A new era: the creator economyThe 1999 book, The Experience Economy, written by Pine and Gilmore, may be one of the most influential books I’ve ever read. Experiences are events that engage individuals in a personal way.
They believed back then, and it has certainly been proven since then that we have moved beyond commodities, goods, and services to this new experience-based economy. We now call this the creator economy. The book provides solid guidance on how to think about the experiences you create. It introduces the concept of four experience realms split into quadrants. One axis is the spectrum of Absorption to Immersion, which crosses the Passive to Active Participation axis.
- Passive Absorption = Entertainment
- Active Absorption = Education
- Passive Immersion = Aesthetic
- Active Immersion = Escapist
As an author, you live in the Passive Absorption quadrant of Entertainment. Consider how you can move across these spectrums to enhance and enrich the experience you deliver. Let me get meta for a moment. One of the examples in the book is the different prices that can be charged for a cup of coffee. In the end, coffee is just hot water diffused through ground coffee beans. Yet its price varies widely from what you pay to make a cup at home to, in the book’s example, a cup of espresso in Italy at St. Mark’s Square. I remembered this passage as I sat in St. Mark’s Square on my honeymoon, drinking an espresso and enjoying a Cuban cigar. It was an ephemeral moment where I felt a certain way, and I continue to share it with others. I attributed meaning to it, so it became part of how I identify. I may have shared that story before in past articles. I know I have shared it with others on stage on in conversations. It was an identity-forming moment that ties off to this specific book. We seek authenticity. In the past, quality mattered the most in the commodities, goods, and services-based economy. While it still does, the equivalent measurement of experiences is whether they are authentic. Do I feel seen, and do I attach my identity through the experience and what I feel, or does it result in me feeling like I’ve been had? Let’s face it: much of book marketing doesn’t meet this standard. It is often transactional and business-focused. We sell a product that is an experience the user passively absorbs through the process of reading or listening.
 Premium pricing often hinges on our emotional connection to a product. In a world where hundreds of millions of free books exist, why is someone willing to not only pay a premium for a book in their favorite genre, but also pay for a ticket to an event to get a copy of that same book signed, a book they won’t actually read but rather treat as a totem of belonging? The reader experienceThe answer is experience. Classical economic models fail because they suggest that books are a substitutable commodity, so price will find equilibrium to demand. This theory is incorrect. Good books often go unread by the masses, and mediocre books become cult classics. Why? Because of the experience. It’s not just the passive experience of reading but the cultural and community experience they create. With my work on Author Nation, we are prioritizing experience. This consideration includes the community experience, the live experience, and the reader experience. These aspects must be emergent properties that manifest as part of interactions within an individual. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what I think is happening; it’s about what the participants feel is happening. How can you make your brand an experience? Next: How to Overcome the Knowing-Doing Gap and Progress in Your Author Journey |