Share <Embed>

Buy New

$4.88

List Price: $24.95
Save: $20.07 (80%)

$4.88 + $3.99 shipping

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Ships from and sold by BetterBuys4You!.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$9.42
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: BooksST

Add to Cart

$13.89
& FREE Shipping on eligible orders. Details

Sold by: Capital City Textbooks

Add to Cart

$15.95
& FREE Shipping on eligible orders. Details

Sold by: Amazon.com

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More Hardcover – July 11, 2006

by Chris Anderson (Author)

392 customer reviews

See all 29 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$4.88

$4.87

$0.10

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.65

$5.88

$1.25

Audible, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Audio CD, Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$19.95

—

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

$15.85

$8.05

There is a newer edition of this item:

The Long Tail from SmarterComics
$8.00
(7)
In Stock.

What happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone?

"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google.

However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.

The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what's commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $24.96

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson Hardcover $4.88
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by BetterBuys4You!.
$3.99 shipping
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers by Seth Godin Hardcover $20.08
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Seth Godin

227

Hardcover
$20.08
Jay Conrad Levinson

193

Paperback
$10.48
Lawrence L. Steinmetz

52

Hardcover
$20.29
Al Ries

304

Hardcover
$17.50
Chris Anderson

206

Hardcover
$10.99
Geoffrey A. Moore

124

Paperback
$12.48

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Chris Anderson

215

Paperback
$13.79
Chris Anderson

206

Paperback
$12.28
Martin Lindstrom

283

Paperback
$13.72
Jay Conrad Levinson

193

Paperback
$10.48
Harry Beckwith

232

Paperback
$8.98
Chris Anderson
Hardcover
$14.29

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wired editor Anderson declares the death of "common culture"—and insists that it's for the best. Why don't we all watch the same TV shows, like we used to? Because not long ago, "we had fewer alternatives to compete for our screen attention," he writes. Smash hits have existed largely because of scarcity: with a finite number of bookstore shelves and theaters and Wal-Mart CD racks, "it's only sensible to fill them with the titles that will sell best." Today, Web sites and online retailers offer seemingly infinite inventory, and the result is the "shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards." These "countless niches" are market opportunities for those who cast a wide net and de-emphasize the search for blockbusters. It's a provocative analysis and almost certainly on target—though Anderson's assurances that these principles are equally applicable outside the media and entertainment industries are not entirely convincing. The book overuses its examples from Google, Rhapsody, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and eBay, and it doesn't help that most of the charts of "Long Tail" curves look the same. But Anderson manages to explain a murky trend in clear language, giving entrepreneurs and the rest of us plenty to think about. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

In The Long Tail, Chris Anderson offers a visionary look at the future of business and common culture. The long-tail phenomenon, he argues, will "re-shape our understanding of what people actually want to watch" (or read, etc.). While Anderson presents a fascinating idea backed by thoughtful (if repetitive) analysis, many critics questioned just how greatly the niche market will rework our common popular culture. Anderson convinced most reviewers in his discussion of Internet media sales, but his KitchenAid and Lego examples fell flat. A few pointed out that online markets constitute just 10 percent of U.S. retail, and brick-and-mortar stores will never disappear. Anderson's thesis came under a separate attack by Lee Gomes in his Wall Street Journal column. Anderson had defined the "98 Percent Rule" in his book to mean that no matter how much inventory is made available online, 98 percent of the items will sell at least once. Yet Gomes cited statistics that could indicate that, as the Web and Web services become more mainstream, the 98 Percent Rule may no longer apply: "Ecast [a music-streaming company] told me that now, with a much bigger inventory than when Mr. Anderson spoke to them two years ago, the quarterly no-play rate has risen from 2% to 12%. March data for the 1.1 million songs of Rhapsody, another streamer, shows a 22% no-play rate; another 19% got just one or two plays." If Anderson overreaches in his thesis, he has nonetheless written "one of those business books that, ironically, deserves more than a niche readership" (Houston Chronicle).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (July 11, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401302378
ISBN-13: 978-1401302375
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 392 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #297 in Books > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Research
- #418 in Books > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Consumer Behavior
- #517 in Books > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Web Marketing

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Start reading The Long Tail on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer Reviews

Write a customer review

See all 392 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Marketing & Sales

4.4 out of 5 stars

Business & Economics Books

4.3 out of 5 stars

Economic History

4.0 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Read reviews that mention

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Brian

A new "theory of everything" human

April 8, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

You already know the internet has changed the way the world works, plays, learns and shares.
However, you may wonder how a thing once defined as “geeky,” aka “going nowhere,” evolved in Darwinian fashion into an anthropomorphic feature so essential to mankind, it is now held on a par with walking “upright” or walking “on the moon.”
In this latest version of The Long Tail, Chris Anderson does an exceptional job explaining how the “endless shelf space” of the internet, when applied to commerce or culture, makes the niche marketing of almost any product, service or idea so efficient and effective its disruptive forces lay waste to many given economic ideas and generations of long held cultural norms.
Within a few chapters you understand why a “cloud” presence is often more valuable than a physical domain and in entertaining fashion why the conversation extends beyond economics in the very mosaic of life. In some ways The Long Tail has become a meme for the cultural “theory of everything” human.
While the book is brilliant on many levels, some themes are repeated beyond their capacity to provide new enlightenment or insight. This minor distraction is really a function of attempting to write history while still standing in the middle of an event, with every passing day there are new examples of how Long Tail economics and culture are reshaping the world.

Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Eugene A. Melino

Brave New Economics

September 21, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Neither a dystopia nor utopia, the economics of the Long Tail is disruptive. The beautiful irony is that capitalism may have fulfilled Marx's prophecy that the workers would one day control the means of production. A digital technology revolution, not a socialist revolution, has put the means of production and distribution in the hands of anyone willing to use them.

Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Mec

Seminal idea, although the book is a bit padded

January 20, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

You probably already know what "the Long Tail" means. If you don't, go take two minutes and find out.

The concept of the Long Tail is simple and powerful. Anderson first proposed the idea in 2004 and then elaborated it into this book.

The book is a little padded as the author rings a lot of changes on the idea, some of them shallow and repetitive (but some not). However, he also presents a lot of interesting data across markets. This is valuable -- the value of this idea is not just how much fun it is to talk about (and it is a lot of fun), but how well it actually explains real-world phenomena. So I appreciate data such as a table of book sales clustered by number of copies sold. I was expecting 50% padding, and I was pleased that the book was only 30% padding. That compares well with most books. :)

I would like to see more material on the temporal long tail. Anderson writes about music categories such as "jazz", "classical", "pop" (and a lot of sub-categories and micro-categories), but he doesn't split the music by the year published such as "1970s", "1980s", "1990s". A lot of musical trends are correlated with year of publication, and a lot of music listeners like the music they listened to during young adulthood. That's got to have some effect on popularity of old music.

Overall, though -- this idea explains a lot of markets, and non-market sharing, too. You need to grok this idea and this book is a very good source.

CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Robert D. Crane

An awakening

August 13, 2011

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

For me, this is another one of the books that points out the bleeding obvious. I mean that more in the sense that it is something I know but really haven't taken the time to understand or fully appreciate. This book has succeeded in making me think much deeper about the power of scale, especially when it come to the Internet.

In a world obsessed with the next big hit or the single shining light this book demonstrates that much success lies in satisfying the diversity of choice. Too often popular culture seduces into a popularity contest where there is only room for first place. Too often we fail to celebrate the diversity of interests that is humanity and fail to take business advantage of this.

The ability to reach smaller audiences has now been simplified with technology and the Internet. Now it is possible to services just about every market as quickly and easily as any traditional business model. This book opened my eyes up to the possibilities that I have been largely ignoring and has infused a desire to explore such opportunities with more rigour and discipline.

If you are looking to understand the business opportunity technology like the Internet can provide a business. If you are looking to understand how to succeed even within a restricted audience, then this book is something you should read. In reality, if you are in business then this is certainly a book that you should read as it may just change your idea of where you can be successful. I know it has for me.

CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Customer images

See all customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Ghassan Samaha

If you target audience everywhere you will look for audience ...

If you target audience everywhere you will look for audience in the nowhere, a big window of HOPE for the ones who appreciate the new abundance economics.

Published 2 days ago

Isabella Roland

The Future is About Selling Less of More

This book gives you a new way to think about the way we create products. Consumers want hyper specific content. Being a generalist is not a good idea when creating products.Read more

Customer Video Review

Published 3 months ago

Susan Garrett

Five Stars

Learned a lot

Published 7 months ago

skender Bushgjokaj

Five Stars

thank you

Published 8 months ago

HoneyBadgerReviews

Dancing on the Tail

I used to live in a city that had a fantastic used book store. The shelves were packed with both newer, older, and some really rare books on every topic imaginable.Read more

Published 8 months ago

Raymond D. Spiller

Five Stars

thankyou

Published 11 months ago

M. England

Five Stars

Owning a web based distribution business I learned a lot.

Published 1 year ago

Amazon Customer

Enjoyed

Read this as part of a PMBA course. An easy read with lots of interesting info. Would probably read again.

Published 1 year ago

David Ip

worth the read

bought this book long ago...and decided to read now to see how accurate Chris theory can hold...and the truth is that it is not how long it can hold..Read more

Published 1 year ago

Aquil Arif

Well written summarization of the digital trends in the market

Great explanation of how digital age economics work and how we can use it to make newer business less models.Read more

Published 1 year ago

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

Set up a giveaway

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: social selling

Buy New $4.88

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More Hardcover – July 11, 2006

There is a newer edition of this item:

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Bookmarks Magazine

Product details

Customer Reviews

Read reviews that mention

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New

$4.88