Haves and have-nots of the blogging boom (article)

Blogs to Riches – The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom — New York Magazine

What an enjoyable and well-writted article by a blog-boom, journo insider. I link to it with humility and conscious of the irony (a c-lister reinforcing the status of an a-lister).

The article covers nicely the “power law” relationship between the big ticket blogs and the seething mess of sporadic, ignored and irrelevant personal projects, while also detailing neatly the success of clever, well-executed commercial blogging empires – just like micro-publishing or science/magazine publishing.

Interestingly though this article is not on a blog: it’s a sustained, well-written and well-subbed article for a print magazine. I’m sure that Mike Butcher would appreciate this, and take the opportunity to note once more that “blogging isn’t journalism” 😉

Just to give a taste of the writing style, here’s a lovely snippet when Clive Thompson illustrates the relationship between the A and C list bloggers…

Among bloggers, few things provoke more rancor than the subject of the A-list. Much as in high school, C-listers quickly suspect the deck is stacked against them, and the bitterness flows like cheap wine. No one knows this better than Elizabeth Spiers, the original Gawker girl. She is arguably the most famous professional blogger, since she invented its dominant mode: a titillating post delivered with a snarky kicker, casual profanity, and genuine fan-girl enthusiasm—sonnets made of dirt.

Great read.