I’m in the process of setting up my own, art-featuring blog (like the art section of Coilhouse or like form is void, and I’ve been reading a lot of Problogger.

But even though I find the articles good, after a while the whole ‘make money, make money, make. money!’ gets a bit too much for someone who’s looking up to Who-bloggers and hobby bloggers.
When they talk about, say, choosing a niche, it seems like you should first choose by what is popular/profitable right now, and only then consider if you are into that particular niche.

I’d really like to see a metablog aimed at Who-bloggers.

Once you start, it’s difficult to get noticed, and what I find both interests and repels me in a number of the blogs I read that don’t belong to larger networks is the cult-of-personality vibe. It seems to be what’s rewarded, if you’re starting without the backing of a professional advertising and marketing arm: lots of photos of yourself, lots of this-is-what-I-do.

Another good point to note is that a lot of the “pro bloggers” you mention do not write their own content. Yes, they generate some of it, and might have been on their own when they were starting out (and when the field was a lot less crowded). However, go to Apartment Therapy now and see how many posts are written by Maxwell? See how many people are writing posts, period?

Many popular “blogs” are actually small topical news organizations, and a number of the “blogs” listed on the recent 25 Best list in Time — like Metafilter and the Huffington Post (how is it super-different from Salon.com?) — seem an awful lot more like “sites” to me — the point is that there’s plenty of content being generated and, in at least a few cases, it’s either user-generated, or generated by people who will do it for the publicity or just because they enjoy being offered a large soapbox, or etc.

Eh, just some thoughts. :)

Your point about the competitive nature of Pro-Blogging is a good one for those who think its easy – PBs work HARD to get to where they are. The bloggers at the IDS panel work on their blogs day and night.

Red – glad you like the name I came up with, I thought it was kind of silly but at least it gets across what I mean. I started blogging for my own entertainment too, I definitely didn’t become a Who-Blogger by design.

Re: Event invitations – you guys don’t get them? I know bloggers in Toronto/NY/Vancouver tend to be very active in the scene and get plenty of event invitations, but it might be a location thing? The PR people here are very blog-savvy and very generous to us.

Lauren – I checked your blog and I bet you are on your way! Just keep posting about the stuff you are into and with persistence, opportunities will come.

Ryan – some bloggers are just hobbyists, I think I am just trying to categorize the ones who blog for a living. But I bet you have used your blog for networking as a writer.

Yeah, I said it. :)

And I wonder why *I* don’t get event invitations…

Regardless of that, I see what you’re saying, and really envy people who don’t write for a living and also blog. I get wrapped up into the Pro-Blogger sect because I’m a freelance fashion editor who also writes a budget section – that’s a lot of writing about one topic, for sure. I agree that non-pro-bloggers (meaning ANYONE, including Who-Bloggers) totally get overlooked. Hell, I’m a full time blogger in the top 0.21% of Technorati blogs and I never get invited to anything. It’s a rough world where your competition is in the range of 8M other blogs to worry about.

Maybe someday I’ll have the opportunity to become a Who-Blogger.