Nice post

check out Seth Godin’s post today entitled “Micro-Magazines and the Future of Media.” he says:

While there are still people hoping to make a living writing a blog (not as a tool for something else, but as an end into itself), that’s awfully difficult to do. Micro-magazines, on the other hand, feel very different to me

What’s the difference? He goes on to say:

Having a very specific audience (call it a tribe). Enabling that tribe to connect by sharing the ideas in the magazine among them, as well as supporting it with a forum or blog

Again: the key is a community of contributors to get beyond the challenges of solo blogging.

Part of why this is so challenging is that blogging has traditionally been set up as something to do alone. But why? If you are trying to cover a topic, why limit yourself to just your knowledge?

Much of it is because blogging systems were set up for one or at least a limited number of contributors.

New tools are emerging however that allow someone to invite in a whole community of contributors. Now the challenges you list are cast in a much different light. You can rely on an entire community to produce content and to promote it.

The job function becomes less just writer (though that is still very important) and more editor / community manager.

Such is the future for success in blogging. Blogging alone has run its course. Phase two is managing a community of contributors.

I’ve found I can spend hours spinning my wheels trying to get people to notice my blogs via social media and very little (in terms of return on the time investment) ever comes of it. But a well written email sent to the appropriate person can do wonders.

Guilty as charged when it comes to the “gotta do it now!” mentality. I’ve been known to jump out of bed at 2am just to cobble together the world’s most brilliant post, ever. Several hours later I look at it and wonder what the hell I was thinking. But of course I almost never remove it.