The Wall Street Journal's paygrade feature on blogging slaughtered any inkling I might have had previously regarding my future and blogging.
After reading the article, I can't think of a job I would prefer to do less than become a full-time blogger. From what the Journal tells me, this job, well ... sucks.
First of all, the pay is overwhelmingly likely to be awful, certainly not a salary you could survive on in the majority of cases. The hours are awful -- 19 hour workdays?! Are you serious? I suppose it's just that I could never see myself leading a life that involved nothing -- literally nothing -- but work. It just doesn't seem worth it. Says Perez Hilton creator Mario Lavandeira: "I have no life. I am always working."
But not only are you always working. You are probably working alone, cramped up in your apartment all hours of the day and night, subsisting solely on Chinese food take-out (assuming you can pull yourself from the computer long enough to answer the door).
So, working 19-hour days -- that leaves five free hours, which I assume go to sleeping. Such a stressful, socially-deprived, exercise-deprived, fresh-air deprived lifestyle certainly can't be healthy.
Everett (not verified) @ Wed, 02/21/2007 - 7:05am
2,000 - 10,000 a month is a decent salery as far as I'm concerned; what other job would you make more? I'd actually find it surprising that as many full-time bloggers make as much as they do, considering the medium, and how difficult it can be to gather an audience. I have doubts that this number really is correct though, unless a requirement for being a full time blogger is making a minimum of 2,000 a month.
19 hour days in your home can't be too bad, just think of all the coffee you could make. Blog posts may need to go up hourly, so that leaves sleeping and exercising between blog posts. Obtain fresh air from your window.
Blogging certainly isn't for everyone, but for those who are up for the challenge and want the freedom of working from home on something that they enjoy doing, it can be worth while.