ScooptWords blog

Do it again

ProBlogger Darren Rowse's series 'What I'd do differently if I had to start my blog over again' has come to a close. He got 14 replies from his favourite bloggers. Now he's opening the question up to the oi polloi in a group writing project. If you're interested in taking part, this is the page for you. Here's what he's after,

Write a post on the topic of ‘what I’d do differently if I had to start my blog again’

• Be as creative as you’d like - take it in any direction you want from writing a long list of what you’d do differently to a single short point.
• You can write it in any form you like (last time we had poems, rants, humorous posts etc).
• Consider calling your post something a little different to ‘what I’d do differently if I…..’ as last time we had 80 submissions, most of which had similar titles. Your title is a key to making people come and read your post.
• Ideally it’d be great if you could write it on your actual blog but if it’s completely inappropriate to do so I’ll post them again on ProBlogger on a ‘page’ (not a post) with a link back to your blog.
• Feel free to write your post in your own first language - I’ve previously included a number of non-english posts and am excited by the prospect of making this a multi-lingual project.

Technorati Tags: blogging for beginners, problogging

Viva la 'J' list

The New York Times runs a short feature on journalists, namely Om Malik, Rafat Ali and Nina Munk, who've gone it alone, left the deadwood behind, received varying degrees of funding and made a success of it. The money quote comes from Ali,

“A lot of journalists are going to have to rethink what they are doing if they are going to survive,” said Mr. Ali. “If you stand back and do nothing, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? The newspaper you are working at could go away and then you won’t have a place to work.” via Cyberjournalist.

Gloom and doom in the press is one thing, but look beyond these 'A' listers who are scurrying their way out rather successfully and you'll discover a whole lot more bloggers earning $100 in Adsense here, $1000 there, a commission this month, a BlogAd next month, a new contact today, a regular client tomorrow. These bloggers who find their blog 'leads to something unexpected' far outweigh those like Malik, Ali and Munk who impress with headlines, but who represent the more freakish corner of blogdom.

Technorati Tags: benefits of blogging, blog marketing

The deadline is dead

I've been corresponding with Linda Jones, the journalist and blogger behind an opinion column in this week's Press Gazette. Linda comments here now and then, Hi Linda :) I don't quite agree with her stance in the column. Actually, that's a lie - I don't agree with it at all. But, rather than go into the details of our amiable email chitter-chatter, I'll quote this single bit from me:

And as for "the deadline" Forget it, it's exactly what it says it is, dead. Instant publishing will crush the notion of the newspaper deadline within one year. And those newspapers that don't understand why that is so, will die a year after. But, that's a topic for another day...

Or, as it happens, not another day, but today. Blog uber-god Jeff Jarvis, a man I once interviewed over the net and met briefly on Regent Street a few months back, chimes in,

It’d [be] ironic, or possibly just odd, that one of the newest papers in Britain, The Independent, is the most stuck in the mud online. They put  up pay walls and the editor, Simon Kelner, just decreed that he’d never put stories on the web first, like his competitor, The Guardian, and that he wants to raise the price of the declining print product... Roy Greenslade sits Kelner down for a talkin’-to

Technorati Tags: deadline, newspapers, online first

Another day another survey

The latest in a recurring series of internet surveys is being dissected around the Net.

'Much of the public and press attention to bloggers has focused on the small number of high-traffic, A-list bloggers,' said Associate Director Susannah Fox. 'By asking a wide range of bloggers what they do and why they do it, we have found a different kind of story about the power of the Internet to encourage creativity and community among all kinds of Internet users.'

Cristiano Ventura, MSN Spaces marketing manager said: 'It remains to be seen whether blogging will take over traditional media, but growth in the next five years is going to be expediential.'

This is true. There's no indication that the growth is slowing. What does this mean? Well, too many things for me to go into here. However, for print and publishing outlets interested in harnessing and paying for blog content - and we now know there are plenty of those - it means there is an ever greater, more immediate need for the likes of ScooptWords to collate, filter and present the most commercial content for magazine and newspaper editors to select and purchase. So, nothing we didn't already know, just more impetus to do it.

Technorati Tags: Pew, survey

Petite Blogger sacked

Tim highlights (another) case of a blogger, Petite Anglaise, who was sacked for blogging.

