Curating content that has been life-changing

[journeyman]

Every now and then I wll come up with an idea that I am not sure if it's amazing or completely useless. I'd love your take on it.

I am an avid reader. I enjoy reading blogs, books and getting exposed to new ideas. I am a subscriber in probably too many e-mail lists.

As a result, I have come across some truly inspiring, unique and even life-changing content. I am talking about superstars like MJ DeMarco, Tim Ferriss and Mark Manson, but also relatively uknown people whose radical views on most topics poison their exposure to a wider audience.

I am thinking, what if I made a website that curated the best content I've come accross, and shared it with people that wouldn't normally find it? Surely people can get value out of receiving carefully selected, mind-blowing ideas instead of having to go through the landfill of the web themselves.

Model:
Get in touch with the content creators. Obtain their permission to reproduce their content. They gain more exposure and traffic, I gain amazing content.

Publish said content, in the form of a regularly updated website, or maybe a weekly e-mail.

Monetization? After some time and only if I get adequate traffic, maybe convert it to a cheap subscription based website, or insert affiliate links in the e-mail.

Specific questions:

1. Am I trying to create a need where it doesn't exist?
2. I will be using other people's value instead of creating my own. Is this gonna harm my success long term?
3. Does this sound like something you would subscribe to?

Cheers !!

 

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[RogueInnovation]

Hmm before google there used to be sites that did this a lot
These days it is more TOP 10 lists for must read bizadvice etc
I usually search for top 100 lists etc to find things I'm unfamiliar with, then once having gotten my toes wet I find my way around from there
What I've found is that usually all books on a topic are emulating ONE key book that started the trend, so I tend to try to find the classics that started the trends
Like in movies, certain tropes are coined by certain movies, then other movies reincorporate it

You might be creating a need where it doesn't exist or be dreaming but it depends on execution
And how are people going to find you, to then find your curation of goodies?
Maybe do something like lootcrate?
Where you buy a bunch of books for your subscribers and send it to them every so often, and that helps them gear up for improveement
Sell it like "you could go out and find it on your own but you would wade through a lot of trash to find the gems, here start with some gems and expand faster"

That conceivably could be a fastlane vehicle if done right.
But the difference between dreaming and fastlane there is marketting (so people find you easily) and having an actually legit and well recommended crate service with tons of subscribers

To lower overhead you could start as a digital lootcrate, where you send ebooks in a package to their email along with any links to read and short summaries on what to expect going in. Leading them through how to digest the info in the best way.

That wouldn't be too terrible
But your execution has to be top notch
If you are lazy at all no ones gonna trust you
You gotta sell PRO on every level, help them emulate how pro you are by buying in

Another way might be a recommendation service and you monetise by advertising some unknowns along with the classics

 

[S.Y.]

You can pull it off. It is pretty much what Abnormal Returns is doing the same thing. I don't know the intricacies of his business and what are his revenues, but it a website I visit regularly.

The main question is how you will establish your authority. The author of AR wrote a book and many articles.

 

[journeyman]

Hmm before google there used to be sites that did this a lot
These days it is more TOP 10 lists for must read bizadvice etc
I usually search for top 100 lists etc to find things I'm unfamiliar with, then once having gotten my toes wet I find my way around from there
What I've found is that usually all books on a topic are emulating ONE key book that started the trend, so I tend to try to find the classics that started the trends
Like in movies, certain tropes are coined by certain movies, then other movies reincorporate it

You might be creating a need where it doesn't exist or be dreaming but it depends on execution
And how are people going to find you, to then find your curation of goodies?
Maybe do something like lootcrate?
Where you buy a bunch of books for your subscribers and send it to them every so often, and that helps them gear up for improveement
Sell it like "you could go out and find it on your own but you would wade through a lot of trash to find the gems, here start with some gems and expand faster"

That conceivably could be a fastlane vehicle if done right.
But the difference between dreaming and fastlane there is marketting (so people find you easily) and having an actually legit and well recommended crate service with tons of subscribers

To lower overhead you could start as a digital lootcrate, where you send ebooks in a package to their email along with any links to read and short summaries on what to expect going in. Leading them through how to digest the info in the best way.

