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January 26, 2004
TT: Semi-pro
A reader writes:I've been thinking about how you describe blogging and the Internet as the future of arts journalism. As a neophyte arts journalist who wants to make more money, I'm wondering: if what you say is true, how will arts journalists earn a living?
Short, easy, theoretically funny answer: don't ask.
Serious answer:
(1) Most committed bloggers hope they'll eventually find a way to make money off their blogs, whether by advertising or tip jars or fund-raising drives or premium-content subscription models or...whatever. That's not quite as naïve as it sounds, though so far as I know the only individual bloggers to make any money to date have been the "warbloggers," those politics-oriented bloggers whose sites draw infinitely more daily traffic than us poor artbloggers.
(2) In the meantime, we keep on blogging anyway, just because we love it and find it stimulating.
(3) Moreover, I know a few arts bloggers whose blogs have brought them to the attention of the print media, and who now are starting to get writing assignments that pay actual cash money--not much, but some. It's a start.
(4) In any case, I think the real significance of the blogosphere is that it fosters and fertilizes a true amateur culture--a very old-fashioned notion, rendered freshly viable by a new technology. Lest we forget, you don't have to be a full-time critic in order to have something worthwhile to say about the arts. (My mailbag proves that in spades.) The blogosphere makes it possible for amateur "critics" to say worthwhile things in public. What could be more stimulating, both to them and to their readers? I think that's a hell of a lot more important than whether OGIC and I someday figure out how to make a little money off this blog of ours.
Posted January 26, 2004 12:04 PM