An English secretary is bringing a test case under French labour law after allegedly being sacked for bringing her employers into disrepute by writing a "Bridget Jones in Paris" blog describing her everyday life...

...She was told she was being suspended pending dismissal. "The phrase used, 'gross misconduct', usually means you've done something terrible like you embezzle money from your firm," said Catherine, 33, a French and German graduate who grew up in Yorkshire but has spent all her working life in Paris.  

"I was so shocked that I didn't stick up for myself, even to point out that the whole blog was written anonymously. I was given five minutes to gather my belongings and leave." From the Telegraph.

As Tim says,

Anyone in the publishing world looking for a decent book package (for the lady certainly knows how to write)?

We don't do books at ScooptWords - not yet anyhow - but he's got a point. She's sharp and witty with it. Bon chance Petite Anglaise. Meanwhile, is the boss reading your diary?

UPDATE: Petite Anglaise explains more at Comment is free.

Technorati Tags: blogger sacked, petite anglaise

Calling all foodies

This is an edited version of an email I just sent out to a number of foodbloggers we hope will join ScooptWords. I've cross posted on my own foodblog. Feel free to discuss in the comments, suggest blogs, email me etc.

In the near future, we aim to aggregate, package, market and sell quality food and wine blog content to print publications around the world. If you're interested in making money from selling your words, read on...

The premise is simple, there's a lot of great blog content out there, some of it would walk into many newspapers and magazines. However, there's no obvious route to market for bloggers who want to sell or editors who want to buy. I know some of you write professionally. Still more of you have been commissioned by magazines and newspapers. I'm pretty sure even more of you would relish the opportunity to see your words in print and to receive payment. In that sense ScooptWords is quite a different proposition from other blog syndication services, like BlogBurst, that offer no payment and take away your copyright for nothing more than the carrot of 'exposure'. With ScooptWords you always retain your copyright. And if an editor wants your words you will get paid.

Sign up is free and takes seconds. You then paste an html button into your sidebar. The button links to your sales page. If a button messes up your design, you can create a text link using the unique html code you receive upon joining. Email me if you need help with that. If you decide you want to sign up it would be very useful if you also email me the urls of three of your best posts. I will use these as part of the initial push to food editors to illustrate the quality of the material out there. I'm thinking of everything here from restaurant reviews, bottle opening tips, recipes, utensil reviews to interviews, in depth features, off the cuff columns and opinionated rants :)

I'll admit we don't know if there is a sizable market for content originating from blogs or just how many editors are open to commissioning bloggers. However, since we beta-launched (around a month ago) we've received many requests from publishers. On a daily basis editors contact us to source and sell them high quality, well written blog content. We plan to aggregate the best ScooptWords licensed content on our website and produce a food and wine email newsletter/RSS feed specifically for the food press. Editors will be able to peruse and buy your content from the website/email/RSS and, of course, from your blog.

Feel free to forward this message to any foodblogger you believe is producing superb content. Any questions, just drop me an email/post a comment.

Tracking comments

As the number of blogs bantering about ScooptWords starts to pick up, I'm finding Co.mments to be a very handy service with which to track your conversations throughout the web. You can easily set Co.mments up to recieve new comments as an RSS feed. What this means, to RSS newbies, is that you don't have to trawl the web tracking down all those posts you commented on. When new comments are made, you'll know fairly sharpish. Very handy. However, it doesn't track comments on all sites. For example, I can't get it to work with Comment is Free for some reason. Sign up here. You just have to remember to install a bookmarklet in your browser toolbar AND to click it each time you make a comment or come across a conversation you're interested in.

Nightcap button

The NightCapSyndication graphic just arrived. Hic.

The decision is yours

The first week of The Guardian's seemingly successful Big Blogger week at Comment is free comes to an end today. Five commenters were chosen from the masses to write one blog post this week. In-a-Big-Brother-stylee one will be out on his or her arse by the weekend. I won't say who I just voted out, but I will say that Christina Morgan, despite a rambling intro, is my favourite to win thus far into proceedings. The poll opens and closes today.

Big Blogger is another example of just how popular user generated content can be and also how the man on the street can mix it with columnists who, some say, earn in excess of £100,000. Kinda like a game of spot the difference...

What is a blog?

If you're still clueless, you might find some answers among the on street opinions gathered at The Weblog Project - an open-source movie documentary about blogs and bloggers. Cheers Robin.