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Today, I am starting a new blog series called Media Myths based on my book Lean Media and some of the questions I get from people interested in the framework. The first myth: The sure-fire way to have a successful media launch is working in secret and then launching with a gigantic hype-filled release That’sRead more

Dean Wesley Smith is a prolific fiction author. He’s also a prolific blogger, and spends a lot of time sharing his observations about the craft of writing. Some of his advice is helpful, but in one of his recent posts (a chapter from one his nonfiction books) he takes aim at the practice of using betaRead more

If you create online media content content aimed at niche audiences, there’s a good chance that the content management system (CMS) powering it is WordPress. Further, if you want to add social sharing buttons to share content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social networks, it’s highly like you are using the Simple Share ButtonsRead more

If you follow news about tech startups, you have undoubtedly heard the term “pivot.” It’s a hot idea in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs, and is closely associated with the Lean Startup movement. In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries defines a pivot as a “fundamental change to [a startup’s] business strategy” borne out ofRead more

Today, Lean Media received an endorsement from John Maeda. John is Head of Computational Design & Inclusion at Automattic (the creators of WordPress) and also has a lengthy career as a scholar, author, and thinker about design-related issues at MIT, RISD, and KPCB. If you haven’t read it, I urge you to check out John’sRead more

Thanks to all of the people who shared feedback on the first round of 9 cover designs for the Lean Media book project. I really enjoyed reading through your comments, which helped me see the proposed designs in a new light. Like any design-oriented Lean Media project, the feedback is not intended to be a popularityRead more

As I have noted many times on this blog, I actively solicit feedback from potential readers about chapters, diagrams, examples, and other elements of the book. Feedback helps me understand my audience, identify elements that are working well, and also head off potential problems. It’s Lean Media in action. This week, I am soliciting feedbackRead more

I’m nearing the end of revising the third draft of my Lean Media book. While researching industry trends, I found two fascinating pieces of data. First, Bowker’s data for ISBN registrations for self-published books: Printed self-published books with self-purchased ISBNs or “free” ISBNs from Createspace and other providers have doubled every few years. While the ebookRead more

Last month, N.E.O. Bernhardsson, a Hong Kong-based publisher, reached out to me after reading about Lean Media online. Independently, he and his Modes Vu team have developed a system that uses Lean Media principles and processes to develop art photography books featuring relatively unknown photographers from China and elsewhere. This post and interview will describeRead more

The Lean Media flowchart has undergone several iterations. In 2015, it looked like this: The idea was feedback cycles could take place at any stage of the production up to the hard launch. The soft launch was an integral feedback stage, as it allowed a highly polished version to be exposed to a public audience andRead more