Amid the turmoil in book and magazine publishing, writers have to look to new models for continuing to do serious work. At the same time, businesses are rethinking the way they talk to the public. Instead of just selling, forward-thinking companies want to engage people by offering good ideas and valuable content.
Seems there is a relationship between writers and business waiting to be explored – one that doesn’t compromise journalism, but in fact helps it survive.
Working on that relationship is what I plan to do with VSA Partners, a design and consulting firm in Chicago and New York.
I just finished working with VSA to help IBM create content for its 100th anniversary. IBM commissioned us to research and write about the evolution of computing power over the past 100 years. The work became a book, co-authored with two other well-known tech journalists, given to all 425,000 IBM employees and offered for sale to the public. It has a companion web site.
Similarly, I collaborated with Vivek Ranadive, CEO of TIBCO Software in Palo Alto, Calif. Vivek and I co-authored a book that takes readers on a journey that begins at the intersection of neuroscience and computer science and ends with a new way to look at enterprises. This year, “the two-second advantage” — also the title of the book — has turned into a theme for Tibco’s future direction.
