I am always the last person in the world to find this sort of stuff out. Mark Penn, the person we all know, who make Hillary Clinton look like a buffoon in this last election, says this about Blogging:
Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: three out of every four are college graduates. Most are white males reporting above-average incomes. One out of three young people reports blogging, but bloggers who do it for a living successfully are 2% of bloggers overall. It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year. Bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post, and some even serve as “spokesbloggers” — paid by advertisers to blog about products. As a job with zero commuting, blogging could be one of the most environmentally friendly jobs around — but it can also be quite profitable. For sites at the top, the returns can be substantial. At some point the value of the Huffington Post will no doubt pass the value of the Washington Post.
The barriers to entry couldn’t be lower. Most bloggers for hire pay $80 to get started, do it for about 35 months, and make a few hundred dollars. But a subgroup of these bloggers are the true professionals who work at corporations, serve as highly paid blogging consultants or write for sites with substantial traffic.
Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for their blogging. One percent make over $200,000. And they report long hours — 50 to 60 hours a week.
I humbly submit that this is very much news to me. To be fair, Penn is referring to two very different kinds of blogging. The first is the corporate blogger, someone who is employed by a existing company to Blog about said sundry subject. Which I happen to think would get god-awfully stale after a while. The other, is the kind of blogger, that I feel is the epitome of lame; the sponsored post blogger. These are the writers who, as far as I am concerned; should be donning a dress and whoring their bodies out on the street corner. Because in essence, they are being “Pimped Out,” as it were, by their sponsors. I am all for capitalism, very much so; but I happen to find these people who are doing nothing more than writing glamorized spam blog postings. Which, frankly, I find nauseating.
Do not misunderstand me; I am all for the idea of capitalistic Blogging world. But I believe in earning revenue from writing about legit subject; such as Politics, Celebrity, Technical items and so forth. I also believe the revenue should come from incidental items, such as Advertising. I believe that the whole idea of a “Sponsored Posting” is the equivalent of Blogging prostitution. Why am I so against this? Because it cheapens the profession of blogging, it also cheapens the value of the writer.
On the other hand, writing for a political magazine; like The American Conservative, Taki’s Magazine, The Politico, or any of the other great ones; is every bloggers dream job. Yes, it would be the quite the awesome thing to have say, The Washington Times call me up and ask to blog for them. That would be the ideal position. Although, I will admit, if I had my choice. I’d rather write for possibly the New York Daily News, Harper’s, The New Yorker; something in vogue. Although, I tend to believe that my hardened Conservative views would not be appreciatied at those fine establishments. I would not even remotely consider TownHall or The Weekly Standard. Those are places that I do not wish my name to be associated with. As they are not considered among the general populous is legit sources of information, but rather political propaganda rags.
So, as you most likely have seen the other Bloggers write. We bloggers will be keeping our day jobs. Well, those of us who actually have day jobs. 🙄 Until some serious changes happen in this bastard economy, this is my damned day job! 😡 Hope and Change my ass!
Others: Outside The Beltway, Simply Left Behind, Gawker, Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard, Clusterstock, And So it Goes in Shreveport, CANNONFIRE, The Other McCain, BuzzMachine, Concurring Opinions and The Moderate Voice