Content is back -- and indies are thriving

The site runs daily updates on the movie biz, from the latest Star Wars gossip to reviews from independent film festivals, all in Knowles' recognizably irreverent voice. Knowles runs it out of his house in Austin, Texas. No printing press, no distribution network.

In fact, his biggest cost is the $7,000 a month he has to pay for bandwidth, to accommodate the 1.2 to 1.5 million readers he claims visit the site on an average day. But that cost is covered, and then some, by banner advertising.

Knowles' site is an example of the quiet boom underway in independent online publishing. The Web has erased the cost and distribution barriers between smaller content producers and their potential audiences, and now increasing advertiser interest means even small publishers can turn their readership into dollars.

"It's a validation," Knowles said of being able to make a living off of his passion for movies and writing. "What it says to me is, if you stick to your guns, eventually it'll be appreciated."

Knowles and other indie Web publishers debated the future of the medium at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin this week.

Second time around
A year or two ago, online publishing was the victim of "first girlfriend" syndrome: ecstatic infatuation followed by exaggerated disillusionment.

After a brief period when it seemed that anything was possible and interactivity would create an entirely new type of programming, something even sexier than television, the Net ran into the reality of slow downloads and limited attention spans. People lost interest. Content was 'dead.'

Instead, something funny happened: Not only did content not die, it has continued to grow and diversify.

Now, say those close to the scene, the Web is undergoing its most interesting development yet as a new publishing medium: Dollars are finally entering the picture.

"People are seeing money coming in now," said Heidi Swanson, Chief Chick of content-aggregator ChickClick. "It's been a dramatic shift in the last year."

Who needs the mainstream?
One of the promises of the Web was to be a worldwide concourse for pamphleteers, making non-mainstream content widely available. And there are signs that it has successfully done just that.

"Grassroots publishing is viable," said Ron Rappaport, an analyst at Zona Research. "Traffic is traffic. We're living through a period of eyeball-capturing, and if you capture enough eyeballs, advertisers are going to be interested."

Today, many independent Web publishers say they have audiences surpassing those of mainstream print publications, in many cases without spending a dime to promote themselves.

Rising ad tide
And a steady rise in advertiser interest in the Web means that there are more chances today for small online content producers to turn those audience figures into dollar signs.

Online advertising brought in $490.7 million for the third quarter of 1998, the latest quarter for which figures are available, according to a survey by the Internet Advertising Bureau. That's a 16 percent rise from $423 million in Q2, and a 116 percent increase over the same quarter from 1997.

ChickClick takes a page out of the book of Internet hubs such as Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) and Excite (Nasdaq:XCIT) by gathering a variety of content and features into one place. The site, which recently merged with the similar, but non-commercial, Estronet, is focused on material by and for women.

"We're changing the face of women's publishing," enthused Estronet co-founder Janelle Brown. "This isn't just a few sites out there dabbling in alternative content ... we're inventing a new space here."

On ChickClick's front page, readers see the latest from sites such as Disgruntled Housewife, Hissyfit and Breakup Girl.

ChickClick's Swanson says the sites get between 1.5 and 2 million unique visitors a month, and the advertising inventory continues to expand as ChickClick and Estronet add more content to their collection.

But the window of opportunity probably isn't open indefinitely, most industry-watchers agree. Ad funds are increasing, but more money is also going into promoting and distributing mainstream sites such as Women.com, the largest site in its niche.

But independent content producers say they're confident that the rules of the game will remain basically the same: If you build something interesting online, and if you're smart about promoting it, audiences will come.

"You've got to understand what it takes to build traffic," said Swanson. "There's a real craft there."