What's Wrong With the Blogosphere?

A frightening NY Times article [free reg. possibly req'd] talks about the health problems of some well known bloggers. Actually, I'm shocked to find that two bloggers in the VoIP technology niche passed away recently - Russell Shaw in mid-March and Marc Orchant in December. RIP Russell and Marc. Om Malik, whom many of you might know more readily, apparently beat a heart attack in December. I'm surprised that I didn't know any of this, though I have not kept up with my tech blog reading this year. These are/were hard-working bloggers. The question is, have we become work slaves to the blogosphere, endangering our health?

The truth is that working at home can be a liability, especially if you already have compromised health. Even if you are healthy now, working at home can trigger a number of health issues. It's far too easy to get caught up in your blogging or other web working and forget about exercise. When you have a regular day job, you have reasons to walk around during the day: meetings, lunch, walking to/from the parking lot (or transit), etc. That's generally not the case when you're working from home. But these three bloggers were probably on the road a fair bit as well, so it's not just about working from home.

The NY Times article suggests that the need to be competitive keeps bloggers working into the wee hours. That might be, especially for the big bloggers like Om Malik and Michael Arrington (who is apparently risking his health as well), but I believe there are other problems, especially for less well-known bloggers who have to work harder to make a living. Some thoughts:

1. The blogosphere is young.

Few publishers make enough money to pay reasonable rates for freelancers. Those publishers who do earn "large" are often at the mercy of Google AdSense and Google's algorithm changes. That goes for pro bloggers, who only work for themselves.

2. Web publishers are short-sighted.

Those publishers who do make money rarely share it with their hired writers. A few web publishers do share, up to 50% of revenue, but they are very rare. The rest pay low per-post rates. While you can make a bare living writing for $10 and $20 per post, it means a longer work week for bloggers.

3. Web publishers do things backwards.

That is, compared to traditional print publishers. Print publishers expect a new publication (e.g., magazine) not to make a profit in the first three years. This is pretty standard. They find capital, hire a good EIC (Editor in Chief) and a Managing Editor, then buy freelance content, sell advertising, etc. Maybe in three years, they'll break a profit.

Web publishers expect a profit immediately, simply because most have no experience whatsover in print publishing and don't necessarily understand how a publishing business would normally work. For this reason, they might expect a profit immediately and most will not pay more than $5-10 per article. (I blogged for less, in 2006, because I had no other prospects then and no other work, and even now find it tough to even learn of well-paying gigs simply because there aren't many, or they get snapped up fast.)

Those web publishers who do pay more per post than average either have the capital, or they realize that you get what you pay for and have upped their budget. (Quality or quantity, or quantity over quality - which do you prefer.) But some pay grudgingly. Not all of them care to negotiate, because they figure they'll find someone who will take less.

On the downside, finding capital smells too much of being corporate - something blogging isn't supposed to be. Though given that several blog networks have been given capital and been given autonomy, maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

4. Blogging is hard work.

Bloggers who are independents working for themselves have to be more than just writers. They also have to be webmasters, analysts, ad sales people, accountants, editors, social media marketers, and so on. They don't always have the benefit of a team who have dedicated roles. I strongly support the idea of "team blogging," where there are dedicated players, or tasks are shared, to reduce the workload.

5. Writing is hard work.

I'm a veteran writer/ technical writer. On my best days in the past, I've produced as much as 12,000 words of short fiction in one day, and written and edited 400+ pages of a PHP computer programming book in four months. But telling stories and writing about programming are things I can do without research. Blog writing is sometimes much harder.

I find one day's blogging to be far harder work than producing, say, 1,000 lines of computer code in one day. (The industry standard for programmers used to be about 10 lines of finished code per day.) Each blog post has to be researched, drafted, edited, posted, and sometimes promoted. That takes a lot of time, and current blogging rates really aren't worth it. But more to the point, it's not easy coming up with fresh, interesting articles every day. Writing is a creative activity, and we are not creative every day. For this reason, I find myself blogging at odd hours, seven days a week. I'm certain that this is also  why so many other bloggers burn the midnight oil.

