I’ve been having some interesting discussions with a client about this very question. Is there any money in publishing free content online? Like any good burning question, this has resulted in some good longform reading.

• The Newspaper That Almost Seized the Future
• A Transparent Attempt to Explain the Economics Behind Running a Pop-Culture Website and the Need to Run Intrusive Advertising
• Six degrees of aggregation

If you’re at all interested in this subject, I suggest reading the above articles. Personally I find thinking about the different economic models along to be fascinating.

Without getting into too much detail, the answer is certainly yes. The caveat is that it definitely isn’t easy money. A lot of people assume that this means the opposite must be true, but evidence says otherwise. So what’s the solution? How is there money to make in publishing free content? Very creative business models. Hopefully in the coming months I’ll have one to show off to everyone.