In the previous post in this mini-series, it was suggested that the way to make money in the new world of publishing is to focus on attention allocation; in other words, to become "portal-like."

Before we establish the rules of how to play this game, let's look at how to make money being a portal.

The answer: sell ads and become a storefront. The most obvious example is Google; its ad network sells ads, and services like Google Checkout and Google Video allow it to get a piece of the transaction processing business. Because of costs and logistics, it's probably best to focus on selling ads at first -- that is certainly easier.

The "you don't make enough money off selling ads, you need to sell content" argument is wrong for a few of reasons:

1. Remember that this is a numbers game. Generally speaking, you need a lot of page views (or similar metric for attention) to get the ad money. When people argue that they don't make enough money off ads, the real issue is that they need to lower the cost of consistently generating lots of page views.

2. People who often make that argument are investing in content as a product. They need to invest in content that helps allocate attention (translation: link out and republish the content of others that is available for syndication) and create an experience -- a community.

3. Even if you think content still needs to be sold, remember that it's value is falling. The world of "free" (as in free beer) is definitely approaching quickly, if not already here; as such, investments in creating content as a product (meaning creating content to sell content) will have decreasing profit margins. The future is greater freedom; moving from free as in free beer to free as in free speech, and building a profitable business model that will enable this (which is the infomediary business model, which we previously discussed briefly).

Think about it: the real revolution of publishing 2.0 is about monetizing the value you add using the economics of spam. Spammers play the numbers game and rely on low cost of production to enjoy profitability. Don't worry: this is not about cheating the honest, diligent, and creative out of a paycheck, like many spammers do. It is about the honest, diligent, and creative understanding the new economics, and using their creativity to participate accordingly. Those who figure this out will get all the perks of creating good stuff -- links, trust, brand, attention -- and the money of spammers. The combination will be lethal, particularly to those clinging to 1.0 publishing models (and, ironically, to unsophisticated spammers themselves).

And with that in mind, we can state the new rules of publishing 2.0:

Become a reconstructor. Don't invest in original content -- or rather invest in original content that helps you reconstruct and add meaning to the content of others. I know what you're thinking: what about the copyright issue? Fear not, for as we delve deeper and deeper into the attention economy, it will die a natural death. But in the mean time, use content that is freely available for syndication and republication -- article banks and video sharing sites are great resources. Smart companies are now creating content that is useful for advertisement and syndication purposes, and as the cost of attention rises, this trend will only continue. Soon, if you want attention, you're going to have to create something interesting -- AND, in many cases, still pay to promote it. The represents a fantastic opportunity for reconstruction-based publishers in web 2.0.

Become a intelligence agent. CIA....MI6....KGB.....Mossad....ISI....and now, YOU. That's right folks -- you too can now join in on the immensely profitable activity of information gathering; of creating value by interpreting the world around you. To do this you need to arm yourself with the right weapons: You do have an RSS feedreader, right? You do subscribe to many feeds, right? You are efficient with your feed subscriptions so as to maximize the return on your attention, right? You are focusing on synthesizing the information you receive in more efficient ways so that you can help others efficiently learn what they want to learn and maximize the return on investments of their attention, right? RIGHT? To use the jargon of Alex Jones, this is an information war. Arm yourself accordingly.

RSS. Reconstruction is about RSS. Learn about RSS, and be prepared for an onslaught of applications to help you customize and reconstruct the information you receive via RSS (think of stuff like blogsieve). In my opinion a HUGE opportunity exists in this space for the technically inclined; I haven't seen much good stuff in terms of RSS reconstruction applications (although if I missed something you think is cool feel free to let me know). By good stuff I mean simple and usable stuff that works (like stuff Google makes, in my opinion).

Be a community builder. I saved the best for last, folks. The most important element of success in publishing 2.0 is building communities. Don't rely on property rights; rely on experiences. It is the most important element BY FAR; in fact, all the crap about attention allocation is primarily because that's one of the best ways to build a community. Also, remember that if you are not competing on the community-building front, you are probably competing on the technology front. Which means you're competing with Google head-on, trying to attack the behemoth at what they do best.
Now you know I got faith in you, and that I think you can pull out the hero within you to accomplish all your dreams. You know me -- I'm rooting for the underdog to become a hero, and I *KNOW* it can be done. But you gotta target the current champ's weaknesses, not their strengths. (Hint: Google's weakness = community building).

In the next post, we'll look at the management structure that reconstruction-based publishing empires will most likely take on -- the management structure I believe will be at the heart of the web 2.0 revolution, which in turn will serve to liberate mankind from the international prison known as the corporation.

Other Articles in This Series

Publishing 2.0: Value Chain Analysis
The New Rules for Publishing 2.0
Intersection: Management 2.0 and Publishing 2.0
Who Else is Down With the Publishing Revolution?