Some Thoughts on Healthier Blogging Careers

For those of you blogging on your own, competitiveness might drive you to long hours of work. For those of you working for hire, you have to take a different approach, if you want to make a living without working day and night. The blogosphere is not yet in a stable state as a publishing medium, and thus revenues vary, as do article rates paid. Here are some thoughts for freelancers:

1. Be focused.
   Work (salaried or freelance) for publishers who hire for dedicated roles. That is, if you're writing, you get paid for writing and aren't expected to do everything else.

2. Take revenue share.
   If you're expected to do everything that blogging requires (writing, editing, finding images, promoting, etc.), do it only if you're getting a cut of revenues. At least one blogger I know of pulls 50% and makes a comfortable monthly income blogging and promoting during the day - though it took her lots of initial effort to get to this state.

3. Set your rates.
   If you work on a per post basis, and if you're a qualified writer with blogging experience, determine a minimum per word rate and don't take anything below that. (Thanks to Skellie of Skelliewag for enlightening me.)

4. Work as a team.
   There's freelance writing/ blogging work out there that pays fairly well but takes a lot of research, not to mention bang-on presentation of information. Doing all the tasks for a project by yourself might mean only completing one per month. On the other hand, teaming with someone who is, say, good at researching, while you're good at presentation might mean collectively completing two or more projects each month. I do this on occasion, if the project rate is high enough. There's less stress, the client is happier, and more than one person has a chance to earn by working online.

5. Build your skills.
   If you're new to blogging and have no writing experience whatsoever, spend time improving your skills, like any new writer in the print medium would do. Put in an effort to improve your blogging and freelance skills as well. Take what you can in terms of work, but think twice before making yourself into a sweatshop worker. (How little you accept per post will depend on the cost of living in your country, but think about what you might earn per hour at a similar salaried job. Factor in your skills, and whether or not the publisher is looking for simple posts or quality, well-researched articles.) Use your own blog(s) to improve your abilities.

6. Take a break.
   If you work from home part-time, force yourself to take a 5-10 minute break at the top of every hour, or even a 5 minute break at every half hour. Even if you feel the need to into the evening/ night hours, take an hour or two off, to split up the day and to give yourself a bit of time to relax.

7. Take lunch.
   If you work from home part-time, take at least 30 minutes for "lunch", even if you just sit and eat and watch TV or listen to the radio. Just don't sit in front of your computer.

8. Take a hike.
   Take a walk around the neighborhood. If you have a dog, take it for a longer walk. (I know one person who takes her cat on a leash for a regular walk.)

9. Join the gym.
   Join a local gym or YMCA, just to get yourself out of the house, not to mention exercise. This might also give you an opportunity to socialize.

10. Take a day off.
    Do activities that you enjoy that take place outside the home. Go to the local museum, grab a camera and take some landscape pics, do a brewery tour. Just make sure that it involves a bit of walking, if you don't feel like all out exercise.

11. Socialize.
    Do anything that will require some socializing. Even if you are not religious, going to church, temple, synagogue, etc., once a week might be worth the time simply to socialize. Or find a hobby and join a local group. It's important to feel like you're part of some community, even if you're generally a solitary person. This is especially important if you're working entirely from home.

The fact is, humans are very social creatures, and I'm not entirely sure working entirely from home is a good thing long term. Besides the health issues, there's the social aspect - or lack thereof. For those of you already married or with a serious partner, maybe it's not an issue. However, for those of you without a significant other,working from home isolates you, and being single can weigh on you. You don't "get face time" with other people, and this can affect your health - especially if you're already working long hours to make less than you would with a salaried job. I know that despite the backstabbing politics of working offline, I sorely miss the socializing of a regular job.

What about you? Do you find time to socialize? If you spend more than four hours per day blogging, what do you do to stay mentally and physically healthy? Have you gained weight since you started blogging? If so, how do you plan to get back into shape?