"@Jared: You said "You can't expect young writers to work for free indefinitely." Well, actually, yes you can. I have been writing and running TransitMiami for six years without any compensation and will happily do so indefinitely. Also, the ten or so other writers I have had over the years never asked for a dime, and always put in 110% (including Craig). The incentive for us is not financial, but ideological. Achieving changes in policy or design are pretty strong motivators.
That being said - would it be nice to get paid - of course! Folks do get paid for blogging, but that is not what it is all about. The blogosphere thrives despite the lack of financial incentive because people give a shit about what they write about. In our case, our writers are urban planners or transportation planners who have expertise in our subject area. They are not professional journalists who rely on the blog for their livelihood. (In other words, they don't need to get paid to blog).
In that respect, you shouldn't apologize for wanting to make a buck. Most writers blog for a hyper-specific purpose (to study the dysfunction in county government, document the latest food trucks, to document the blogosphere...etc) My impression with Beached Miami is that it started as a blog about random Miami happenings by two passionate dudes, but has become a business about aggregating content from a wide range of subjects. In this case, yes it may be hard to find willing bloggers to volunteer their time to create good content without paying them. But it is also a false choice to say that either the site makes money or it dies. SFDB is a perfect example of dedication and consistency without financial incentive. (Or Eye on Miami, or any of the other blogs on the sidebar).
Great blogs are popular because they either have: a voice that people have come to identify with (like the rants from Eye on Miami's Genius of Despair) or a well researched hyper-specific subject area (like South Florida Lawyers) or both. You can't be everything to everyone - and if you try, people stop reading. If you focus on one thing - and do it really really well - then you might be able to make money without sacrificing quality (talk to the Coconut Grove Grapevine, or MiamiBeach 411). Leave the content aggregation and covering of local news to Huff Post, Riptide, and the Herald.
My 2 cents.
PS. Transit Miami is not going nonprofit, or for-profit. We are seeking a one-time Knight Foundation grant (and we are up against some tough odds) for a web app and to pay an administrator to run the app for a limited time. The point of the app is to diversify content creation so that we don't have to rely on any one writer to create content. If we don't get the grant, we'll build the app anyway and keep writing about urban planning and transportation issues in Miami- for free. The point is not to pay a writer, but to continue to build the site as tool for community advocacy. "
- Tony Garcia [of Transit Miami], Beached Miami Evolves
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10 comments:
Thanks... I think. Rants? I do some pretty good reach too!
That was research not reach. I am pretty bad at proof reading.
Speaking for myself, I write because that's what I do, and I never envisioned making a living from blogging. (That said, I wouldn't mind being paid to do it, but that's not why I got into it.) Those who do earn a living at it have my respect and admiration. But for me, writing is a passion and being able to share it with those who choose to read it is part of that passion.
As Samuel Johnson famously said: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."
Better a blockhead than a village idiot. I guess. Some of us are both.
OK but we still have a problem here, people who WRITE for a living still need to make money. I don't monetize my blog as a direct income-generator, but every single job I get is because of the blog. Let's make one thing clear: people who are not writers who write for free are different than people who are writers and do that for a living.
That being said, I think it speaks to the amazing grassroots willpower of people who run sites like Transit Miami to self-publish and make change through the platform. There is great power in this ... when individuals can cover a niche that mainstream media barely looks at with any consistency.
BUt let's be clear here: to actually write for a living is really hard. And "bloggers' who sell out to advertising to do reviews and brand ambassadorship without producing unique content are doing a disservice to the craft. What's more, blogger/writers who take on piss-poor jobs just to make a few clams make it harder for the rest of us to raise the bar in terms of compensation.
I think there is a difference between people who write for a living (such as newspaper journalists) and people who write about what they do for a living (such as many bloggers that have been discussed here.)
Generalization:
Paid professional journalists such as those working at newspapers write the stories that are supposed to be relevant to the readers. High readership increases circulation, ad revenues rise and the writers can continue to be paid. Bloggers tend to write about what is relevant to them.
