Chekhov’s Mistess

“Most bloggers toil in total obscurity”

This stunning conclusion comes from a New York Magazine article on blogging, “Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom” (Clive Thompson, Feb. 20). New York Magazine is something like a local People magazine, so it tends to focus on the gossip side of topics – true to form, this article is about the handful of people that are making a killing with blogs – in short, when Thompson says “total obscurity” he means that most people don’t make a ton of money with blogs, as though that is the whole of it.

Thompson writes about a poor sap who set out to get rich and ended up not getting rich, then explains how there are a handful of blogs with a lot of traffic (read advertising clout) and a massive set of “B-list” and “C-list” bloggers. The real thrust of the article is this titillating bit:

For Rojas, the toil paid off handsomely. Last fall, AOL bought Jason Calacanis’s company Weblogs, Inc., which includes Engadget, for $25 million. Rojas himself didn’t disclose the precise amount he got from the deal, but he had a good deal of equity in the company and says that, technically, he doesn’t need to work anymore.

If the point weren’t clear enough, he hits us again with the money line at the end, just in case we forgot (apparently Thompson did):

For Pete Rojas, blogging paid off handsomely. Last fall, AOL bought Weblogs, Inc., which includes his blog Engadget, for $25 million. “I didn’t intend to become a millionaire,” says Rojas, “but I wound up there anyway.”

I can save you some time. If you include the quote “Most bloggers toil in total obscurity” and the two above (well, pick one), you’ve pretty much read the entire article.

(via The Blog Herald)

comments

I often find myself quite glad that I toil in total obscurity.

    – Ben Eastaugh (02/13  at  05:06 PM)

Every time I read one of these opinion pieces on blogging I get really confused. Are these writers reading blogs? Do they know bloggers? Do they understand the idea of blogging?

Just the idea of starting a blog to make money gives me hives.

    – Ella (02/13  at  06:12 PM)

My blog makes money, is that a bad thing?  Not really.  Most of what I post there is only interesting to me anyway

    – Elliott Back (02/13  at  07:21 PM)

Elliot,

I’m not indicting making money with a blog - if I thought for a minute that this blog sustained enough traffic to pay for the hosting fee, I would do it in a second.

My beef is with the reporting on blogs that always goes for either the juiciest aspects or misconceptions. To be expected, surely, but that doesn’t keep me from speaking up about it.

    – Bud Parr (02/13  at  08:44 PM)

You want toiling in complete obscurity, well that’s me, compadre.  If it’s offending anyone, well then so be it.  But then I’ve always been an idiot when it comes to making money off writing. 

Having said all that, I think it’s safe to say that Clive Thompson can go fuck himself. In seven years, the smug bastard will be out of a job.  Hence, the sensationalism.

    – ed (02/14  at  01:12 AM)

Obscurity?  Isn’t that the entry fee we all have to pay to enter the blogosphere?

    – Bill (02/15  at  10:17 AM)

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About this Post

• Posted by: Bud Parr
• Date: February 13, 2006
• Filed Under:
  Litbloggers & Blog Floggers

• Comments:6
• Links to this Post: Technorati

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