The Curve: Turning Followers into Superfans

The Curve by Nicholas Lovell is a breakthrough business idea: Chris Anderson's The Long Tail meets Seth Godin's Purple Cow

The Curve is a new way of doing business and of seeing the world.

For most of the last century, companies strived to sell more and more products at uniform prices. But the future of business is about variation: tailoring products for customers of all stripes, and letting your biggest fans spend as much as they like on things they value.

The Curve shows us not to be afraid of giving some things away for free. The internet helps you forge direct relationships with a vast global audience, and take them on a journey from freeloaders into superfans. Value lies in how you make people feel, by building communities, bespoke products and experiences. Small numbers of high spenders are enough to fuel a profitable business.

In games, free is becoming the norm, but some people now spend hundreds or thousands of dollars playing a single game. You can already see the Curve transforming areas like music, books and film, and it will rapidly spread to the physical world as 3D printing becomes reality.

With stories drawn from artists, toymakers, sports, food, manufacturing and more, The Curve is nothing short of a business thinking revolution.

'An astute and perceptive guide to the new rules for making money in a radically disrupted internet economy. This book deserves to be a hit' -David Rowan, editor, WIRED

Nicholas Lovell is an author and consultant who helps companies embrace the transformative power of the internet. His blog, GAMESbrief, is read by those seeking to learn how digital is transforming gaming - and how to apply that knowledge to other industries. His clients have included Firefly, nDreams and Square Enix (creators of Tomb Raider), as well as Channel 4 and IPC Media. His articles have appeared in TechCrunch, Wired, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in London.