On the notion of blogging as a career
June 15, 2012I want to do work I'm proud of, and only work I'm proud of. The work I'm proud of is not, by its nature, especially lucrative. That's fine with me; I always knew what I was getting myself into. I've always scraped together income on side jobs while I wrote what I wanted.
I started blogging eight years ago assuming a few of my friends would read it. A lot has happened since then. A lot of it has been amazing; most of that is thanks to the community I've found here. But I've also enjoyed plenty of opportunities thanks to advertising and sponsorships.
Still, I've been uncomfortable with the marriage of blogging and advertising. I'm okay with ads (obviously) as long as they stay in their place. But the advertisers want in. They want to get into your posts. It's not because they're evil. They're smart. They know where people are looking. But once they're paying you to write, you work for them. That's fine if you're a copywriter, but if your "copywriting" lands on your personal blog, that can get awfully weird. If your authenticity is being used to sell products, what does it mean, anymore?
You need to have clear boundaries to manage this terrain. You need to know what you're getting yourself into and what you're in it for. I'm not good at it, but even I've lucked out. I felt good about writing for Chronicle Books, for example. I liked their books. I had creative control over the video. It was a good fit.
I've turned down plenty of sponsorship opportunities that didn't fit. I don't want a pat on the back for those decisions; that's how it should be. But then a while ago I worked on a campaign I categorically did not feel good about. I put content on my blog that I would not have put on here if it were not for the check I was promised.
I'm not trying to be coy about which campaign it was. (You could probably guess, if you're a regular reader.) I don't want to point a finger at them; everyone involved acted in good faith, and it's not like I couldn't have walked away. I just didn't. I apologize. I will make sure it never happens again.
Please know that I'm not saying that professional blogging is dishonest. Plenty of bloggers are far more business-savvy than I am and would not have gotten themselves into such an uncomfortable position. This is not about them, it's about me.
Professional blogging is not where my talents lie. It's not what this blog was meant for. I don't want to worry about my stats. I don't want to think about my Klout score. I don't want to be identified as a mommyblogger or a "power mom" or a mompreneur. I don't want to be an Influencer. I don't want to think about being "relevant," whatever that means. I want to write whatever I want to write, when I want to write it. Whatever dollars I collect from this place are nice, but they are and were always meant to be a few extra bucks, not an income we could live on.
This is not a call to arms, mind you. You do what you like. As I said, I know and respect plenty of people who are making a lot of money blogging. I never have, and never will.
Have you seen Bill Cunningham New York? You need to. I keep thinking about this quote:
"If you don't take money, they can't tell you what to do. That's the key to the whole thing."
Reader Comments (60)
I'm thinking it was the Clorox Bleach videos with the Real Housewife that made you feel uncomfortable. You don't have to say either way. Just nod once for yes and twice for no. At any rate, I love your blog and totally get where you're coming from. And you could post about how your brush your teeth and I would read it. Just love your writing and your personality. That's all.
Oh my Gob. That's such a great quote- and I'm so excited I saw this clip. My photographer friend was telling me about this documentary for about 3 hours it seemed, but now I know why he was so excited about it. I definitely am going to rent it. Oh yeah, and about you- I just love your straightforward style of writing and your clarity.
Alice, your blog is the best blog of all the blogs. I am not being compensated to say that.
Seriously though, often I read blogs by hippy, Francophile moms who regularly write sponsored posts for things like Cool Whip and Clorox bleach. And I always think, "There's no way those moms actually use those products."
More money, more problems.
I've been working on a "sponsorship" model, where company X sponsors a post even though it is not about their product. I like it because I get to write what I want and they get a link with a disclosure at the end of the post.
I love what you wrote here and it's helping me in my thinking about where I should be focusing my efforts.
Hey, Alice. This choice is a hard one to make. I have no choice but to try to earn as much as I can to support my family (I bring in 2/3 of the income for me, my husband, my daughter and my mother); for a long time I was grabbing at every opportunity because I needed the cash.
Blessedly, I've been able to move my "professional" blogging off my actual blog. This has come in the last year, and has been a tremendous gift. I've pulled ads off my personal blog. I went back to publishing full feeds to stop chasing pageviews. My blog is mine (even though I did just do a sponsored post, but it was a really good one that worked for me). But this was a long time coming; in 2008 when I went to my first BlogHer I went the other way entirely and tried to chase and do and get sponsored stuff and more. I lost my way sometimes, and even now there are still definitely compromises I make because I still have to earn a living. But I'm really pleased to have the words on the page be mine and mine alone on my blog.
