Hacking a Manifesto
A lot of people are wondering the extent to which online publishing is going to disrupt traditional publishing. Unfortunately, they tend to wonder aloud in fancy language and without much substance. Which is why it’s refreshing to listen to Robbie Allen, a technical book author and MIT student who has started a book publishing company, NetAware Media, that promises to re-tool the print publishing process to reflect the advances and advantages of what we’ve learned online. His blog, Publishing Hacks, contains a highly readable Internet Publishing Manifesto that includes the following “items”:
1. Content not limited by the pages of a book
2. Content when and how you want it
3. Text, audio, video–integrated
4. Apply advances in software development to content development
5. Continual development
6. Release incrementally
7. Update regularly; improve based on feedback
8. Leverage the community
9. Usability on par with books
10. Learning by doing
11. Improve the author experience
Now, I happen to have an abiding interest in New Media, so I find Robbie’s manifesto heartily rewarding and inspiring. But the primary value here is in the form, not the content--just reading this list, whatever business you’re in, you can see that he’s being both aggressively innovative and expansively thoughtful. This is why, even if your sole ambition in the world of business is to farm turnips for root vegetable ravioli, you should have a manifesto. Read Robbie’s to see exactly how it’s done (hint: a blog came in extremely handy).