Terms

For the past 20 years having a success as an independent creator or publisher online has required being a reliable systems integrator. Technologies emerged to help make publishing, creation, distribution, and the monetization of digital media however, putting these solutions in solid technology "stacks" remains difficult and time-consuming process.

But as creators' businesses evolve and develop, the technology and tools are adapting along with them. This is resulting in a new breed of creator "suite" that aims to combine a lot of the functions they require to turn their business to fully-fledged systems that remove the requirement to maintain and manage multiple systems and platforms.

This new generation of tools for creators promises more simplicity and efficiency and to assist in identifying and unlocking potential growth opportunities in a more efficient manner. With publishing and distribution, marketing, analytics and data as well as audience management tools and much more coming together within single tools and platforms, the frustrations, inefficiencies and technical difficulties of managing multiple tools are now part out of fashion.

No single tool can meet the needs of every publisher or creator Of course. Some times, authors with specific needs require the technology themselves or to integrate with specialized services from third parties to get exactly what they're looking for.

But for many creators looking to upgrade their toolkits for creators is attractive, offering greater flexibility, making day-to-day tasks easier, and freeing mental space and time to concentrate on the core element of their business: creating content that meets the requirements and desires of their customers as well as their communities.

Benefits could be:

Simple and efficient

Creators often have to take on multiple roles in the course of running their business and are juggling a variety of platforms, technologies and tools that each have their individual philosophies, approaches and quirks adds additional layer of complexity the mix.

The more powerful tools for creators are coming out, they will make creators' lives simpler by providing better integration between different features, automating some of their processes and eliminating even minor nuisances such as logging into and switching between multiple tools. And, perhaps most importantly, in the event that something goes wrong or some help or direction is required you know who to contact to get help.

Maintenance reduced

Piecing together tools and technologies and making sure that they are compatible together every day could quickly turn into an entire job. Connectivity can fail without warning or unexpectedly, while product updates and modifications can swiftly throw well-oiled stacks into turmoil in the event that they're not controlled and maintained meticulously.

One of the biggest benefits of creating suites for creators is the decreased need for regular maintenance, boosting reliability and freeing up time as a result. Creators can spend much times thinking about how they can reach their audience more effectively, rather than thinking about the technology.

Lower cost

Creator suites may not be cheap, but they're often much more affordable than paying for multiple solutions that may or may not be used to their full capabilities.

While point solutions might look impressive on paper, promising advanced features and functionality but the complexity and costs of maintaining and maximizing the value of them means they don't often make enough progress to justify the expense.

Analytics and data that are more useful

As creator tools become more sophisticated, the ability to collect, analyze and act on audience and member data will become increasingly powerful.

Creator suites will give you an improved picture of member activity and also the capacity to understand the kinds of services and content members crave - as well as what's driving them to become members which can lead to potential growth for businesses that create.

Experiences that are exceptional for members and audiences

Full-featured systems often result in a far cleaner experience for the user since they're not getting tossed around by different tools and platforms or sliding through cracks that will eventually appear between them.

A simple emails can be made more streamlined if it's coming from a reliable source that has uniform branding and style, for example. Audiences increasingly expect a polished service from the people who they are paying to support while a poor user experience could be an obstacle in the way of expansion.

Creatives are now required to be able to adapt and react to changes in audience behaviors, demands and interests on an ongoing periodic basis. More often, they'll rely on the tools and software that they have already in use to satisfy these needs in the event of a need, rather than continually adding new features to build complicated cost, cumbersome, and expensive stacks.