Video is the New Book.
Books are DEAD — as a credibility tool, anyway.
For non-fiction, business books, self help, etc., there was a time when writing a book meant something — it exuded credibility and made you an “instant expert” on anything; being a “published author” carried some clout…
That was SO last century (and the one before)… Today, any jackass can write and publish a book and make it look legit. Save for a handful of publishing houses whose books still have that clout (more so because of who PUBLISHED them then who actually WROTE them), the book, in-print AND digital, as the marketing tool and “credibility builder” it once was, is pretty much all washed-up.
People don’t have time to read anymore. Smaller devices make it harder to read. Attention spans have gotten shorter and shorter. Focusing on a book with a million things going on is harder than ever. Yeah, there are still die-hard book readers, but most contemporary information seekers don’t have the time or patience to read 150 pages for someone to get to the point… they want answers NOW, they want them FAST, they want them in bite-sized, easy to digest chunks… no time for fluff. Tell the story, get it over with, so I can move-on and put what I learned to work.
The publishing world tried to meet the demand for “bite-sized chunks” by increasing focus on books with bullet points — 12 of this, 10 of that, 101 ways to do whatever, etc., but even THAT takes too much time. Authors spend too much time, too many words, trying to express things that can usually be summed up quickly.
Thinks about it, most books could be summarized in a few pages of a leaflet. Look at the success of Cliff Notes. Even better, most books can be summarized in a 45-minute audio, look a the success of AudioTech Business Book Summaries. (I love them.)
Audio books were a great alternative for a while, but even still, listening to someone else read all those pages — or summarize them — is just as time-consuming and often boring. Readers today need total stimulation. They need to see AND hear, but not just letters and words on paper or a screen, they want to see it come to LIFE.
VIDEO is the new Book.
Want to tell a story? Make a movie. Make a TV show. Make a two-minute video for YouTube. It’s easier to get people to watch your 1 hour video than it is to get them to read your 150-page book…
People don’t have time to read, but they have time to see and hear — it’s so much easier to multi-task when watching and listening to a video than it is to do so while reading a book — in fact, you CAN’T multi-task when reading a book.
It’s a fact, video can NOW reach MORE PEOPLE…FASTER…and CHEAPER than a book ever could, in-print or digitally.
So if you’re an EXPERT on something and you want to build CREDIBILITY faster, reaching more people in LESS TIME and at a LOWER COST. Consider making a VIDEO.
Consider launching your own TV SHOW, or even better and entire TV CHANNEL… nothing SCREAMS “CREDIBILITY!” like having your own TV Show.
VIDEO IS THE NEW BOOK.
Sure just like books, any jackass can produce a video now, too — but when you put something in print, the author remains somewhat detached from it — the words tend to stand alone, giving the author less accountability for it. In a video, however, the “author” is right there — the words and names are put with a face. The words say one thing, the body language another. The “author” exudes confidence, or not; the author is immediately “trusted” or not, he/she is thus more accountable than his/her mere words in print.
VIDEO TELLS THE STORY IN WORDS AND MOVING PICTURES.
Movies and TV shows are more popular than ever because they do want BOOKS can’t do. And they do it faster, which is more rewarding. If I can get your whole story and put what I learn to use in an hour, as opposed to 3 days, I’m now more satisfied and fulfilled, happy, and more apt to put what I learn to work. No one likes a “grind” and that’s just what books have become.
VIDEO is the new BOOK.
That’s sure to piss a lot of people off, but it’s a (sad) fact: today, people would rather WATCH and LISTEN than read.
Want to launch your own TV show and reach more people faster than a book, and faster than YouTube? Ask me about developing a show for Roku — the #1 Internet TV/streaming media platform reaching 8,000,000 viewers in the US, and millions more worldwide — and growing FAST!
Phil Autelitano is CEO of Mediarazzi, a new start-up that develops TV channels and unique content for Roku.
www.mediarazzi.com
@PhilAutelitano
