Mediabistro.com is a membership site to which I belong, that features news and useful information about writing, agents, markets, and so on. They host panels and workshops in various cities, and I was interested to see they have a new feature they call "MediaBistro on Demand."
It's a collection of videos of panels and short courses that you can access for a fee. You can have access to each video online for 30 days, and each one comes with a crib sheet with notes and links. A panel discussion on "First Person Writing," for example, features the editors of The New York Times “Lives” and “Modern Love” sections, book agent Elizabeth Kaplan, Villard editorial director Bruce Tracy, Jane editor Esther Haynes, and authors Gael Greene and Susan Shapiro. It's one hour and 41 minutes long and costs 20 dollars (15 for members) to download. Is that good value? Well, would you pay that amount to attend such a panel? If yes, watching it on video is probably a good deal.
However, a fifteen-minute 'crash course' on "Understanding How Readers Use the Web" costs 15 dollars. That seems a bit high--but I guess it's down to how much you want the information. Frankly, for that topic, I'd be more inclined to have a quick search around the web for free articles.
The reason I find this interesting is not so much as a consumer, but as a writer who is always alert to new models for marketing what we write. I'm a bit skeptical about whether this will take off, but I've been wrong plenty of times before. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know.
