Holtzbrinck Publishers has launched an online website offering free podcasts, called Quickanddirtytips.com. The website clearly suffers from an identity crisis and looks to have been dreamt up by some young hip marketing executive who wants to reach out to a mix of people from those setting up their own business, mothers wishing to learn about parenting, those wishing to improve their grammar, or invest and manage their money or wishing to create a second life at Second Life.
The short podcast often start with a disclaimer, followed by and advert and if you survive this, then the actual content. The site grew out of the publisher's relationship with podcaster turned author Migon Fogarty. She may have been downloaded millions of times and may be an expert podcaster, but the experience was very bland and uninspiring and very hard to take seriously. That’s without the background music and sound effects!
We are the first to support experiments and new and innovative ways to exploit digital opportunities but this takes a traditional publisher out of their comfort zone.
