I will admit that I'm a unique case because I got into blogging to blog, rather than just as a subset of my online presence. But I hope that my story inspires someone.
I started my first blog, ShortFormBlog, in 2009. At the time, I was a fully print journalist, focused on graphic design. I had just been laid off from one newspaper and was about to be hired by another. The thing that made the blog stand out at the time is that I tried to bring some of that news-design mindset to the blog.
Within three years, I had had a number of notable experiences emerge because of this blog, including:
- A regular freelance gig with AOL News
- Interviews with a number of prominent outlets for potential jobs, including the then-buzzy iPad newspaper The Daily, PBS, and BuzzFeed
- Nominated for a Shorty Award
- A large follower base on Tumblr (160k by the time I stopped)
- Transition to a new, fully digital full-time job, outside of newspapers, in which I was allowed to keep the blog going
I eventually moved to a newsletter format called Tedium, which moved away from daily news into more evergreen styles of content. That led to:
- An appearance on NPR’s Planet Money
- Syndication opportunities with Atlas Obscura, Fast Company, and Nieman Lab, among others
- An ongoing freelance relationship with Motherboard, along with freelance opportunities in other places
- A consistent revenue model
- The opportunity to bring in outside writers
- Periodic viral posts (including one last year, written by a contributor to the site, that was name-dropped by Rick Beato)
- A smaller but more deeply interested audience
- A chance to meet a lot of people who are into the same weird stuff I'm into
- A frequent outlet to write about whatever's on my mind
I have now been writing at a regular pace on the internet for about 14 and a half years. I have learned a lot over that time. My recommendation to you is that you find your pacing, and if something is not working, you switch gears.
I started my first blog, ShortFormBlog, in 2009. At the time, I was a fully print journalist, focused on graphic design. I had just been laid off from one newspaper and was about to be hired by another. The thing that made the blog stand out at the time is that I tried to bring some of that news-design mindset to the blog.
Within three years, I had had a number of notable experiences emerge because of this blog, including:
- A regular freelance gig with AOL News
- Interviews with a number of prominent outlets for potential jobs, including the then-buzzy iPad newspaper The Daily, PBS, and BuzzFeed
- Nominated for a Shorty Award
- A large follower base on Tumblr (160k by the time I stopped)
- Transition to a new, fully digital full-time job, outside of newspapers, in which I was allowed to keep the blog going
I eventually moved to a newsletter format called Tedium, which moved away from daily news into more evergreen styles of content. That led to:
- An appearance on NPR’s Planet Money
- Syndication opportunities with Atlas Obscura, Fast Company, and Nieman Lab, among others
- An ongoing freelance relationship with Motherboard, along with freelance opportunities in other places
- A consistent revenue model
- The opportunity to bring in outside writers
- Periodic viral posts (including one last year, written by a contributor to the site, that was name-dropped by Rick Beato)
- A smaller but more deeply interested audience
- A chance to meet a lot of people who are into the same weird stuff I'm into
- A frequent outlet to write about whatever's on my mind
I have now been writing at a regular pace on the internet for about 14 and a half years. I have learned a lot over that time. My recommendation to you is that you find your pacing, and if something is not working, you switch gears.