The end of „ShortBizBooks“ is the start of a new format
„No time to stay up to date? ShortBizBooks get to the point with selected business topics. We will offer eBooks, freebies and a great blog. And give back to the community.“
Business books with lasersharp focus saving the reader time
A long long time ago, around 2010 or 11, I had the idea of publishing very short business books that have a laser focus on a single topic. The startup idea was called „ShortBizBooks – Business books for people with limited time“. The „publication“ in what ever form (printed book, digital book, course etc.) would allow the „reader“ to drill down quickly, everywhere he or she is. The motivation behind the project was simple: business books usually have a lot of excessive weight. Pages which nobody read. Some of these pages where not even meant to actually transfer knowledge but to inflate the book to add importance. I wanted to get rid of the „filler“ and get right to the point, because I think this is what busy people need most today: distraction free, focused information ideally providing solutions.
Quality content is a challenge
Naturally coming up with the quality content is a challenge: condensing text takes extra effort which is in contrast to the initial perception of the reader where a small number of pages results in less credibility and reduced perceived worth. This was way before AI and publicly available machine learning which today might help at creating this content without sacrificing quality. Anyway, the business model was not viable, it was sort of outperformed by the internet: meanwhile, free content is everywhere online and Google is the access to this knowledge. Although I support and am part of this development, the economics of „free“ require very high attention of a big audience to be financially viable.
Abundance of mediums creates confusion and is slowly picked up by the user
Also turned out the book and education industry are slow and fast at the same time. Today, there are many (some say to many) forms of mediums to transport knowledge. That also meant, the user was not a „reader“, a „listener“, a „viewer“, a „learner“. Most of the time, he or she was all of this. This confusion causes a slow adoption rate on the user side and requires a long time to break through on a large scale. I saw other examples of „ShortBizBooks“ popping up and disappearing and talked to a lot of people: potential users, authors, experts, tech people and entrepreneurs. After a range of initial prototypes I decided the challenge was not one I wanted to handle.
The end of ShortBizBooks is the start of something new
Now I found a great way to combine the transfer of knowledge and ideas, in a way that is easily „consumable“. And a very selected topic that is close to my heart and passion. Entertaining and available at home or while on the road, eg. traveling, commuting. In the summer I will start a podcast, which seems to be an ideal medium in the age of Alexa/Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod. The focus is on innovators: entrepreneurs (young or seasoned), innovation managers, product managers, business designers and corporate development people.
Are you an innovator?
Want to know more? Check out the innovator podcast.
