Tablet iPod Touch, eBooks, Apple

but he rocky mountain news launched the career of woody paige!!

Your idea is interesting. Continuously cranking out investigations of that scope in the timeframe you're discussing could be daunting (the kind of stories that, for example, take down senators would likely take far longer than a month to nail down when you factor in source cultivation, document scouring, inevitable FOIA request denials/delays, etc.), but if you had 10 or 12 irons in the fire at all times, it wouldn't necessarily be inconceivable to break big, Vanity Fair-length investigations off at regular intervals. And people would very likely pay.

There are already some print publications built on a similar model — the Chicago Reporter, for example, pretty much only does large, investigative pieces related to issues like race, poverty and crime, and they do so with a small crew and a small budget, but still get plenty of dap and have won major awards. (They're also a bimonthly, which gives them longer intervals to report out these big ones.) I'm sure there are others, too.

I wonder, though, if any of the kinds of skilled and experience journalists you're talking about would be willing to go back to the lean times of dogged all-night reporting, now for literally no money, as they try to build a brand/individual publication on a possibly-but-not-for-sure emerging medium. My guess is that a lot of them, especially the ones with kids/mortgages/etc., would be really skittish about the risk.

This is a very true point, although a lot of these people are staring at the reality that their job is going to be gone – it's just a matter of when.

If I were in their position I would maybe start a blog (with cooperation/publicity help of their employer) and begin running supplemental pieces to their current stories in the hopes of courting as much of their current readership as possible to their next venture.

But Brian, then we're going back to a kind of movie production model where one bad report/movie sinks the entire paper/production studio. I just don't think that Apple is going to ride in on its big white horse and save books as well. It's still not easy to read books on those readers, and what kind of person is going to be reading more than one book in one sitting anyway? Perhaps a specialized feed would sell, but how in the world is Apple going to get all the content providers on board with such a program? Remember, music was desperate and reeling from piracy. I don't see the bookselling industry being quite as desperate yet, although maybe newspapers are. Too many holes in the operational process for my liking.

I just think newspapers are dead, and it's surprising they survived as long as they did. I love newspapers, and I still think they're dead.

“But Brian, then we're going back to a kind of movie production model where one bad report/movie sinks the entire paper/production studio.”

This is a marketing issue you're addressing.

“I just think newspapers are dead, and it's surprising they survived as long as they did.”

Newspapers are dead – absolutely. But journalism and newspapers need to be separated in definition at this point. Without actual journalism, we're going to see a lot of screwiness in this world.

The vast majority of bloggers are not doing journalism – they're writing columns or using the investigative work that actual journalists are doing as a springboard to form their own opinions.

Also, the entire point of the tablet as described is about making it easy to read books on there – they're talking about a very flat/thin/lightweight, decent sized full-color screen that's easy on the eyes. And I'm not entirely in agreement that traditional book publishing isn't in as big of trouble as you say.

From everything I've read, it's in major trouble or heading that way. (Maybe Tom can contribute something here?)

Even if it's not in music-level trouble, they'd be smart to get proactive on digital, instead of doing what everyone else does and waiting until it's a desperation move.

The other issue you have to deal with is the older generations who arent yet plugged in to online methods of getting information. Yah most people are on the interwebs these days, but a lot of people would still rather wait for the newspaper than go online just because of habit. You have to wonder how you can market it to that audience since they would honestly provide your best readership. Others would just try to find the stuff online anyway.

But pandering to those people is what's killing the old-school papers. It's a broken model that doesn't work anymore.

I'm not trying to suggest someone build the next USA Today or huge conglomerate. 10,000 monthly subscribers via iTunes is a viable business model for a single person to live decently and also provide a unique set of content.

But okay, you're saying it wouldn't work – what would? The traditional newspaper system is all but dead – how does an investigative journalist go about having a career in 2012?

That makes sense. I guess I wasn't focusing on the fact that its a single person needing to build a following, which makes sense. There's no doubt the newspaper system is doneski, but with my knowledge of investigative essentially coming from various Superman shows, will the reporters be able to get the same access to sources/info without the backing of a big name paper? Obviously this speaks to the journalist themselves and people will have to up their game, but you have to wonder if someone were to roll up w/o that backing they could lose clout. I do like the plan, it's obviously better than any alternatives, but I think you have serious issues with building a readership, competition, and a lack of credibility, be it fair or unfair, off the bat as a now freelancer.

Yeah I don't know – perhaps some kind of non-financially associated group would be able to brand themselves as legit or something. You know like “Freelance Journalists of America” or something.

Yah, that could help, but since they are in direct competition in a tougher market people may be wary of teaming up. But you are right, they gotta do something to survive so they may have no choice

“Anyway, while Amazon’s Kindle has been great and moderately popular with hardcore reader-types, it’s not had a mass affect yet.”

This isn't entirely true – business types like them, and heavy travelers, but I don't know anyone else who likes these things, and everyone I know is a hardcore reader. Say what you want, physical books have a romantic aspect.

I may have mis-spoken but I meant you're not going to see people who aren't hardcore readers with them.

I'm not anti-physical book, I'm just looking at what's coming.

personally i like books – actual, physical books. and i don't need to carry all of them around with me at the same time. one is enough. but that's just me. i'm sure this kindle thing is the wave of the future because people like looking at stuff on screens.

Books taste better too.

Sorry, was too hungover Saturday to read these long posts. Now I'm game.

So…is publishing in trouble? Yes and no. It's in trouble the same way the tech industry was in trouble a decade ago. Both were a little bloated and a little to happy-go-lucky and spent more on product development and marketing that wasn't effective, and let staff grow to large and combatted all of this with more products. Publishing is rethinking these errors and is reeling itself in, but it is forward looking and will not collapse the way the newspapers are going to eventually (the NY Times, NY Post, and Daily News are still doing fine – maybe not like in their heyday, but ok; I think it has to do with the commuting in the city). Publishing still has entire stores, both physically and internet-based, entirely devoted to its products. The trick for publishing is to limit its products and pay the right amounts for their development. Like any business.

I read two books at a time, often more for work, and it doesn't bother me to carry them all. There's no way in hell I'd prefer a screen to the tactile object. I can write in the margins, flip back easily, beat it up, lend it, etc etc.

I'm (clearly) not an economist, but I do think a big part of all these layoffs are companies taking the opportunity to streamline, become more efficient, and cut dead weight.

Mass layoffs are ugly if things are going well, but if you can blame the economy, you're not as evil.

It's good to hear the pub industry is taking a proactive approach to things.

You know who loves hard core readers?
Larry Flynt.

well, over all i prefer to read from normal book, not from an ebook

Modern gadgets/tools makes our life convenient, really help us a lot, right?? but the thing is, we our forgotten the oldies.. like books and others, i think we must forget the old ones..

Modern gadgets/tools makes our life convenient, really help us a lot, right?? but the thing is, we our forgotten the oldies.. like books and others, i think we must not forget the old ones..