Do you know how to blog but hesitate to call yourself a blogger?
Knowing how to blog seems to fly in the face of a time-honored tradition in newsletter, magazine and book publishing of working within an organization that controls whether your work gets published.
If you can indulge my relating a little personal history, there’s a point to this story…
In the spring of 1970, I was 14 years old, Richard Nixon was president, and I viewed the world through innocent eyes. I had a paper route, and a paper recycling business, both of which put money in my pocket. I had a crush on Debbie Baker, and was leading a happy young life.
As a kid, I didn’t get a lot of mail, other than my subscription to Boy’s Life magazine and the Columbia Record Club. But one day I received a bright orange, over-sized envelope with a message in a large, reversed, white script typeface that said, “I have the power to inform, educate and entertain millions. I am a writer.”
At a very impressionable age, while mulling over fantasy career aspirations of being either a nuclear physicist or a California Highway Patrolman, this sounded both fascinating and reasonable.
I enjoyed writing, and my heroes were all writers — Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twin and Tom Wolfe, among them. I was in Mr. Baldwin’s 8th grade English class, which was the toughest course, with the highest standards, that I would ever take in any educational institution.
So, I opened the letter, addressed to me from Writer’s Digest magazine. It said if their search was correct, I was someone who had great potential for a career in writing. Wow!
I read the whole letter front to back at least three times, took the direct mail package, and the pinned the orange envelope to the cork board in my room, where I looked at it every day for months.
I decided I had the power to inform, educate and entertain millions. I would be a writer.
Was that the day that I decided on a career in journalism and publishing? Perhaps. It certainly was a cardinal moment.
I grew up believing that the point of writing was not to get paid, but to inform, educate and entertain. And that the getting paid part was just something that was supposed to happen along the way…if the people you were trying to inform, educate and entertain thought you were doing a reasonable job.
Fast forward nearly 40 years to the 2009 world of publishing, and all of its economic realities.
Today, I am an accomplished writer, writing all manner of things — including 12 published books. I spend the majority of my time writing precisely what you’re now reading. My blog posts in Mequoda Daily outnumber all the hundreds of magazine articles I’ve ever penned.
At the end of the day, Mequoda Daily is a blog. It has permalinks. It’s archived. It’s sitting on a WordPress (the leading blogging software) platform. It enables reader comments. That makes me a blogger.
So why am I hesitant to define myself as a blogger? Why do I suspect people cringe and think that “blogger” is a pejorative term? (See recent Doonesbury comic #20.)
Is it because I’d rather think of myself as an email newsletter writer and editor?
Is it because there are no credentials, tests or licenses required to be a blogger?
There is a time-honored tradition in newsletter, magazine and book publishing of working within an organization that controls whether your work gets published. It has editors and publishers, plus product managers and marketing managers, among others.
Blogging is different from other forms of writing in that most bloggers do not have editors or publishers. Most bloggers self-publish and answer to no higher authority — no publishing company hierarchy.
Unlike writers for print publications, bloggers don’t expend any effort marketing their articles to publishers, or getting them approved by editors. However, bloggers do work hard to develop their own loyal readership.
None of these economic realities were revealed to me at age 14.
Today I realized I am a blogger, and should be proud of it!
Against that background, today, I realize that I am a blogger, and I’m proud of it!
Additionally, I’m also a big fan of other bloggers, like Tim Lutts.
Tim is president of Cabot Heritage Corp, one of America’s most respected independent investment advisory services. He has the advantage of owning the company, so three years ago, when he launched his free email newsletter, Cabot Wealth Advisory, he didn’t need to ask a publisher’s permission.
Instead, Tim hired Andrew Palmer, perhaps the most experienced blog coach on the planet, to help him create his outstanding free email newsletter. And Tim has succeeded without a hitch by amassing a loyal readership of investors who genuinely trust him.
How else could he make this perfectly sincere offer for his Cabot Stock of the Month Report:
“Try it risk-free for the next 12 months. Double your money or pay nothing!
“I’m Timothy Lutts, and I’m so convinced that the market leaders you’ll read about in Cabot Stock of the Month Report will make you double your money in the next 12 months, that if they don’t, you won’t pay a dime.”
That’s a bold promise, and I like bold self-confidence. Who doesn’t?
So, I’m going to follow Tim’s lead. I’m going to do what I’ve always done as a successful writer, and borrow from others who inspire me.
Just as Tim is bullish on his stock picks, I am bullish on the future of blogging, optimistic about the future of online publishing, and certain that the Mequoda Summit can help you grow your business in ways you probably haven’t considered.
And I’ll emulate Tim’s risk-free offer, too.
If you attend the Mequoda Summit Boston, I will personally guarantee your satisfaction.
If you are not convinced that the Mequoda Summit will absolutely revolutionize and transform your Internet marketing…and take your publishing company to a whole new level of sales and success online…just let us know by lunch time of the first day.
You can return your conference materials, leave, and get a prompt and full refund of all your money — on the spot. That way, you risk nothing.
Please join us and discover the Mequoda Publishing & Marketing System, the most comprehensive and proven method for becoming a successful, profitable blogger and digital content marketer.
Hi Greg:
A very interesting precedent….
I also remember taking and passing libels tests in J-School at CSUS.
Your story is a reminder to us all that the rules of libel do apply to all who publish on evert platform.
Seems only fair…
Glad you enjoyed the stroll… thanks for kicking in.
Don
Hi Don,
When I saw your MD post today I immediately thought you were going to comment on something I heard on the news yesterday, but then I read it and saw you had a different angle – one which I thoroughly enjoyed as it allowed me to walk down memory lane with you (I remember Debbie Baker well).
The news item I thought of was one announcing a company suing a “blogger” for defamation when they felt they were slandered by a Twitter post. Apparently the woman twittered something about her former apartment having mold and the landlord doesn’t care about the health of their residents. The landlord took exception, saying they have no mold, and if they did they would certainly care, and that her “public post” has done severe damage to their reputation and could have a negative effect on their ability to generate income.
Here’s the kicker (and how it applies to your article) – A judge has apparently ruled that you ARE a publisher when you publicly post information, and you can be held accountable for those posts the same as any other publisher. So, the answer to your question (in the eyes of the law, anyway) is YES, if you blog you are a publisher.