Twitter? That shit is TOTALLY up for grabs, yo. ;)
I recently wrote a similar post after running just one sponsored post ever...and I kept pondering why it bothered me so much. I have developed a circle of friendships and a community that I did not want to commidify. Now, when I'm approached my potential sponsors I instantly think--you do your OWN work! We live in a world where too many relations between people are defined by money and trade, and yet, I continue to believe that we have a basic obligation to our fellow man/woman/reader and it is good to remember that.
I have stopped reading blogs that hawk products. This is just me personally - not trying to tell anyone else what to do. Advertisers used to sponsor things like television programs without trying to get their products placed, and I think it is much classier on the advertiser's part. I think better of such advertisers. Trying to get writers to insert their products in a blog just seems kind of stupidly obvious and ineffective for that reason. I am not hating on those who need money or who do product placements. But life is short and I don't like them.
At any rate, I'll just step off my small soapbox now and tell you that I LOVE your blog and am so glad you made this decision.
I noticed you were very careful in your post to reassure everyone reading that your choices are yours and you are not condemning or passing judgment on anyone else's. I like that.
But I have to admit: I wish we (the collective 'we', not just you and me, and not just bloggers, but everybody out there) could write about our choices and our opinions and our beliefs without worrying about who we might offend, or who might feel attacked, you know?
Thank you for this. I have a hard time hanging on to what *I* want from writing. I've written only sporadically in the past two years for many reasons, but primarily because I lost track of my purpose. Of course I want to make money, but telling stories makes me happy. I'll only feel good about money if it comes from doing what makes me happy.
I pretty much (think I) know which campaign you're referring to, and the reason I (think I) know is because it was a kind of head-scratch-inducing incongruent thing that appeared here. I appreciate where you're coming from, and I think you are right on. One of the many reasons I keep checking in here (and the ads don't bug me at all) is because I appreciate the authenticity of your writing. It feels spontaneous and free, and I'm glad you want to keep it that way.
The business girl in me always has trouble saying no to opportunities tied to money. This post is such a good reminder that it is OK to say "no" even if it doesn't make sense from a business perspective. I need to say no more.
I love your writing, Alice. Personally, as a reader without a blog, I can't stand sponsored posts. Is there no place where we are safe from advertising? As soon as I see the dreaded "This post is/was sponsored by...", I just close the window. There is one popular blog, in particular, that I used to really love. Lately, though, it seems like one giant commercial. I can almost imagine the advertising executives talking about me while I'm reading the posts, sometimes. :-) Actually, I'm starting to get that feeling from a few of my favorite blogs. While I'm sympathetic to the financial needs of writers, I think that success truly is a double-edged sword for many. I will say that my annoyance at being bombarded with advertising does serve a vital purpose--it gets me to stop wasting my time on the web when I could be doing more important things! :-)
Really interesting post - I blog for fun and I honestly wouldn't care if no-one read it as I enjoy writing and saving my material in one place.
As for the Bill Cunningham quote - what a guy. I absolutely loved that film!
I'll go one step further. I think all the ads are visually disturbing and impede my enjoyment of the blog. I avoid blogs that seem to be more about advertising and less about content.
This is a small gripe, but it annoys me to no end when someone (not you) writes "I was given these free cupcakes/books/whatever, but these opinions are my own, I wasn't compensated for this post." Yes, you were compensated. Maybe not with cash, but if you took the free product, you were compensated in exchange for writing the post.
I entirely understand why someone would blog as a career if they could and why they would think of it as a very commercial operation. Once in a while I'd be suprised by certain types of ads on blogs--because I'd be very tortured about giving my imprimatur to some things that are bad for people. But even there that kind of purity didn't make sense to me if only because there are very few pure non-commercial jobs where the trash that litters our cultural landscape and fuels this crumbling economy isn't somehow fueling or at least touching one's activities in one way or another.
But it's an interesting dilemma. To me, it seems like one is very hemmed in as a blogger who's gone big. You have a forum and a voice but there is some kind of bizarre prohibition about publishing much that is personal. The voice has to be consistent. The voice has to be upbeat. But what if one wants to write--the way someone gets to write for publication. A memoir like 'The Liar's Club' or something? Some memoir-like thing? People take it as happening on a blog in a much different way than between 2 book covers, which isn't fair.
For women it is especially fraught and I think for mommybloggers then triply so because the motherhood thing seems to bring down strange wrath--If one is identified with it and then speaks in a particular way.
It also doesn't make sense why PRINT & PAPER is such a big hairy deal. But it is because people lack patience to read on the internet and there's something about the reading experience.
I don't know where I'm going with this but I've been hoping people would say something more and not follow some genre specifications in these popular blogs or do something innovative because it doesn't feel worth it for it all to be forgettable.
