In the intro to his self-published (on Lulu.com) collection of blog posts, The Wreck of the Henry Clay, New Yorker contributor Caleb Crain sums up nicely the anxieties shared by at least one other writer-with-blogging-addon about blogging, and, by extension, about self-publishing books. Which I may just do myself soon -- a collection -- because I CAN. Ellipses are mine.
I came to blogging ... as a veteran of print.... [and so] came to blogging nervous about losing what footing I had there... The quandary: If I wanted to communicate an important discovery, shouldn't I write it up formally, either for money (i.e., journalism) or prestige( scholarship)? If a discover wasn't worth these rewards, was a casual communication of it worth risking my reputation, such as it was, for accuracy and deliberation?... To speculate beyond one's area of expertise, based on no more than intuition and a few pieces of evidence, which happened to be new to oneself but not might be to specialists -- wasn't that a recipe for broadcasting one's ignorance? And at the pit of my stomach, as I contemplated my efforts to make a living as a freelancer, lay another question: Would my editors continue to buy the cow if I was dispensing the milk for free on my blog?
This last question, Crain notes, turns out to be a good one.
Do check this out.
More like this
Busy week leading up to Thanksgiving for me, with a talk to give later in the week and quizzes a plenty!
The Mystery Volcano Photo series has a couple clear frontrunners now, with both Don Crain and Gijs with multiple points.
I'm back from my Christmas Eruptions break ... time to play a little catch up!
Popocatepetl in Mexico.
When we last left MVP, the latest entry actually did give people some trouble - but Don Crain ended up landing the winner at guess #15.
You know, we haven't had an MVP in a couple weeks. Let's remedy that!
Current standings:
volcanista - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Ralph - 1
gijs - 1
Anne - 1
Cam - 1
gg - 1
The Bobs - 1
Boris Behncke - 1
Don Crain - 1
But does he answer that question? Certainly there is a fine line between getting significant utility out of a blog - building your personal brand, scratching an itch that your regular writing doesn't - and getting used by a blog, whether or not that blog contributes to someone else's bottom line (like Scienceblogs) or doesn't (if you're blogging on your own). I would have liked to hear more about *your* views on this subject.
You'll notice that my own blog isn't one, really. But on the other hand I can't resist the social bookmarking service that is twitter. So perhaps I'm no less guilty of frittering away what could be paid time!