In the most important book since THE TIPPING POINT, Chris Anderson shows how the future of business and culture isnÆt in hits, the high-volume head of a traditional demand curve, but in what used to be regarded as misses -- the endlessly long tail of that same curve.

Our world is being transformed by the Internet and the near limitless choice that it provides to consumers; tomorrow's markets belong to those who can take advantage of this. THE LONG TAIL is really about the economics of abundance, an entirely new model for business that is just starting to show its power as unlimited selection reveals new truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it. The record business has been transformed by iTunes and Rhapsody; a similar transformation is coming to just about every industry imaginable.

What happens when everything in the world becomes available to everyone? When the combined value of all the millions of items that may only sell a few copies equals or exceeds the value of the few items that sell millions each? When a bunch of kids with no profit motive can record a song or make a video and get the same electronic distribution for it as the most powerful corporation?

Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired Magazine, first explored "The Long Tail" in an article that has become one of the most influential business essays of our time. Using the worlds of movies, books, and music, he showed how the Internet has made possible a new world in which the combined value of modest sellers and quirky titles equaled the sales of the top hits. He coined the term ôThe Long Tailö to describe this phenomenon, a phrase thatÆs since appeared in boardrooms and media around the world.

ôIn short, though we still obsess over hits,ö Anderson writes, ôthey are not quite the economic force they once were. Where are those fickle consumers going instead? No single place. They are scattered to the winds as markets fragment into a thousand niches.ö

Now, in this highly anticipated book, Anderson shows how we got to this point, and the huge opportunities that exist: for new producers, new aggregators, and new tastemakers. He discusses the reputation economy; the end of inventory; the Wal-Mart effect; the power of peer production; and the rise of massively parallel culture. He demonstrates how long tail economics apply to industries ranging from the toy business to advertising to kitchen appliances. He gives the nine rules for operating in a long tail economy. And he provides a glimpse of a future thatÆs already here.