Coutorture Salon Hot Topic: Blogging Sweatshops
Following the death of two professional bloggers, The New York Times decided to once again turn their steely gaze on blogging. Once again making it something it's not, in my opinion.
In In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop Matt Richtel describes the work-at-home environment of many bloggers as one of stress, desperation and panic.
I contend that this is highly subjective and has more to do with the person than their profession.
I'm lucky. I started out freelance blogging for Shiny for fun and a few extra bucks to supplement my primary income. Then, my dream came true and I was asked to edit two blogs of my own and write about fashion and beauty full-time, from home. I would say my life is much less stressful since I made the switch (though maybe not during fashion week).
The Times article revolves primarily around freelance bloggers who make a certain small amount of money per post. I can see how if this was your only source of income it could be stressful - you have to write a certain number of posts to make a certain amount of money. And with the low pay associated with writing in general and much of blogging in particular, it could be difficult to scratch out a living.
But the idea that "getting the scoop" means restless nights and never not thinking about your blog and wondering if you're missing the next big story while you're in the bathroom is kind of ridiculous.
In my opinion, these are the same people who were working 14 hour days at local newspapers, not able to miss one school board meeting and making a big deal out of small-town politics. You can make a big deal out of anything and make anything stressful. I think it's more a personality type than a job description.
Besides the fact, I can only imagine this type of pressure and competition is even more intense at traditional media outlets - particularly those revolving around celebrity culture. It's not like bloggers invented the scoop, we just publish faster (nah nah!).
If you're not in New York or L.A. and/or fairly submerged in the industry you write about - with your social and home life revolving around the same people and topics as your professional life - then scoops are hard to come by. And no, this doesn't stress me out. There are only a handful of blogs that are going to be in contention to get a story first. The majority of bloggers would do better to strive for a story that is different, better written, researched, or photographed, or takes a different angle.
Frankly, I'm tired of traditional media trying to "get a handle" on this blog thing. Blogs aren't the story, blogs are just competing with newspapers to tell the story differently. The way to keep up is to start your own blogs and do something different and great with them thanks to your comparatively vast resources, not to try and find the chink in bloggers' armor.
It's very sad that two relatively young bloggers died recently, but I would be very surprised if it had anything to do with their profession. And if it did - maybe the NYT should compare it to the number of lawyers or doctors whose deaths could be linked to stress-related problems.
As my husband said, bloggers aren't dying - newspapers are.