That wouldn't be too terrible
But your execution has to be top notch
If you are lazy at all no ones gonna trust you
You gotta sell PRO on every level, help them emulate how pro you are by buying in

Another way might be a recommendation service and you monetise by advertising some unknowns along with the classics

Thanks a lot for your insight RogueInnovation. I know exactly what you mean regarding services like lootcrate. Mentorbox is actually doing the same thing for self-improvement books.

However my idea is a bit different.

First, the model I have in mind looks like thehustle.co . If you don't know about it, you land on their page, submit your e-mail for free and every day you get hand-picked tech and business news. The difference would be that mine would be once per week instead of daily ( at least at the beginning). This is what I like about the idea, if people get everything for free and minimal effort, why wouldn't they sign up?

Second, the content that I want to share is not whole books, but only short posts. It could be an awesome blog article, an excerpt from a book, or a e-mail that someone sent to his list.

As far as monetization, initially I could have product affiliate links like thehustle, which wouldn't alienate any subscribers which would get value e-mailed to them for free. Later after growing a big enough list I could switch to a subscription based model.

I am well aware of the struggles of execution and good marketing. Getting traffic for this initially will be a pain and probably require a good chunk of money on ads before the word starts to spread and I get some guest blog posts or featured ads.

The thing that nags me right now is that I am not sure this is something that people would be interested in. I guess I could always make a page, drive 100 clicks and test e-mail subscribe conversion rate.

You can pull it off. It is pretty much what Abnormal Returns is doing the same thing. I don't know the intricacies of his business and what are his revenues, but it a website I visit regularly.

The main question is how you will establish your authority. The author of AR wrote a book and many articles.

Thanks S.Y. appreciate your input. I wasn't aware of the abnormal returns site. I guess the guy had to be an authority first since he curates financial information. Whereas I only care about lifestyle improvement and intelligent ideas.

As I said above, since for quite some time the whole deal would be absolutely free, I have the sense that people would sign up for it. Whether there is an actual need for such information or need is still beyond me...

 

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[GDalf]

Thanks a lot for your insight RogueInnovation. I know exactly what you mean regarding services like lootcrate. Mentorbox is actually doing the same thing for self-improvement books.

However my idea is a bit different.

First, the model I have in mind looks like thehustle.co . If you don't know about it, you land on their page, submit your e-mail for free and every day you get hand-picked tech and business news. The difference would be that mine would be once per week instead of daily ( at least at the beginning). This is what I like about the idea, if people get everything for free and minimal effort, why wouldn't they sign up?

Second, the content that I want to share is not whole books, but only short posts. It could be an awesome blog article, an excerpt from a book, or a e-mail that someone sent to his list.

As far as monetization, initially I could have product affiliate links like thehustle, which wouldn't alienate any subscribers which would get value e-mailed to them for free. Later after growing a big enough list I could switch to a subscription based model.

I am well aware of the struggles of execution and good marketing. Getting traffic for this initially will be a pain and probably require a good chunk of money on ads before the word starts to spread and I get some guest blog posts or featured ads.

The thing that nags me right now is that I am not sure this is something that people would be interested in. I guess I could always make a page, drive 100 clicks and test e-mail subscribe conversion rate.



Thanks S.Y. appreciate your input. I wasn't aware of the abnormal returns site. I guess the guy had to be an authority first since he curates financial information. Whereas I only care about lifestyle improvement and intelligent ideas.

As I said above, since for quite some time the whole deal would be absolutely free, I have the sense that people would sign up for it. Whether there is an actual need for such information or need is still beyond me...

Funny, I recently had a similar idea basically reviewing my favorite content that I thought entrepreneurs would find useful because I'm reading so much of it, whether it be books or blogs or emails lists.

Will be following this thread and/or happy to discuss with you in a Pm!

 

[journeyman]

Cool, I bounced the idea off a few of my friends who are into self-improvement and they agreed that as long as the service is free, at least initially, it is something they would signup for. Of course that doesn't mean much but it can be tested.

I wish I had more input GDalf, but at this point I am focusing 100% on another project so this idea is only going to be a backup. But likewise, if you decide to do something along those lines I am more than happy to brainstorm!