{Updated 4/2014: I’ve stuck with blogging! And I’ve learned how to actually make money from it. Check it out HERE.}
Something has been weighing on my mind.
If you are a blogger, I apologize in advance.
Many words may be used to describe me. Curmudgeon is not one of them.
But I fear this post may make me out to be one. And I’m sorry if I shatter your dreams. But the truth is, if you are a blogger of any type, chances are, you’re never going to “make it.”
You know, get that million dollar book deal, have someone make your blog into a movie, have sponsors storming your inbox. Or even turn a profit.
But you know what?
That’s okay.
Here’s why.
The great experiment & elusive “success”
Blogging, as a business model via a form of self-expression & community building, is still working through kinks, uncharted territories.
Though blogging is relatively new to the world (less than 20 years old), there are an estimated 31 million blogs in the U.S. alone, over 100,000 WordPress blogs are created daily, & an estimated 156 million blogs worldwide, as of 2011 figures (so number is probably a bit higher since then).
While the shear number of blogs is daunting, no matter how big you are, it’s safe to say there is really no such thing as “arrived” in the blogging world.
(Unless of course you’re Joy, or perhaps Ree, but I digress.)
The point is, success in the blogging world is hierarchical totem pole that extends into the infinities.
Amy, of Frugal Mama has written about this elusive “success” in her post, “Why I Am Dropping the Business Side of Blogging.”
Among other things, she points out something that all starry-eyed new bloggers eventually realize:
How can one ever feel like she has done enough when there are always hundreds — thousands — of blogs that are more successful, more influential, more commented on, more Tweeted, more Pinned, more Liked? When by hanging our shingle on the World Wide Web, we are potentially competing with everyone in the world, including multi-national corporations with their own websites?
A few people (say, the top 1%ish), have made actual, livable incomes via blogging.
But like an MLM, there’s only so much to go around (ie. eyeballs) & basing a business primarily on advertising revenues, therefore pageviews, is not a very good business model, no matter how you cut it.
The somber fact is that the people most benefiting from all the work of bloggers are typically not the bloggers themselves but the businesses that support the business of blogging (ie. blogging conferences, web programmers & graphic designers who design blogs, books & classes for bloggers, & of course, the advertisers).
I don’t want to sell things, I want to create
This Planet Money podcast on Andrew Sullivan was a timely one for me.
Andrew Sullivan proclaims: “I’m a journalist, not a businessman. I don’t want to be a businessman, I want to be a journalist.”
I get that. I hate how money & art/writing don’t often mix well.
Along the same lines, I relate with John Cusack’s character in the 1989 cult classic, Say Anything, when he says:
I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.
(Here for more awesome Say Anything quotes)
I want to be able to talk about what I want to talk about, to create & express without thinking: is this good for business? How can I create more traffic? How can I get businesses to like me?
Another important issue is, like Amy, how can I promote products & businesses that I just ethically cannot get behind? How can I promote this message of a simple, frugal, compassionate life, while at the same time pitching products that I do not value & in good conscience cannot recommend to you?
Many mom bloggers make an income by helping promote products or services for companies. But given my blog’s focus, how could I talk up paper towels when I know that rags work just as well and are better for the environment? How could I promote spaghetti sauce in a jar when I’ve already said how much better it is (and how easy) to make it at home?
When I first began this blog, over 4 years ago, I was clueless.
I didn’t know a thing about blogging–a little about writing, but nothing about technology & the world of blogs. About 3 years in, I realized I needed to do some revamping & educating, & polishing of skills. So I did. I redesigned my site, & thought: “I might as well try to make some money while I’m at it.”
I’ve dabbled in various things, worked with a few companies, done some advertising. But it all felt so…feigned. Just icky. I have a settled aversion to anything that feels spammy in any way, & I felt I was cheapening my product (my blog posts) by including anything that I didn’t 100% love &/or know.
Well the solution is easy, right? Just publish a cookbook or book & then I’ll be raking in the dough.
Muahhahhha! That’s funny.
Cookbook authors are notoriously under compensated for the time & money they put into each book. The cut they get from the publisher is paltry. You have a better chance winning the lottery than becoming a rich cookbook author, or any author, for that matter.
Are paid subscribers the answer?
Yes & no.
In the same Planet Money podcast, Robert Smith & Zoe Chace explores how Andrew Sullivan is one of the first bloggers to explore a potentially more sustainable business model, where readers pay a subscription fee to read more than 7 posts a month. Essentially, paid subscriptions. But like Robert Smith, I am skeptical the subscription model will work for anyone but the top 1% of the 1%. So yes, paid subscriptions are the answer for the elite, but not for the average blogger.
Further, part of the beautiful thing about the internet is the free flow of information & communication. The internet is what it is because it has made information essentially free. Though any good economist will tell you: there’s no such thing as free.
Which is true. Everything has a cost. And the hidden, & sometimes not so hidden cost of blogs come from the bloggers themselves. Mostly in time, but also in money, in quality of life, in real face-to-face interactions with others.
There’s been much talk amongst feminists about the digression of feminism, as many females of my generation have favored domesticity (ie. staying at home). One argument is that staying at home is perpetuating this idea of woman being okay with doing unpaid work.
