe at the Pope’s funeral yesterday.

See also: Royal wedding press pack (PDF).

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.