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The Secret's Out: SOTC Blogs Ending
Brian Lambert reports, and Tom Bartel confirms that he's no longer able to pay the bloggers of Secret of the City. Max + Today's Talk continues, Brit Robson keeps the T-wolves blog for the rest of the season, Dude Weather also keeps rolling. So what of the other blogs do you want to see continue? And how/where should they live? Does this tell us anything about the sustainability of a get-paid-to-blog model locally?
18 Reader Comments
Actually, the secret was out on Friday's Open Tread, but now that it's a post of its own, let's discuss.
Personally, I think the get-paid-to-blog model is DOA. (Full disclosure: I am a paid blogger at Gas 2.0. I have never seen a dime from them yet, and when I do, it is being donated to ALAMN.)
Even pros like Jason are getting trimmed at an alarming rate, there just isn't a revenue stream beyond online ads (anoying) and grants (next to imposible to land). There just isn't enough dollars out there to support bloggers right now.
For fans of Max Ross, he's now blogging at http://crackingspines.tumblr.com/.
Good news, too, for Brad Zellar fans. He's starting up soon at http://www.jergiebergen.com. If you can't wait til Brad figures out the technology of blogging (and, it might be a while) follow jergie bergen on Facebook.
You might also encourage local advertisers to buy ads on local sites. And while you're at it, don't forget to stimulate the economy yourself by buying lots of stuff they're selling.
Britt Robson writing about the T-wolves is like Twain writing about frog jumping contests. I hope that some day he'll find a worthy subject.
I'm still writing the Secrets too!
I've said it before, I think any blog/publishing platform that relies on CPM based display advertising as its main revenue stream is going to be in for a tough few years.
Eds got an interesting take with the twitter based "live" ads but I am not sure that's going to cut it either. Wonder how many of his current ad stock are paying advertisers?
I think that somehow an affiliate/cost per action type of relationship could work. Don't know how the tracking would work though..short of a SOTC credit card? Paging the Carlsons...time to break out the digital "Gold Bond Stamp"
What does the G have against frog jumping contests?
I have two stories I was working on that Matt told me to go ahead and post. I'm about to put one up -- a review of Romeo and Juliet at the Children's Theater, and will be posting a review of the Ten Thousand Things' production of Endgame later this week. After that, you will be able to find new reviews of local arts on my blog.
nothing...one of my favorite short stories. just that on its face it's not Twain-worthy material.
I am grateful to Tom and Kris.
Tom can be a harsh pain in the ass but so are many other people in the creative industry including myself:)
Right now it's really hard to make money through advertising when every corporation out there can post
their campaigns on line for FREE.
How do you compete with Free? You don't--you
move on and figure out another way to get people to pony
up their hard earned cash for entertainment and information.
Who knows what the future holds but right now I am working diligently to sustain a career in a field that I am
passionate about..
Tom and I shook hands over a small artifact that I hope
someday will turn out to be very valuable.
In the meantime this energizer bunny won't stop until all
avenues have been explored and the batteries that came with me are recharged!
I'm a harsh pain in the ass?
When you say that, smile...
:)!!!!
I'm not opposed to writing for free. But when I do, it goes on my own blog. If somebody else wants my writing, they can pay me for it.
I really don't understand people who write for other people for free. Start your own blog. Be your own publisher. If you're already not going to make money for it, at least hoard the credit.
I suppose people do it so that their work can be seen by more readers?
miller,
If your content is good, your stuff will be picked up by other sites, aggregators, social networking, etc and will be seen. Max is right, if you're not getting paid directly for it, do it all on your own site.
And once you get noticed in those places, you're likely to pick up people who are more than willing to throw you into their RSS reader and follow along. While it's rare that those people will be into generating revenue for you, they are the ones that are the most willing to spread your good word across the web.
It's a time consuming process but in the end, especially if you're covering niche stuff and people are interested in what you have to say, you'll probably end up doing just as well yourself as you would have if someone else was paying you.
Bill
I will be posting more longform art-related pieces on mnartists.org on an ongoing basis, and in print with ARP!.
And of course the South 12th crap factory churns out product on a daily basis. Maybe some other big exciting secrets, too.
My colleagues all have some exciting plans in the works, as well. Which I will let them share here.
If you haven't already, I urge everyone to become a friend of Jegie Bergen, perhaps the best character Brad Zellar has created yet.
Writers these days have to scramble like hermit crabs if they want to survive at their chosen craft, and I guess I'm no exception. I'll of course be blogging, blogging/rallying the arts community, pitching ideas to children's book publishers and glossy magazines, sporadically pretending I've always meant to become a novelist, and working a day job at a desk.
But I'll miss the free rein and wide-open opportunity to opine that Mr. Bartel offered us poor writerly country-cousins (aka, visual arts writers) for a good long nine-month run. Best of luck!
"pitching ideas to children's book publishers...."
If this is something you're really interested in, drop me a line.
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