links for 2009-10-24

• Viral Loop Chronicles Part 1: Forget Everything You've Heard About Book Publishing | The Penenberg Post | Fast Company
  Book publishing is a "hits" business, with a tiny fraction of huge sellers--thank you Dan Brown, Malcolm Gladwell, and soon, Sarah Palin--carrying the rest of us losers. Publishers don't care about dropping money on 99 books if the 100th is a Tipping Point or Freakonomics. This also characterizes the music business and we can see how well that turned out, but I digress.
  (tags: books music business marketing consumers)