Interview With Chris Anderson, Longtailier

When Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, started to write about the theory of the Longtail a couple of years ago it seemed to cause a satori-moment among readers – an ‘a-ha’ that compelled folk to spread the theory so much that today it has become part of the daily business lexicon. The theory suggests that the  fall in production and distribution costs, especially online, will allow companies to ignore product "hits" in the market and make money by targeting niches. Chris is about to release a book on the Longtail and we wanted to ask him not only to explain the theory further – but also his approach to promoting his book.

* You have so spent much time talking about the Longtail on your blog, in the press, via Wired and at conferences that many of us think we have good idea what Longtail theory is already. One could argue you’ve given the given the game away  (Is there anyone left to read your book?!). Why have you taken this open approach?

Great question– I addressed it at length at the BookExpo last week. But the short form is that book and blog are very different beasts, for a few reasons. First, since the original article was about the LT in entertainment, we focused the blog on that.  The book, however, extends this to the LT outside of entertainment (everything from Google to supermarkets), and we kept most of that off the blog. Second, almost none of the writing in the book came from the blog–there’s less than 3,000 thousand words in common out of more than 75,000 in the book. Finally, all the narrative, historical context and many of the examples that dominate the book have never even been hinted at on the blog.

I gave away many (but not all) of my ideas because I got back so much more in  return. The data, corrections, examples and other feedback I got from my comments, trackbacks and emails were an incredible resource, which helped make the book far better than I could have done myself. The crowd is wise indeed!

* It’s simpler to understand how the impact of digital downloads in the music sector demonstrates the economics of the effect of the Longtail – but how can a physical product manufacturer learn from and leverage the Longtail theory?

The Lego example that I’ve blogged about (hey, it’s entertainment) is a good case study in having a mainstream product line in stores and a larger niche one online, along with mass customization, peer-production and all the other Long Tail goodness.

* What brands excite you in the ‘Longtail space’? And which brands need to read your book?

I don’t think in terms of brands much, but rather companies. Aside from the staples (Amazon, eBay, Google, Netflix, iTunes, Rhapsody, etc), I think there’s some very interesting LT work being doing in videogames by Microsoft and Nintendo with their online marketplaces. Salesforce.com has taken it to software. And what’s going on in video with everything from YouTube to NBC is fascinating.

The companies that most need to read my book are those in the TV area, which has the greatest ratio we’ve found of produced content to available content.  And writing this from the BookExpo, it’s clear that a lot of publishers need to look past the hits, too.

* We read an interesting story about how a company that buys up spun-off brands that don’t turn out to be hits for Unilever. Is this the Longtail in action? What does it say about a huge company like Unilever whose philosophy with product development is that new products must be a hit or they will be killed off?

Yes, that sounds like they’re finding gold in the niches. I don’t know enough about Unilever to critique their strategy. The Long Tail isn’t for everyone, and there are plenty of companies that will continue to thrive focusing only on the mass market. My point is that’s not the only market anymore: the mass market has been joined by a mass of niches. And that’s a new opportunity for companies who can scale their economics down to reach it.

* Finally, are we going to see the Longtail effect on Chris Anderson and his book? ;)

Many people have noted how ironic it would be if my book on niches becomes a hit. I can live with that ;-)

Thank you.

The Longtail Blog
Longtail On Amazon.com