In this ground-breaking book, Chris Anderson shows that the future of business does not lie in hits - the high-volume end of a traditional demand curve - but in what used to be regarded as misses - the endlessly long tail of that same curve. As our world is transformed by the Internet and the near-infinite choice it offers consumers, so traditional business models are being overturned and new truths revealed about what consumers want and how they want to get it. The world of books has been transformed by Amazon; the record business has been transformed by iTunes and Rhapsody; a similar transformation is coming to just about every industry imaginable. Wherever you look, modest sellers, niche products and quirky titles are becoming an immensely powerful cumulative force.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Long Tail

2. The Rise and Fall of the Hit

3. A Short History of the Long Tail

4. The Three Forces of the Long Tail

5. The New Producers

6. The New Markets

7. The New Tastemakers

8. Long 'Fail Economics

9. The Short Head

10. The Paradise of Choice

11. Niche Culture

12. The Infinite Screen

13. Beyond Entertainment

14. Long Tail Rules

Coda: Tomorrow's Tail

Notes on Sources and Further Reading

Index