To me, that's what commercialization almost always does--when you make something very digestible, you make it ordinary and tasteless. So better to ignore sponsors and all that jazz rather than waste the audience. It's a purely captive audience at this point because you have an authorial persona and people love that persona so they will read what you write.
On behalf of blog readers everywhere, thank you for not trying to make a career out of this. If the corporations can buy our personal diaries, they can buy anything.
I'm sort of on the opposite side of the fence on this one, wishing more bloggers would be paid more for their writing and the time they take to do it, but I don't think it makes any sort of sense to do something you wouldn't do normally for money in your personal space. Readers have never paid before and it would be ridiculous to try to charge them now, so the only way to get paid as a blogger is from advertisers. Totally sucks, but it's the economic truth. You're absolutely right -- at some point, many bloggers have to sit down with themselves and decide how they want to handle the question of whether or not to get paid and what they would be comfortable doing in order to get paid.
We totally agree on that! I've done plenty o' paid reviews and other freelance writing, but if it's on my blog I always mark it so obviously I assume people won't read it if they don't want to, and I try to keep it in my exact same voice and throw in anecdotes and whatnot so it's entertaining. I read some bloggers' reviews just because it is funny to see what they'll do with a product to make it funny or entertaining -- bloggers are extremely creative because they have so much more latitude without someone standing behind them telling them what to write.
I will never make real money blogging, but I want to keep writing books, so it behooves me to put good effort into the writing I put online, whether I get paid for it or not. We live in such an incredible time that writing online can parlay into print and other opportunities that would never have been available twenty years ago if only for lack of the right network and visibility.
That's interesting. Readers do pay for books and ebooks, so maybe a subscription thing will start happening for some bloggers. I'd pay to read yours! You're one of my favorites (and I only have a few, I've dropped a lot over the years, and I think part of the reason was due to ads); love your writing, your personality, your brain (the part you share with us, anyway)!
Just a quick question - does the advertising really work? Do people go out and buy Levis or Clorox or Skinny Cow or whatever the product is, because of a blog they read? I'm sure there is boatloads of research to say YES but I'm curious about the whos/whats/whys.
I also want women to find the space to be compensated for their labor, if they so choose, from big or small corporations, without the looming specter of judgment from other bloggers. We live in a capitalist society with lots of capital (well less these days) swirling around for the taking, and women, primarily due to their role as mothers in the labor face, make 0.67 cents to the dollar for the same job done by men.
Now I've gone off on a tangent and have no idea if my comment is even relevant.
Thanks for the thought provoking post! You are my favorite to read. I laughed harder than I have in a long time when I read your mother poem.
Hi Alice! You are fabulous. This post makes me love you a million times more. I had a hunch those sponsored posts rubbed you wrong (the writing was funny and endearing, of course, but empty of the heart of you). Just wanted to send props.
Sarah from Neerguards (remember me?)
Wow, powerful. I have a feeling I'll be back to re-read your words... and Bill Cunningham's spoke to me as well. Each of us has to do what feels right for ourselves. I love how you speak for yourself and didn't alienate those who are doing differently. You are truly a class act and should be proud of your path.
I love this post. I am new to your blog (my SIL - an editor - recommended it) and I'm trying to slurp it up as fast as I can it's so good. I'm also a new blogger myself and fantasize about not having to do other paying work (which I don't even have right now!) but I do worry about line drawing. Boundaries are tough for me, and I love that you came clean about a decision you're not happy you made. It makes it easier for others to realize when they're getting close. So thank you.
Also, the Bill Cunningham reference is PERFECT. He is so inspiring, especially on the subject of integrity. I saw him this Spring when I was on a trip to the Bklyn Botanical Gardens with my son's class, then saw his pics of the lilacs in the Times that Sunday. Kind of a NY moment you dream about.
Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful replies!
Rita: We're not on the opposite sides at all! I want writers to get paid more, too. Everywhere. I think that's a separate issue from what I feel comfy putting on my personal blog.
Francesca: the ads must work, otherwise they wouldn't pay for them. But the real money is in bloggers' personal recommendations, *because* so many of them have a dedicated fan base. And, again, I don't see anything wrong with that. If Sarah from Whoorl recommends something, I trust her opinion, and her opinion is valuable to me and plenty of other people. It has its place.
I wish it didn't feel so ubiquitous, though.
What's more important to me, anyway, is establishing my position, so readers know where I'm at.
I like you guys.
This is why I love you, Alice, you're honest, you're kind and you have the courage to be both at the same time.
I've long thought that some bloggers are turning in to copywriters but not copping to it (sorry, I had to). That advertising has taken over the internet. I'm so grateful that there are little oases here and there like your blog.
Elise