… books are a mere format. Yes, they can be beautiful and wonderful to hold in your hands, and yes, there are some books I plan to keep in my home until the day I die simply for their sentimental value. So I understand what is magical about books. But the most magical thing about them is the information they convey: the story they contain. The word “book” and the word “story” are not synonymous, just as eight tracks and music are not the same thing. Stories pre-date books by milleniums; and though books might someday go away, story will last as long as our civilization does.
The above is a quote from an article I came across by a senior editor at a well-known mainstream book publisher talking about the state of the traditional publishing industry
Substitute the word “book” for “documentation,” and the word “story” for “content” and I think the observation applies equally to the world of corporate publishing as it does to traditional book publishing.
I need to add a couple of points of clarification here.
Anyone who knows me and has heard me speak will know I love books (the traditional kind). I have a house full of them, and spend my evenings and weekends writing them. BUT while I’m a passionate bibliophile, I am also aware that the “book model” is perhaps no longer the best model to be using to ensure that content reaches the end user of a product or service.
While I suggested swapping the word “story” for “content” in the quote above, that was more to illustrate a point. For me everything we write or produce that is designed to pass on knowledge or information is, and should be treated as, a story. The ability to tell stories is the most powerful communications tool we have at our disposal. As the original quote points out, we’ve being doing it for millennium, and will continue to do it irrespective of any technology or medium.
Alan
A Note of Appreciation
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Weekly #CX Thought
Most people believe they work in a digital workplace. If you use a computer you must be in a digital environment, right?
But the truth is that most people work in a traditional, process-driven environment where the computer is only replicating what were paper-based processes.
Upcoming Events
Our 2024 industry conference season will be kicking off in a few weeks, and you’ll be able to catch up with us at the following events:
CEX - Content Entrepreneurs Expo - May 5-7 - Cleveland, OH. -
This will be our first time at the CEX event and we are looking forward to mixing with the new generation of content entrepreneurs to learn about building profitable content based business.
STC Summit - May 17-19 - Bloomington, MN -
The annual conference for the Society of Technical Communicators has been a regular highlight of our year for many years now, and I’m delighted to once again be participating as both a speaker and industry panelist.
Content Discovery Workshops - Now Booking for Q2/24
THE CONTENT POOL is offering a special discount on our two-day Content Discovery Workshops for newsletter subscribers and readers.
We are now taking workshop bookings for Q2/2024, and we wanted to make sure that as a newsletter reader you got an early opportunity to lock-in a date.
Our April dates are now full, but we still have availability in May and June.
As a reminder during these on-site in-person workshops workshop we will:
Develop your content vision
Identify opportunities to leverage your content in new ways
Map out the path to transform your enterprise content.
It will be followed by two deliverables:
Key observations document
High-level content transformation plan
A quick overview of the standard workshop format can be found at https://the-content-pool.com/workshops/
If you would like more details, or you like to discuss reserving a date for yourself and your team to benefit from a Content Discovery workshop, just email us at info@4jsgroup.com
In The Bookstore
If you enjoy the contents of this newsletter and would like more, we have three books always available from XML Press.
You can also check out The Content Pool website or follow us on FaceBook or on Twitter/X at @TheContentPool
Please feel free to share the newsletter and pass it around to any friends or colleagues you think might find it of value.
Till next time - have fun paddling in The Content Pool.
Alan Porter
The Content Pool™ is a division of the 4Js Group LLC