Amazon Buys MGM Film Studio
An Interesting Bit of News…
In a month with a lot of entertainment news, this event sort of stood out. But here is a paragraph from Jane Freidman’s newsletter called Hotsheet that I found fascinating about the purchase. (You should subscribe to the newsletter, trust me.)
“The $8.45 billion acquisition includes a catalog of 17,000 TV shows and 4,000 films. The press release quotes an Amazon executive as saying, “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.””
You really got to note that Amazon is talking about IP and how they are going to use it going forward.
Book writers take note.
Friedman talks a lot about what she calls the creator economy.
She is spot on the money in so many ways and Kris and I are going to be talking a lot about this in different ways in the Business Master Class classes coming over this next year. And Kris in her business blog will be covering it more and more over time. Might want to support her on her Patreon page to get all the different blogs she is doing on this and other publishing topics.
Just the fact that Amazon paid 8.45 Billion for IP should tell you that what you are writing has value going into this new future.
I didn’t include this in the many reasons to not get near traditional book publishing, but it will soon be the biggest reason. Kris and I and WMG Publishing make a large amount of money in this Creator Economy. And it is just growing and expanding.
8 Comments
T Thorn Coyle
Thanks for the head’s up, Dean. That’s an interesting development.
I’m glad to see Friedman mention Substack. I switched to that platform last September and its been going well (there are legit criticisms of the platform, but there are of all of them). Not only is it easy to use and engage with readers, but it is free (unlike the other newsletter servers. I was paying out $400 a year because of my newsletter size). Instead of paying out, I’ve actually made money, because Substack makes it easy for people to pay for the newsletter if they want to. So my weekly newsletter is now another stream of income as well as a great way to connect to people.
Some writers use Substack to offer premium content for paid subscribers, with free for everyone else. So far, I give everyone the same content, free or paid, because the connection is most important to me. But the money is nice, too.
dwsmith
Thorn, you are the first person I have known who has tried it. Glad to see it working as a cash stream. Nifty.
Were you able to easily import your mailing list? And could you list a couple of the platform problems as you see them?
THANK YOU!
T Thorn Coyle
Importing your mailing list to Substack is easy peasy. I really like the layout, photos are easy, etc. The only thing Substack does not do is an automated series of onboarding emails for new subscribers. I was barely using those anyway, as–after a few years trying– it turns out that kind of marketing doesn’t work well for me. I really just want a weekly newsletter as a way to share thoughts, connect with folks, and let them know about new releases.
Its working well for me, and each newsletter entry is easily shareable on social media, too, which is a bonus!
Substack also makes it super easy to click a button to send to “everyone” or “paid subscribers only.”
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The main issues people are having with the platform could be considered political. Substack gave money to some big name journalist types to lure them over early on and some of these folks are problems IMO (anti-trans etc). I’ve written Substack feedback letters asking about what they’re doing to fund other writers.
dwsmith
Thanks!!
Philip
IP is everything. This purchase of IP just massively buffed Amazon’s Prime Video content, which is huge during the streaming wars. Every big company is snatching up the content. Comcast bought NBC Universal. AT&T has Time Warner and DC Comics IP. The list goes on. And all these services are buying options on books and other literary IP all the time for movies and TV shows. This has to be the best time in history to be a writer.
dwsmith
Spot on the money, Philip. Content is king and we are the producers of content.
Joseph Cleary
I saw this yesterday and shrugged, but after reading your take on it, I’m excited about the future. The way you look at the business makes me want to put more and more hours in the writing chair.
allynh
Here in Santa Fe we get over the air channels that show MGM movies and tv shows. I worry that those channels will vanish and that you can only get all of the MGM stuff through Amazon.
I haven’t found anyone talking about that.