Kottke Gives Up on Full-time Professional Blogging
A year ago Jason Kottke gave up his job as a web designer to become a full-time blogger. He asked his readers to sponsor his blog by making donations. He received nearly $40,000 in donations, but even though his blog was very popular, in the end it didn't work out.
Kottke won a Bloggie Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Kottke.org was listed in CNET News.com's BLOG 100. It was #22 on the Technorati 100 list of popular blogs. And #40 on the similar Feedster 500 list. Clearly, Kottke was a blogger's blogger. But at the end of the day, the donation/subscription business model didn't work out for his blog.
And I doubt it'll work out for many blogs, unless they're really good and have really really exclusive content. Content people want so bad they're willing to pay for it. I think the number of blogs that fit into that category is extremely small. The same goes for subscription-only podcasts. If you can pull it off, great. You'll become a member of a very exclusive club. For most of us, it ain't gonna happen.
Kottke won a Bloggie Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Kottke.org was listed in CNET News.com's BLOG 100. It was #22 on the Technorati 100 list of popular blogs. And #40 on the similar Feedster 500 list. Clearly, Kottke was a blogger's blogger. But at the end of the day, the donation/subscription business model didn't work out for his blog.
And I doubt it'll work out for many blogs, unless they're really good and have really really exclusive content. Content people want so bad they're willing to pay for it. I think the number of blogs that fit into that category is extremely small. The same goes for subscription-only podcasts. If you can pull it off, great. You'll become a member of a very exclusive club. For most of us, it ain't gonna happen.
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