Michael Zhang of Folksonomy spoke recently with John Battelle, the founder and Chair of Federated Media Publishing.
Here’s a slice of their conversation:
Q. What are some challenges that you’ve experienced since starting Federated Media?
A. Working with the folks that we have selected to be in the network has been a learning experience, because they’re all very talented individuals and they require a certain level of handling with care. We spend a lot of time talking with authors, helping them understand the publishing and media business, taking care of issues that come up on a regular basis with their sites and conversations with advertisers. I did not expect to be as much in what might be called the talent business. I would say FM is very much in that business. I sort of thought, “We’ll put these authors together and of course we would take care of them,” but I did not understand the extent to which it’s our responsibility to ensure that the authors are taken care of and that their needs are met. It’s kinda funny that I didn’t realize that, because I’m an author. Sometimes the thing you don’t know is right in front of you.
