Hi Om,

The figure$ that are being debated in this topic is purely from the Western cost of living point-of-view. Compare that to us bloggers here in Asia (specifically Philippines) where the US dollar is more than 50 times the value of the peso.

Graduates here get somewhere between $200-$300 monthly salary and if they’re fortunate, get a raise of $20 per year.

If Jason C. is paying $500 to most of his bloggers (who might spend 2 to 4 hours a day to blog), that’s more than enough to 90% of the working population here. Heck $500 is what our Mayors and Congressmen get each month.

http://www.Voipnuke.com

Om: It’ll be the first conference of its kind in my old city. I am so pumped it’s unbelievable. I’m actually in town almost all month with other related events. Idea swapping is where it’s at, and there are few places that are more fun for idea swapping than the old T-Dot.

I’d argue that Doc Searls said it best recently when he recapped, “you don’t make money with your blog, you make money because of it.”

Sure, there’s the ad revenue, and that’s nice, but the amazing thinking, creativity, and writing flowing across so many good blogs — and the links and professional networks developing through those things — hold even more promise than sidebar shout-outs.

I’d blog whether I was making money because of it or not–and I wasn’t making money blogging back when I started.

Would Alan Meckler be blogging if it wasn’t tied to money? Doubt it.

That’s the rub, isn’t it.

sometime you say really pithy smart things on other people’s blogs. for that I am pretty grateful.

i agree, more options for writers is a good thing, and not a bad thing. i hope we can sift and find real gems. take for instance dave zatz, who is smart and informed. blogging got us guys like zatz. and nothing wrong with that

:-)

i am looking forward to seeing you at the MESH as well. it will be ton of fun. hopefully we can swap ideas at that point. i think it is good to get a non-US perspective on this whole thing as well!

Hell, I know bloggers making 500K on blogging full-time. And we have a number of bloggers approaching 2K/month blogging just 4 hours a day.

We’re not yet, as an industry (blog networks) hitting 1$/word. But we will. The industry, such as it is, is less than 2 years old. Hitting 10c/word as an average after 2 years (which we’re doing) is pretty damned good. Not good enough to hire star writers with, but good enough as a first step.

The same is true for directors… you can spend your money and make an indie film and hope it becomes something huge, or you can sell your idea to a studio and have them mess with it. If you go with a studio you give up control but it’s not your money. If you do the indiefilm it’s your money and you are in control. Different models for different people at different points in their lives. Some writers/directors want to get a check every two weeks and sleep at night, some artists want to risk it all and wake up in a cold sweat at night wondering about the bills and deadlines.

The blogosphere is just another set of options for writers… now they can work for “the man” (WSJ, NYT, B2.0), themselves (with the support of Adsense, AdBrite, Battelle’s thing), or a boutique studio (i.e. Gawker, WIN).

More options for the artists is always a good thing.