Their cause may be more important than being paid.
I think the issue being raised is how to get paid for writing what you want, about what you like, after finding that these likes are also relevant to readers.
I don't understand this sentence at all:
...people who are not writers who write for free are different than people who are writers and do that for a living.
People who write for free are still writers. (They're still people, too). So the only difference I can see is that some writers get paid for writing, and some -- more -- don't.
Furthermore, this circumstance extends to artists of all shape and size and media. I feel worse for musicians, but I'm deeply biased.
I don't have an answer for any of this, nor do I see a unique problem. 'T'was ever so.
Just to be clear, that post was about how Beached Miami evolved and how I prefer the old version more than the new.
Discussion about what you have to do in order to make a buck off your blog is a whole other discussion that is probably well worth having, but it is a whole other discussion. I'm not sure that in order to monetize a blog you need to expand and take on more or bring in more people. Seems to me if you do that you run the risk of diluting your brand a certain degree which I think is what has kinda happened to Beached Miami. And after reading Jared's response, I'm left wondering who is really in charge at Beached these days or, at least, who is determining content choices.
Like I said in the post, I only know how it feels to me. I have no idea what the answers are or what the pros say you're supposed to be doing or not doing. I just know I'm just getting a different, more sterile, less fun vibe these days....although every so often things like the recent Art Walk Insta Photo contest give me hope.
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Yeah, I was totally confused by that sentence, too. And what squathole says: it's all artist types, not just writers. I ran across a single page site the other day which was nothing more than one very long rant about why photographers shouldn't be expected to work for free (which I disagreed with on points). Plus a countless number of digital signatures by photographers. As an aside, it was very well written, I thought. :)
I think what's missing in the statement, Maria, is qualification. "People who are not writers who write for free" should be "amateur or hobby writers" vs. "professional writers." Because you know there are those who simply enjoy and pursue the craft who may or may not have an interest in pursuing it professionally. This very small thread on one very small part of the internet - no offense, Rick; I'm thinking planet to universe ratios here - would indicate that.
Regarding some of your other statements, there will always be dilution in the marketplace for artists. If you're a creative type, you're going to work for it. And more than likely, you're going to "sell out." And really, selling out is Business 101 for artists and should be taught as core curriculum in every art program. If you're going to pursue an artistic endeavor as a profession with the hope to be more than a framer at "Frames and Things", you need to be realistic about it. And selling out isn't a bad thing. It is simply and logically identifying the price point of your soul versus your rent. The hard part for most is being comfortable with that.
Starving artist is the familiar phrase. Not starving tax accountant. It comes with the territory. Either have a great strategy (see Maxfield Parrish, Thomas Kincade, Romero Britto) or learn to play Barry Manilow classics for a steady gig Wednesday Nights at the Holiday Inn Lounge and Bar. Or something in between.
All of that said, a lot of what I know today is a direct result of keeping up with the Kardashians. So I actually know a good bit. Two words for writers: sex tape.
In closing, I would like to share with my fellow writers the following. If there's one thing I learned from Throw Momma from the Train is that, no matter what, a writer always writes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a17ul-afTCE
Gee, Scott ... sex tape? Why didn't I think of that one? :-)
That's exactly what I mean ... amateur vs. professional. The line is blurred these days. I understand what Beached Miami is doing -- same thing so many mommy bloggers out there are doing, too -- expanding in order to monetize. I belong to a group of women bloggers from around the world and all most of us do is talk about working with brands. In fact, one of our local successful bloggers just became a brand ambassador.
Anyway, it is what it is.
By the way, heard through the grapevine a blogger's meetup is coming up. A very famous cartoonist who lives locally now is coming out with a book on blogging. I was at the Online News Association meetup last night at Tobacco Road and recalled that first blogger's meetup we had years ago there. My, how far everyone has come!
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