My Blog is Not a Book
Yes, I’m guilty. I have two blogs that I attempt to keep updated as consistently as possible. My closest friends have all begun paving their own careers by starting blogs on topics they actually enjoy writing about and find entertaining. I’ve even begun blogging for my company’s blog about public relations and a huge chunk of my job is monitoring blogs that could potentially blog about my clients. Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog.
When the barriers to entry are as easy as entering your E-mail address and downloading an iPhone app to begin your blog, it’s no wonder the world over has begun feverishly getting in on this “social media” world before it’s too late. Blogging can be a full time job, but for many of the successful bloggers out there it lands just above another extra curricular activity post the insufferable corporate desk job that pays the bills.
Perhaps most fascinating is these “extra curricular” bloggers’ ability to turn their after-school activity into a full-fledged job. I mean we all know print is dead so obviously we have to turn to the world wide web. Can I copyright that little rhyme?
A few examples come to mind, but the best is of a blogger friend of mine Ben Clymer’s - Hodinkee blog, which started because of his fascination with vintage watches first introduced to him by his grandfather. Ben was once gainfully employed by a major financial fratpowerhouse of the Park Avenue sort and today gets gifted with high-end, luxury watches to test drive at events. How very James Bondish. His watch hobby blogging was so niche and fresh from a young 26-year-old perspective, he’s now one of the most highly regarded watch writers in the industry today. From zero to hero in 60 seconds flat. Count that on your Perrelet Turbine watch.
Of course, there’s always the gratuitous bloggers whose motive for blogging becomes evident: a memoir of their once troubled childhood. Certainly your life is more interesting than mine so allow me to revel in your pity party. My personal blog was started some 3 years ago whilst studying abroad mainly as a one-stop source for my friends and family to see what I was up too versus typing the same story over instant messenger every night to the same 10 people. It was easy, but it fast became a live journal when I moved to New York. But my blog is not a book. Nor do I have plans to write a book about what my less-than-ordinary life has been like because lets face it—you’re just not interested.
There are approximately 8 types of bloggers out there:
1. The Emo: It’s his blog that details the teenage angst that festers within each one of us and the woe-is-me of pimply adolescence. Not to be excluded is the quarter-life crisis crowd.
2. The Career-ist: It’s her blog that hopes to mold her appreciation, admiration and obsession into something of a career. Knowledgeable yes, committed, of course, but it can sometimes seem disproportionately forced. I hate that just linked to her site.
3. The After-Schooler: It’s his blog that starts as some what of a “lets build model cars and planes” activity. He’s got some extra time in the evening, why not lend it to something he actually enjoys. The difference between the After-Schooler and the Career-ist is the tone in the blog posts makes it evident that there is no motive behind his blogging.
4. The Hybrid: It’s her blog that blends her passion with her career. She blurrs the lines between The Career-ist and the After-Schooler successfully. It’s her blog that is often sought after by flacks (including yours truly) and offered book deals. Their unhinged motivation for blogging fast turns into a full-time job.
5. Dr. Blogger: It’s his blog who attempts to tout his “know how” and “industry insight” of the blogosphere. I suppose this very post could fall into this category, but Dr. Blogger has morphed his once captivating POV into something of a Web site that’s lost that personal touch and voice that once made it….entertaining.
6. The Fun(employed): It’s her blog that becomes an avenue for witty, fun dialogue, pop culture references, photos, music uploads and more! It can also morph into a more “creative” twitter feed where she keeps every one of her twitter followers and facebook friends up-to-date. It is escapism at its media-savvy finest.
7. The Blogger: It’s his blog that is every bloggers aspiration. It’s insightful, funny, rich content and relevant, but it’s also his full-time job to blog. It makes sense that he’d be the first to break the news, spread gossip and even insight some commentary from loyal readers.
8. The User: It’s her blog that adds nothing more than a place for readers/users to post their own content. It is the lazy bloggers attempt to blog. None of the content on the Web site is hers, but submission by readers/users automatically becomes her material should she get offered a book deal. How cruel and intelligent of her.
Let’s face reality and allow me to add my POV (point of view). I just made up all 8 of those descriptions perhaps alienating and aggrevating a whole batch of bloggers, but the blogosphere is beginning to lose its luster.
What once offered brililant, talented, thought-provoking writers an avenue to share their experience, knowledge and humor is now just another route for hitting it big in the maintstream.
Sadly, this has not detoured people (including myself) from adding to the saturated blogosphere, but perhaps more unfortunate is it has detoured the truly artistic from ever pushing that “publish” button and sharing their work with the blogosphere.
I’m just not looking for a book deal.
