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And Another Thing…
By Cameron Sorden | July 25, 2008
While I’m not going to comment on the AOL Weblogs budgetary stuff, I did want to discuss a few of the comments I’ve been reading over at the TechCrunch post. I should really know better than to comment on what basically amounts to misinformed trolls at someone else’s site, but a few things I saw just rubbed me the wrong way.
There seem to be a number of people who have severe misconceptions about commercial blogging. The comments pissing me off all pretty much boil down to the same argument: commercial bloggers make too much money for the service they provide. Of course, that’s my slimmed down, cleaned up version. Here’s a sample:
does anyone know (in ballpark numbers) about how much a “blogger” for these big media companies makes?
are we talking like $25k fresh-out-of-college here? or a more respectable “media salary” of like $35k-$50k?
anything more than that and quite honestly, these media companies were being raped.
bloggers: get over yourselves. you’re not worth that much.
Another:
A great blogger deserves to make $100k. This is blogging we are talking about. It’s hard work. This is not something that anyone can just do. You have to write and post words. And have fun doing it. That’s tough!
Here’s the reality: Your traffic is not generating any money. It probably never really has. In fact, the only reason you guys got to operate for so long is because AOL is incompetent. When the recession hits, and TW needs to hit numbers, that’s when the moron-brigade actually looks at how wasteful your efforts were to begin with.
Your efforts need to generate profits. Otherwise, your role doesn’t warrant cash and it should be volunteer work. It’s not your fault. But that’s the way it is.
I wouldn’t bother highlighting these comments except for the fact that they both express sentiments I’ve heard before — sentiments which piss me off. Lets get a few things straight here:
- Nobody goes into games journalism of any kind expecting to make fistfuls of cash. People who provide this service do it because they’re passionate and excited about the products, and they enjoy sharing their enthusiasm with you. You’re exceptionally lucky (and working your ass off) if you’re making $35k/yr in this industry at the writer level… most paid writers I know make considerably less (and get no benefits). If you’re talking part time, it’s more like $8-12k. Per year.
- Writing is not as easy as it looks. Any idiot with a computer can start a blog, but providing a consistent, coherent message that people actually want to read on a regular and recurring basis is a real skill.
I don’t care in the least what your personal opinion about blogging is, because I’m convinced it’s a valuable and worthwhile activity. Whether it’s commercial or voluntary, bloggers are the ones who take the time to sort through all the crap and white noise out there and serve up the tastiest morsels of it to you on a silver platter of entertaining commentary. They’re a sounding board for developers which allows them to get the unique perspective of some of their most vocal customers across a wide spectrum of interests and playstyles, and they’re the ones you want to go to when you’re looking for the real word on how a game actually plays, down to the excruciating details. Most of all, blogs are entertaining. They give people something to talk about and a place to talk about it. These are all valuable services.
Can you directly monetize them? Probably not. Most people won’t pay for access to a blog. Fortunately, advertisers will pay for access to people. All the commercial bloggers have to do is keep doing what they were doing in the first place and then the money comes from the ads that the visitors watch. If the ads are targeted well (and even if they’re not), it’s a small price to pay for access to all of the great services I described in my last paragraph. Especially when volume and consistent quality can be virtually guaranteed, as it can be from the major commercial blogs and news networks.
The bloggers and writers don’t need to generate profits. They’re the middle of the tasty sandwich. They’re the 20 minutes of sitcom to the 10 minutes of commercials. They’re the supermodel lying on the car. It’s their job to get you to show up and entertain you so much that you forget that you’re being advertised to. In most cases, they do a bang-up job of it. For anyone who thinks that high-quality blogging or news writing should be an exclusively “volunteer gig,” how many highly-skilled writers do you know that are tripping over themselves to work their asses off for free? Hell, it’s already practically a volunteer gig. People do it for passion, not for money. What do you want? Their blood? You can probably have it. Jeez.
I’ve met more hilarious and passionate people in this industry than anywhere else. They love what they do and care about it enough that they’re willing to do it for next to nothing, and do it well. They give you insider opinions on the hottest new games, tip you off to interesting stuff you’d probably not otherwise see, and then come back to chat with you in comments whenever the hell you feel like talking to them. They suffer your insults with good grace, and treat even the dumbest commenters with respect.
Blogging and writing are skills. If you want to, you can learn to do them, but not any idiot monkey with a typewriter can bang out something you’d want to read. Certainly not on a regular basis, anyway. I have tremendous respect for the people who choose to make careers, even for a time, out of getting paid next to nothing for the privilege of being your friendly neighborhood news conduit. They do provide a valuable service, and they’re an integral part of a widely used and accepted business model.
Topics: Random |
July 26th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I know a lot of freelancers in the games industry and everyone of them spends their fair share of time writing about other topics to make ends meat.
I think what happens is there are a few insanely rich solo bloggers that have “made it” and they get all of these other people on the bandwagon, knowing full well that 99.9% of them aren’t going to “make it”.
Then there are the successful community blogs, with all kinds of pull in their respective markets, but in reality are just not making a profit. They are propped up in the hopes of transitioning to a “sell” opportunity. Companies buy web communities everyday and I firmly believe that is the goal for many “blogs” these days. Make it big, get bought out, and retire.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Wait… you can actually make money blogging? O.o
July 26th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Keen, you could easily fund an MMO sub every month on your traffic
Just a question of what you feel about adverts on your site. Personally, I have no problems displaying ads.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Well, that also depends on what you consider “making money.” You could definitely generate some revenue if you wanted to display ads on your blog. That’s how most of the news networks and blog networks make their money.
I don’t have any idea how substantial the earnings would be, though. I don’t think it would be much for a personal blog that doesn’t aggressively self-promote (though I could be wrong).
Personally, I don’t like the idea of ads cluttering my blog, so I don’t bother.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
[...] always makes me angry when I hear statements like that about blogging. See this post, for example. But blogging isn’t anything like “ranting into the ether” unless [...]