“How can we make money doing this?”
And as Shirky says – most of us can’t.
But sometimes all the stars align, and people make money out of making internet content.
And the way a lot of weblog producers do this is completely backward to how publishing has been in the past.
Traditional publishing is to write a book, approach an editor, approach a publishing company, convince them to take a risk on you if you’re an unpublished writer, publish the hardcopy of a book, ship it out to stores and hope it sells. Its a lot of money and risk up front.
Weblogs are completely different. Anyone can make a blog on any number of blogging sites (WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Livejournal) in about a minute. From then on, you’re publishing. If no one reads it, at least you tried. The internet has made it possible for anyone with an internet connection to be a content producer and publisher. To be overly Aussie about it, the internet allows for everyone to have a fair go when it comes to publishing their thoughts.
But some blogs profit. One day, you realise your view stats are up. So you put some ads on your blog, and you now have a (very small trickle) stream of income. You can even start a shop, and sell shirts and prints from home, using your Mum to coordinate all your orders (When Matthew Inman, author of The Oatmeal first started a shop to go with his webcomic, his mum ran it).
And then, when you’ve done all the (surprisingly simple) groundwork, you might be able to get a publishing deal. There’s no shortage of people who have started with a wordpress, a tumblr or an instagram account and ended up publishing books from it. Liz Climo, The Oatmeal, Cyanide and Happiness, the amazing photos of instagram account CandiceAndChamp, renamed ThatGoldenDog, to coincide with their upcoming book. As well as a photographer named Theron who published a book made up of photos of his dog Maddie standing on things. Aptly named “Maddie on Things”. He has traveled all 50 states of America, with Maddie, and he promotes animal rescue.
I think Theron’s blog name sums it right up. “This Wild Idea”. The wild idea that we can publish the things we love doing online, risk free, and have people actually like it. And have people actually wanting to look at it, wanting to buy your shirts, prints and books and wanting to support you. The wild idea that “how can we make money doing this?” turns into some people actually making money doing this.
Britt Andrews 
September 2, 2014 at 6:12 am
The idea that people make money, big money, on blogging and self publishing content still astonishes me. Thanks for linking me all these people – they’re successful because they deliver quality, consistent content. I came across these stats while researching my post you might find interesting
p.s. Adorable comic!
September 2, 2014 at 6:13 am
The link stuffed up, but it’s there! hahah sorry!
September 2, 2014 at 7:51 am
Thanks! Liz Climo does some AMAZING comics, it was so hard to pick just one. Never fails to make me smile – http://lizclimo.tumblr.com/
September 2, 2014 at 6:45 am
I agree, I think there is a definite possibility if you have patience, skill, and a vision, to be able to move from publishing online for the purpose of self actualisation to publishing with the added bonus of profitisation. I’d even argue that the potential to make the transition is just as suited, if not more suited, to content other than blogging. The music genre success stories in this category with online sensations such as Lily Allen (who posted demo’s to a Myspace page the final recordings of which later went no.1 in Australia), or Youtube personalities who later launch their careers in stand up comedy such as Alex Williamson. That is to say, these ‘free’ media platforms have the ability to generate demand for content which can produce monetary reward either online (eg. Alex Williamson’s YouTube page) or offline (at stand up gigs), as a result of establishing a reputation on a ‘free’ media platform.
September 2, 2014 at 10:57 am
You are right. Today we don’t go through a filter. Our first step is to publish then filter and edit later. Because of this there is so much content being created and distributed each day that it is often hard to be recognised. But I guess we can look at our mate Justin Bieber who was found through his videos he uploaded on the internet. As you said, the internet has so much content on it with many genres, there is bound to be someone to be interested. Really liked your blog, easy to understand and easy to start a discussion on.
September 6, 2014 at 2:48 am
I believe that there is a possibility to become something from blogging. There are so many known people who have become famous via the internet such as people being “instafamous” or Youtube Stars. Its crazy to think that these are free media platforms which allow people to collaborate and network with other and in some cases bring fame and money to these people.
September 8, 2014 at 6:53 am
It was quite captivating to open with your title as a question as it got me thinking and enticed me to click on your blog. I also did my post on Shirky this week as I thought this was the most interesting topic covered in this weeks lecture. I found it interesting to read about view stats, as I didn’t look at this in my Shirky blog. I found this website http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/stats/ that correlates with WordPress view stats that we might be able to use for our blogs. It states some similar ideas to Shirky like “everyone is a media outlet”. Overall a great post for this week, well done.
September 16, 2014 at 5:18 am
I agree how can we make money doing this? The internet is not an imaginable material thing where we can hold or actually work hard for. Publishing online has definitely revolutionized how we publish books, blogs or anything online. These are our current money makers. However, although alot of the time we are not publishing the traditional way anymore I think that for amateur/non published writers it is the beginning of a new era where free publishing online of books and cheaper distribution is the way to go. The amateurization of publishing books/blogs has taken off in the internet world, I see this as a long tail effect, I mean, you may get no likes or readers/followers, but who knows your work may become popular in the future, because these books are continuously on the internet, in other words, they are always saved in the “Cyber sphere”. Making a profit for how many views you get on your blog or YouTube video was never thought of 10-20 years ago, YouTube personalities are starting to become just as famous as any other actor, singer or songwriter. Who knows, the blog posts that we currently do today for our class of Digc202 could become part of these money makers that we see today.
October 14, 2014 at 11:10 am
Interesting post! When I was writing about anyone with an internet connection can put out an opinion or share their talent I forgot to consider the very important fact that many do profit from what they share. It is interesting that previously unknown people can find a following on the internet in this day and age were previously it was far more likely for a person o be qualified in what they are talking about and be a part of traditional media before putting themselves on he internet.
October 22, 2014 at 2:19 am
You bring up some really interesting points here! I happen to love watching/reading/consuming self published content, whether it be in the form of YouTube or even self published e-books or blogs. I like the idea of “freedom” when it comes to content. Something to consider is that most of the money comes from advertising, such as YouTube ads, sponsored videos and posts. These relationships are ultimately based on trust, so its all about being trustworthy and “real”. Thanks for the good post, it really got me thinking!
October 24, 2014 at 10:32 am
Interesting your perception on the tradition of publishing literature. I can say I agree with the authenticity behind the act of properly processing a piece of work. Great blog and great read concerning the subject.
October 26, 2014 at 12:46 am
Such a great take on the long tail effect Britt. You have really exceeded the somewhat overused references and quotes from the prescribed material this week and innovatively conjured up some relevant and interesting examples.
October 27, 2014 at 11:39 am
Call me a pessimist but I have to agree with Shirky in his idea that most of us won’t make money off blogging. I think one kind of has to cater to a ‘niche market’ to actually make a career out of blogging. You raise the point at the end of your blog that it is a ‘wild idea’ for people to try and attempt this – so true, how awesome if it actually works though!