The Long Tail

Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More

By: Chris Anderson

Narrated by: Christopher Nissley

Our world is being transformed by the Internet and the near limitless choice that it provides to consumers; tomorrow's markets belong to those who can take advantage of this. The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance, an entirely new model for business that is just starting to show its power as unlimited selection reveals new truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it. The record business has been transformed by iTunes and Rhapsody; a similar transformation is coming to just about every industry imaginable.

What happens when everything in the world becomes available to everyone? When the combined value of all the millions of items that may sell only a few copies equals or exceeds the value of the few items that sell millions each? When a bunch of kids with no profit motive can record a song or make a video and get the same electronic distribution for it as the most powerful corporation?

Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, first explored "The Long Tail" in an article that has become one of the most influential business essays of our time. Using the worlds of movies, books, and music, he showed how the Internet has made possible a new world in which the combined value of modest sellers and quirky titles equals the sales of the top hits. He coined the term "The Long Tail" to describe this phenomenon, a phrase that's since appeared in boardrooms and media around the world.

"In short, though we still obsess over hits," Anderson writes, "they are not quite the economic force they once were. Where are those fickle consumers going instead? No single place. They are scattered to the winds as markets fragment into a thousand niches."

©2006 Chris Anderson. All rights reserved (P)2006 Hyperion. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

• Winner of Audio Publishers Association 2007 Audie Award, Business Information/Education

"Anderson manages to explain a murky trend in clear language, giving entrepreneurs and the rest of us plenty to think about." (Publishers Weekly)
"Christopher Nissley's reading style fits the content; he's clipped and staccato, like Anderson's writing. His narration is helpful to the listener who prefers not to get bogged down in the theoretical and technical parts of the book." (AudioFile)

In depth solid material

The Long Tail is a well-presented, well-researched book describing the democratization of the means of producing and distributing goods and information. The long tail is what Chris Anderson calls the effect of aggregating vast numbers of like items and graphing them as hits and niches in such a way that the chart looks like a 'reverse hockey stick' with the handle being the tail.

In a digital age the cost and ease of producing niche products and media has both redeemed and made irrelevant Karl Marx? critique of capitalist society. We all can virtually own the means of production and we can independently have access to markets without capital, or very much of it.

In an age of search engines we have the ability to filter an unbelievable range of options so that markets can be made from the thinnest quantity of items and to the smallest niche number of consumers. The Long Tail, once irrelevant and inaccessible, now is driving the digital ecomony.

As a listen, the unabridged version can be a little more detail than you might need, but stick with it and the detail will payoff.

Unlike some books of this type, the audible version does not suffer because you cannot visually scan backward to review when the argument becomes too complex. The reader, Christopher Nissley does a great job.

Food for thought

Being in the book industry, we found this thesis thought provoking. It was a challenging but much needed wake up call. Well illustrated with current business innovations and trends, it helped me to appreciate how quickly the world is changing and gave us some ideas on positioning ourselves for the future.

There is quite a following to this book and several websites are devoted to its discussion. Recommended for any business owner, across all industries! A worthy herald of sea-change.

Less is More with the Long Tail

Would you consider the audio edition of The Long Tail to be better than the print version?

The audio version is convenient to listen to.

What other book might you compare The Long Tail to and why?

Free by Chris Anderson

What about Christopher Nissley’s performance did you like?

Clear, concise, and easy to listen to.

Really Interesting

This is a really interesting subject and he talks about it with a good use of facts and examples. It really got me thinking.

All business people need these concepts

As a consumer, I've been delighted with the recent explosion of choices. As a retailer, I've been struggling to take advantage of new technologies to satisfy an expanded internet market.

This book puts the changing business climate into a historical and conceptual perspective that makes sense. They never taught us this in college in the 80's, but today they'd better teach it to business students, because success and survival in today's marketplace requires an understanding of the process described in this book.

Some people understand some of these mechanisms intuitively or hazily, based on their own observations and that may be enough, but seeing the whole concept outlined so clearly, with so many examples is enlightening and inspiring.

Rewiring your brain for the Net Economy

Where does The Long Tail rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is very good for understanding the economical model behind new companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, and thus rewiring your brain to replicate this kind of success.

What other book might you compare The Long Tail to and why?

It is a good complement for Wikinomics and In the Plex

Which scene was your favorite?

The errors and abuses we have done applying the Pareto Model and the explanation of the new model (Long Tale)

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The possibility technologies opens to minorities, evolving from hit parades to niche markets.

Great Ideas posed in this book!

Chris Anderson is a gifted writer and I can't wait to read his other books moving forward!

Neat Book!

I downloaded (for free, of course) & listened to FREE: A Radical New Price first & then bought this book. Proof that Chris's point of view on the new pricing model is right on! Long tail has some great insights on the entertainment & artistic businesses.

slightly dated but interesting

the stories and references have become slightly dated (for reference they talk about YouTube being 6 months old in the ending interview) but it is still a very succinct and we'll researched book that is performed well by the reader

A Long (but worthy) Tale, About a Long Tail.

Provides a new component to business analysis; in that the tradition factors of marketing no longer provide a full market view. Sale of limited or unique market products can now be readily presented and supplied alongside dominant market products. Each having equal opportunity to reach and be purchased by other distributors and end market purchasers. The study further demonstrates “tail” products in mass can equal and surpass the dominant market products when conglomerated. Think Amazon.

A little dated, a little too redundant and a little too long but an essential understanding to anyone who seeks to market in today's arena; and especially marketing via the web. Don’t let my ratings discourage those who need to consider how to sell a product in today's electronic world. It is not necessarily a fun read, but it is an educational read.