How will content make money in the next decade?

From print publishing to movies to the music industry, the business of content is changing. How do you take the uncertainty that's out there and turn it into opportunity?

Simon Young explores some new possibilities for content creators, what you will need for this journey and what to discard.

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I think it's fair to say that everything is changing around the way we make money from content.

And by content I mean some of the most treasured parts of our culture: news, movies, music, books, stories, dramas, comedies, artworks. There's a lot there! 

And in each of those industries, there are people losing their jobs. Some of them losing their businesses, and some of them losing their entire livelihoods. At least it feels like that. And as we know, working in the creative sector is not usually a high paying thing (except, perhaps, in the dark arts of advertising and PR).

And along comes new technology, adding further complexity to the mix. Or does it? Depending on how you approach it, technologies like the Amazon Kindle, the Apple iPad and even services like Foursquare are giving content creators new possibilities. 

It's all a matter of perspective. Viewed from one perspective, you can now integrate video into your books, turn your content into an app, and connect your content to physical places. 

What will you need on this journey? Many things. Here are a few:

• Courage. Facing the unknown is hard, especially facing our own lack of knowledge or skill. But we've got to be willing to admit we're not so good at the right thing, than continuing to be good at the wrong thing.
  
  
• Devotion to the heart of your work. Don't get hung up on how your work has traditionally been expressed. Do you identify as a screenwriter? Screenprinter? Clay sculptor? Step outside of your medium and look at the heart of what you do. How else can it be expressed?
  
  
• Imagination - not just for the work you normally do. Use your imagination to spot new ways of doing business. It's something all your partners are also having to do - whether they're publishers, producers or any other form of make-stuff-happenators. 

What to throw out? Here's a laundry list:

• Fear. But fear is sneaky and often hides as legitimate-sounding reasons to ignore or write off new developments. Get good at spotting it, and call it what it is.
  
  
• Set-in-stone views of "how things work". Do some research about the history of whatever arts sector you're in. Notice how things change. Every tradition was an innovation once. And even innovators need to constantly disrupt themselves, to avoid being disrupted from outside.

What are you developing, and what are you throwing away to cope with change?