News Is Not Enough - CM #6
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News Is Not Enough - CM #6
Insights, trends, tools and real-world examples of how to create profitable online projects by organizing existing information.
Welcome to issue #6 of Curation Monetized.
I am Robin Good, a passionate researcher of content curation since 2004, writing you from the sunny island of Holbox in Mexico.
I want to help indie entrepreneurs who are passionate and expert about a topic in creating valuable resources that are useful for others and that are also economically profitable.
To do so I provide a showcase of insights, trends, tools and real-world examples of apps, resources and digital products that generate revenue by collecting and organizing existing (already published) information.
This newsletter is written for:
indie entrepreneurs
journalists
subject-matter experts
consultants, advisors
trainers, teachers, coaches
The Free edition of this newsletter offers:
- key insights and
- trends
relating to content curation, organizing information and related monetization and business models.
The Premium edition provides:
- additional insights plus
- a unique selection of tools and apps
- real-world examples with detailed info (niche, business model, platforms, authors) along with my notes on the curator’s job and connected business opportunities.
Key Curation Insights
1) News Is Not Enough. People Want To Understand.
“There’s more need for explanation.
Because they were supply constrained, newspapers and newspaper journalists focused on what was new, what just happened, the incremental development.
But lots of times, readers had no way of making sense of those developments or contextualizing them.
They were getting the leaves, but they’d never gotten the trunk.
Especially as information and incremental developments explode in quantity, there is increasing public hunger for understanding — not so much what happened, but what it means.”
Source: David Roberts - “My Advice for Aspiring Explainer Journalists”
2) Information Is the Currency
Packaging it, is the value.
Knowing how to communicate something is much more valuable than what you have to communicate.
That means that the key topic we should all invest serious time in, is: learning how to listen and how to communicate and present information effectively.
“In the new world of curation, information becomes currency and the ability to repackage something as compelling, consumable and shareable, is an art.”
Source: Greg Heist - “The Journey From Researcher to Curator (Part 4 of 5)”
3) Curators Are Essential To Startups
It is the curator more than the artist, author or startup who can best bring to their ideal audiences their new creations in the best possible way.
The curator interprets for a specific audience and interests what is of key value in that new product / creation.
“The work of the curator is almost as important as the work of the artist. Its role is crucial to the way art reaches society, and to the way society interprets and derives utility from artworks.”
And so you could say:
“The work of the curator is almost as important as the work of the book author, film director, musician or startup. Its role is crucial to the way a song, book, film or tool reaches society, and to the way, society interprets and derives value from it.”
Source: Diogo Gonçalves - Psychology Today - “2084: Digital Choice Curation for a Non-Orwellian Economy”
4) The More We Have, The More We Need
“The more creators we have, the more curators we need.
The value of curation increases with options.
Automated curation will not replace human curators.”
Source: Dru Riley - Trends.vc - “Curation As a Service”
Key Curation Trends
1) News-Radars
Newradars are specialized news channels that monitor, vet and select the most relevant news and stories for a specific audience or industry sector.
I have first coined and used this term back in 2005 to describe what I envisioned would ensue from the proliferation of RSS feeds.
Major examples of existing newsradars are:
Opportunities for :
Niche experts - the more competent and expert the newsradar curator the greater value can be extracted.
Niche focus - curate for specific audience and need - not by topic or industry
Most industry or topic newsletters - which come close to be newsradars - tend to be too broad in scope or cover too little of the relevant content being published.
Relevant Tools To Publish a Newsradar:
2) Substack for Databases
Tom Critchlow writes:
“there is a whole set of publishing use cases waiting in the wings that are underserved today.”
“I want to empower more individuals to publish, maintain and collaborate on small indexes. To build a million tiny libraries, community databases, weird collections and indie indexes."
This is a great, useful endeavour.
"Imagine a Substack for databases - an easy tool for creating, maintaining and publishing databases with the ability to restrict parts or all of it behind a paywall.
Pair it with the ability to send email updates to your audience about changes and additions.
Maybe even roll in some of the data-cleanup and data-collection magic that machine learning and web scraping offers."
I can see it working and I can see a market for it.
Source: Tom Crichlow - “The Magic of Small Databases”
In the Premium Edition:
Recommended Curation Tools & Resources
Interesting curation tools and apps available in the April Premium Edition:
Monetize Lists, Tips, Steps
Curate your world into snackable, interactive bundles you can share or sell anywhere. Free.Get the details / Premium subscription
WordPress Directory Builder Plugin
Allows to monetize through Paid Listings, Claim a Listing, Featured Listing, Subscriptions, Pay Per Submit. Starts at $55/for 3 months.
Get the details / Premium subscriptionGet a Pro-Research Assistant
Discover insights, get summaries. Starts at $10/mo (30-day free trial)
Get the details / Premium subscriptionShare Lists of Favorite Resources
Share your personal library of favorite books, experts, podcasts, videos and articles with a simple link. 100% free.
Get the details / Premium subscriptionOrganize Notes, Ideas and Resources Visually
Notes management via mindmaps. Fully searchable. Fast. Mac, PC, iOS, Android and the Web. Free version available + 30-days free trial.
Get the details / Premium subscription
Curation Monetized: Real World Examples
Profitable curation projects available in the April Premium Edition:
Ads Library
a huge collection of ads specific to a social platform for inspiration and strategyCollection of popular mental models
visual catalog of mental models analyzedDesign catalog of editable content blocks
library of existing design blocks from real websites, Figma-readyLibrary of free online documentaries
all of the best documentaries, reviewed and organized in one placeIndustry-specific newsradars
email-based industry-specific news updatesAffiliate programs catalog
list of hundreds of active affiliate programs organized by niches
These are all online projects that monetize by organizing existing information.
Subscribe to Curation Monetized Premium to get the details on each one of these projects and to support my work in this direction. Your contribution can help me continue doing what I love the most.
To get a look at a Premium issue check out the first issue of CM.
P.S.: Feedback and comments are always welcome, as well as requests for specific solutions.
Just reply to this newsletter email or write me at robingood@substack.com
from sunny Holbox island (MX)
Robin Good