It’s true, that one our greatest assets, as well as one of our potentially greatest weaknesses (think Weight Watchers), is that we nurture (maybe sometimes to a fault?) & we’re good at it. It’s in our DNA. It’s a part of our spiritual makeup.
But that same desire to help, which makes this world run, also makes us easy prey, like say, for corporations/businesses.
I’m not just talking through marketing (which there’s plenty of that), but also through devaluing the work of women. As it applies in this conversation, devaluing the work of female bloggers, who as whole put in a tremendous amount of time & energy into creating original content which more often than not, do not get compensated financially.
Are we suckers? Or just bleeding hearts dying to communicate, to connect, to be heard, & help others?
“Ya gotta respect yo self”
I’ve had opportunities to work with a few different companies & I receive solicitations on a somewhat frequent basis from companies who want to send me their products so I can write about it on the blog.
What’s that you say? You want to send me a jar of mayonnaise, & in exchange I’ll give you free advertising (via a review/post)?
Umm, no thanks.
I’m not going to whore myself out for a jar of mayonnaise (albeit vegan). I just value my blog & my readers more than that. Not saying I’m opposed to ever working with any advertiser or company, but it just have to feel 100% right for me to do it. And it never will be about the money, that’s for darn sure.
Traffic, traffic, it’s all about the traffic
So what happens when bloggers write to satisfy advertisers & sponsors in an effort to get more traffic?
Which FYI, there is no such thing in the blogging world as, “enough traffic.” Even Jill Smokler, of Scary Mommy (who gets more than 1/2 million page views a month) has talked about how she would like to get more traffic.
What happens, not always, of course, but something is compromised & posts become:
1) Homogeneous & palatable.
Easy to read. In a word, “clickable.”
Blogs should look like billboards!
After all, readers skim, they don’t read, right?
When I read this advice, Choosing Raw & Gluten-free Girl come to mind. Both food bloggers with a large loyal following, that defy this logic. Their posts are often longer, 1-2,000 word posts.
We may be busy, we may have a lot clamoring for our attention, but this doesn’t mean we don’t crave sustenance. It’s like constant snacking without really eating a solid meal. Easy to read blog posts may be that, but they’re not necessarily satisfying.
I’m the first to admit, no one wants to read unfiltered steam-of-consciousness style, gibbering. No one wants to read a steady flow of whining. Good formatting never hurt anyone, & for the love, please edit (!), but, humans are & should be capable of reading more than a few sentences at a time.
or
2) Controversial/Tabloid-ish.
Also, “clickable.”
Most notable, anything with celebrities (not really all that common in food blogging) or titles created just to lure people to the site
&/or
3) Pretty & “pinable.”
There’s nothing wrong with pretty, there’s nothing wrong with making images pinable. But when it’s only that, you’ve got to ask yourself–what am I doing?
Editor’s note: My dilemma with Pinterest (don’t get me wrong, I still think Pinterest has value, don’t believe me, check out my Pinterest boards) & Instagram, in particular, is that they are image heavy & language poor. We ought to question when the majority of our communication is via images, rather than words. There is value in words, & I fear, as a society, we’re taking the easy route & putting words on the back burner. We should ask ourselves: what will be the repercussions of this movement towards the image-based, rather than language-based?
You communist!
Let me make it clear I think money is great.
And I’m not against anyone making as much money as they can (as long as it’s done in an ethical, honest fashion).
But money is only great beceause it helps people. It makes it possible for people to have & support families, to eat, to live somewhere safe & comfortable, to have hobbies, to pursue charity work, all sorts of good things.
So bloggers, make money. Make all the money you can. But I hope that it’s not at the expense of quality content that is both original & thoughtful.
So what?
I know what you’re thinking (maybe):
Great Janae, you’ve given me all this, what’s to be done about it? You’re saying giving content away for free is not a good business strategy & there are way too many blogs in the world. So why should I try, I’m never going to make any money anyway.
Well I’ll tell you why you try–
because you love it.
Though I still feel like a clueless ompf (yes, I just made up that word) I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about technology in the past year alone. I am amazed/inspired/lifted by the interactions I have with readers, with other bloggers, & the greater online world.
There’s value in creating things that don’t necessarily translate into dollars & cents in your pocket. I know it’s hard to believe that’s true when we live in a world that is driven by the almighty dollar, but trust me on this one. People, & helping people is where it’s at.
Perhaps you’ll make a few dollars along the way, (I have yet to do that), maybe you won’t.
Maybe you’ll be the next Julie Powell, or maybe you’ll be better than that.
Maybe you’ll just be an incredibly decent human being, writing, sharing, & blogging in an honest, beautiful way.
♥♥♥
P.S. If you read this entire blog post, congrats–2,140 words! That means you just defied the assumption that people online are all a bunch of lame brains who cannot read that many words strung together. So, way to go.
(& thanks for reading, please comment, I’d love to hear what you have to say.)
I’ve written more thoughts on blogging:
Why I blog: Parts One, Two, & Three
Intuitive Blogging
10 things I’ve learned in 5 years of blogging
Blogging: 13 things I’d wish I’d known sooner
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