Change Requires Doing Something Different

Change requires doing something different. This sounds elementary but I think very few people believe it.

Blogs are a dying art form. It’s true there are many successful ones, but there are 10 times as many that fail. Magazines, too, are a dying art form. Yet again, there are some successful ones. But so many are going under.

I don’t think blogs are a bad thing. I don’t think magazines are a bad thing. But but very few blogs and magazines are adapting.

Very many people have encouraged me to change Sunday| magazine into more of a blog or more of a magazine. “You should post daily instead of posting once a month.” Or, “You should make a print version of the magazine.”

But why would I try to convert what I have into a dying art form? Change requires doing something different. And blogs and magazines need change.

So I’ve created an online-only magazine with no paid staff or writers. I sell ads differently. I count subscribers differently. I don’t even require any extra information from my subscribers other than their email addresses.

It’s an experiment. It might fail. Or it might be the model that changes the industry.

I’m shooting for success. Not trying to change the industry. But those things that change the industry are rarely intended to do so. They’re intended to create success. Then others follow. But the change is revolutionary because no one else is doing it.

What do you need to do differently? What should you be doing that no one else is doing? Change requires doing something different.

[Photo Props]