One of the things that make blogs so attractive is the way you can jump from one topic to another so seamlessly. They are all interconnected in some vague way, but there can be almost a sense of adventure exploring them. It reminds me in some ways of the early days when you could browse “neighbourhoods” on Geocities and come across some real gems.
This evening I was reading Bob Parson’s blog and came across a link to a writer’s blog. I suppose the URL attracted me, so I started following links.
It was an eye opener.
I had heard of people making money via their blogs, but actually making a full-time living from it was a bit of a revelation. I don’t think you’d find many Irish bloggers who would be able to make the same claim.
Darren Rowse seems to be making a full-time living from blogging. Admittedly he is involved in at least twenty different blogs, but I still found it impressive that he was able to turn what I would consider a hobby into his main source of income.
Of course if you consider what they are doing with sites like Breaking News you can see that they have created a new media space. Not a new medium per se, but a new space for a very old one. That of journalism and commentary.
Blogging for a living. Pipe dream?
Jason Kottke @ kottke.org is doing it too. I donated on the first day – still not sure why (except for having PayPal credit to waste 🙂 ) But he does seem to have a good overall glimpse of the blogosphere (what a stupid f*cking word) and he’s been doing it longer than most.
What incentive did he give you to donate?
I gave to Kottke because I’ve read his stuff for longer than I’ve blogged. My aggregator would have more noise in it if Kottke went silent. So I sent him enough cash to offset his visit to Ireland.
Similar to Bernie, I’ve been reading his blog / articles all the way back to the days of osil8 in the 90’s. I didn’t really need an incentive as such, just a better reason than “Donate to me via PayPal if you feel like it”. He’s performing an interesting project.