Customer Reviews
A winning concept - By: Oscar Del Santo, 07 Aug 2008 
Chris Andreson has written a down-to-earth, incisive & savvy page-turner to tell the story of how the almost unlimited choice brought about new internet-driven technologies has changed the rules of the game for business & the online/offline consumer markets.
Miss it at your peril.
A mixed bag - By: Alan Lenton, 26 Jul 2008 
I finished this book sometime ago, but had to ponder for a while before writing about it. My dilemma revolves around two points. First, it is an interesting, well written, read. Second, the evidence presented is entirely anecdotal.
Anderson's thesis is very simple. The rise of businesses like Amazon & eBay, coupled with the interpersonal communication facilities afforded by the Internet, has effectively created unlimited demand. He argues that he has identified a business opportunity to make a profitin niche areas that were not previously profitable.
The explanation given is fairly simple. The development of the Internet means that more people have access to minority items, & the development of filtering technology, especially collaborative filtering technology, means that people can identify material they are interestedin more easily.
The concept is seductive & well argued. Unfortunately, more recent research (the book was published several years ago) is not really supporting the idea. Not only that, but I have been unable to find any examples of successful businesses just based on the long tail model. As the Western world slides into a recession of the next year or so, it will soon become clear whether this is yet another idea from the digeratii which is based on the assumption that the good times will last for ever, or contains some real meat.
Five stars for entertainment value. One star for lack of research!
Simple but infectious - By: P. Robertshaw, 25 May 2008 
Overall I really liked The Long Tail, I found it very interesting, well written & easy to read. The only slight criticism I have, which is the reason for the 4 star rating, is that is does feel as though it could have been shortened a little without losing any of the content.
The overarching idea of the book is that if you can drive down the costs of producing, distributing & finding content, people will start to move away from "hit-driven" mass-market content & start to find a world filled with niches that fill their desires more completely. It's not a particularly complex idea but it has some interesting potential consequences, as highlighted throughout the book.
Whether or not you should completely buy into this, or how far you may see it changing the way people find & consume things such as music & entertainment, is open to debate. What I can say is that since reading the book I have begun to notice elements of the Long Tailin actionin many different places.
Uneven - By: Antonio, 25 May 2008 Thought-provoking from both a cultural & commercial point of view, but it goes on a bit! Would have been better at half the length.
Simple, Smart Premise No Longer Ignored - By: A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com, 05 May 2008 "The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand" by Chris Anderson claims that thar's goldin them thar hills. He tells us it is not a few big chunks we want, but many small nuggets.
Modern examples are Amazon.com & NetFlix, both of which sell plenty of Harry Potter products & the like. They also (or rent, as is with NetFlix) lots of less popular products. They hit the niche market hard. That's the gold.
The long tail is the curve's far end. At the top of the curve is Harry Potter, for example, along with other New York Times Bestsellers. These products certainly represent a significant amount of sales. However, so do the accumulated number of books & movies which might sell only a few copies a year. Add those up, & there is serious profit. While the tailin the curve is not high, it is long. One copy of, say. The Love, a Hungarian film, & one copy of The Very Best of Ralph Stanley, a bluegrass CD, might not sound like much, but the tail is long. Those, with thousands of other products sold each month, would make their seller very happy.
My own business is built on a long tail method. The market for Hungarian products is not like the Billboard Top 40. It is like the Billboard Bottom 20,000, if there were such a thing. It works.
Anderson's principles can be applied by small businesses like mine, & massive Fortune 500s looking to reach where few are reaching. The markets are there, and, by considering Anderson's ideas, so is the process.
I fully recommend "The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand" by Chris Anderson.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
