Chelsea Fetch

A Career in Blogging: Exploring Blogs as a Profession

Proposal
Blogging is not a new idea to most people today. My generation has grown up with the internet, and most aspects of the web are not surprising to us. Blogs, succinctly summed up as online journals/personal spaces, are hugely popular for a number of reasons, including ease of publishing, use as an outlet for entertainment and information, flexibility, and empowerment of authors (Penrod 3). For these reasons, and the accessibility and ubiquitous nature of online advertising, bloggers have discovered that their online space can generate an income. In some cases, this only amounts to a supplemental earning, but some successful bloggers earn enough to call their blog a full-time job. However, many are not convinced that publishing material on a blog amounts to anything. Power states that bloggers are writers who remain amateur for the straightforward reason that they arent very good (10). Despite the success of some, many bloggers do not blog for an income or attempt to monetize their blogs with no luck. Still many others are not even aware than publishing publicly online can generate any form of benefit for them. For an author struggling to be published, though, a blog can provide an outlet for hashing out ideas, creating a portfolio, and with some work can provide income. On the other hand, more and more companies are including blogs on their website. These blogs are used to inform their current or prospective customers about new things going on with the company or posting relevant advice, how-tos, and articles. As a result, these companies are finding that maintaining their blog requires a fulltime, dedicated position. For some writers, this type of job offers company benefits and security while still publishing publicly and interacting with their audience. The project I am proposing will consist of an academic essay between 13-18 pages that will explore the career paths available by blogging, whether personally or through an employer. The essay will employ a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods, by analyzing current bloggers posts and income, secondary research, and interviewing professional bloggers (full-time, part-time, and employed). In my research and analysis, I will be particularly interested in how viable of a career path blogging can be, and how the bloggers I interview and read about developed their blog for monetary gain. For this project, my mentor will be Dr. Kevin Brooks.

Objectives
Over the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in blogging, not only as a medium for creating and freelance writing, but as a money-making medium. I have started two blogs, one a personal creation and the other produced for a class, and have explored monetizing my own blog. Although the business of class and a part-time job got in the way of my ability and motivation to post regularly, I continue to pay for the domain of my first blog and have always considered how I can maintain the blog. While professional blogging may not be in my career path, the option is something I have been considering. However, talking with my peers reveals that many undergraduates and even professors are unaware of blogging being a career opportunity. As a result, this project proposal was borne from my own personal desires to learn about blogging as a broad topic, more specifically exploring the breadth of monetary value in owning a blog, and from a more academic desire to share what I learn with others, especially my peers who may not consider blogging a suitable way to publish material. I also suspect that many bloggers have reasons they continue to write other than any income it may provide, and uncovering these would allow me to share other blogging benefits with my peers. For this project, my research objectives are as follows:

Chelsea Fetch
Explore blogs as a means of making money/a career path Determine if I personally could blog for a living Masterfully craft a 13-18 page essay that reports my findings Inform undergraduate peers, faculty, and any other readers of my essay or audience to my presentation about blogging as a medium to earn income writing

To explore these objectives, I have the following research questions: Can blogging be reasonably utilized to generate an income? What are the major and minor differences in blogging for a supplemental income, blogging full-time, and blogging for a company? Many bloggers do not begin blogging expecting monetary gain. What are other benefits of blogging?

Methods
To meet my objectives and answer my research questions, I intend to use a variety of strategies. Secondary research of how blogs are currently discussed in the humanities and social sciences Secondary research of published works bloggers have written about their blogging experience Interviews with selected bloggers about their successes, failures, and views on professional blogging An analysis of successful blogs and what attributes may bolster profit

The secondary research of my project will be useful in setting the stage for my topic by considering how blogging is talked about by students and academics. There is a wealth of information published on blogging, but sifting out the numerous self-published e-books and opinion articles on journalism blogging leaves a handful of quality relevant works. Another challenge with this part of my research is making sure my sources are timely; with a subject that is web-based, information is ever-changing. This aspect of my methodology will also supplement my current knowledge about blogging and how it can be utilized, as well as help me create an argument for bloggings usefulness to a writer. Interviewing various bloggers across different genres will give me the best view of how different individuals monetized their blogs. Compared to secondary research on the topic, which mostly consists of how-to instructions and repetitive advice, interviews will give me a chance to capture unique responses and opinions specifically related to my research objectives. Interviewing will also allow me to get thoughtful answers that directly apply to my research questions and objectives. Finally, an analysis of various blogs content will provide a quantitative approach to my project. Comparing variables like content, post length, comments per post, number of advertisements, RSS subscribers, etc. may reveal another aspect of a successfully monetized blog. Though I think interviewing individuals to find out the work behind the numbers is important, numbers are also what directly impact advertising revenue.

Timeline
The timeline below (Table 1) details what tasks I expect to be working on and when throughout the rest of the semester. Oct. 18 Tasks Oct. 25 Oct. 26 Nov. 1 Nov. 2 Nov. 8 Nov. 9 Nov. 15 Nov. 16 Nov. 22 Nov. 23 Nov. 29 Nov. 30 Dec. 6

Chelsea Fetch
Annotated Bibliography Interviews Blog Analyses Progress Report Final Paper Presentation

For the first four weeks I will focus on research, breaking down the methodology discussed above into three sections. I will not start drafting my final paper until week four. I would like to set a tentative deadline for my paper as the first Monday after Thanksgiving break, November 26. This will allow me to focus on my presentation and other finals for the last few weeks of the semester. I plan to meet with Dr. Brooks each Thursday at 2 p.m. in his office. I will submit any drafts to him by Monday evening to give proper time to review my drafts and prepare feedback by our meetings. Should either of us have to cancel our weekly meeting, we will simply send an e-mail to alert each other of changed plans.

Reading List
In addition to the sources I have already found below, I intend to do research into methodology to help me conduct interviews and analyze blogs. Blogger Content Policy. Blogger. Google, 1999-2012. Web. 17 Oct 2012. <http://www.blogger.com/content.g> Day-Macleod, Deirdre. Career Building Through Blogging. The Rosen Publishing Group, 30 Sept. 2007. Huaping Chen, et al. "Chaos Theory As A Lens For Interpreting Blogging." Journal Of Management Information Systems 26.1 (2009): 101-127. Business Source Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Jasra, Manoj. Blog Smart. Blog Often. How I Blogged for Thought Leadership, Revenue, & Success. Martin, Gail. 30 Days to Social Media Success: The 30 Day Results Guide to Making the Most of Twitter, Blogging, LinkedIN, and Facebook. Career Press, Incorporated, 2010. Maya, Laura. Blogging by Million, Earn by Millions: How the Young Savvies Earn Millions by Blogging, Totally Committed to Their Current Job, Yet Still Progress in Their Career. Outskirts Press, 2010. Print. Penrod, Diane. Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy. Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007. Power, Ed. The Blog Revolution and How it Changed the World. The Reference Shelf 78.2 (2006): 915. Print. Terms of Service. Wordpress. Wordpress.com, 6 April 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wordpress.com/tos/> Walsh, Bob. Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them. Apress, 2007. Withrow, Brandon G. "Not Your Father's Ph.D." The Chronicle 15 Apr. 2008: n. pag. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.