Great piece, Joshua Topolsky.

I see so many in the “media” complain about the difficulties in monetizing their content. It should be challenging to monetize content. Great content should be rewarded, while not-great content punished.

There is no magic bullet to success. It takes hard work, talent, and a little luck to be successful in business. Why should the media business be any different? The internet opened the floodgates to competition, and allowed players into the game that were previously shut out. This is a blessing. Competition creates better players, but it also tends to cast aside the lesser players.

The biggest lesson that any media company should be learning is that their business is going to be rewarded appropriately for the quality and value of their work. The greater public has a limited amount of time (demand) to consume content, and with more options (supply) than ever.

It’s time to look in the mirror, and admit that maybe it just isn’t good enough, and it’s as simple as that.