Tuesday, July 30, 2013

OH YEAH!

It is you.



You know, I think I'll take this opportunity to just thank everyone who reads my blog and especially those who comment. I think you guys are some of the smartest people I know. I know we've never met in "real life", but maybe we will sometime. I hope so.

Sometimes I read the comments people leave here to my wife and she gets as big a kick as I do. I always tell her that I really don't deserve such a large return on such a small investment. That might sound like false humility to you guys since you naturally think I'm great, but she's married to me in real life so she knows better.

One of my real life friends told me once, "You know, you're pretty good at this blogging thing." I laughed—he doesn't read many blogs. But it's sort of like owning a business, being able to say "I'm incorporated." People are impressed by that fact alone, never mind it's not really any more of an accomplishment than owning a trumpet. Making something out of a business, turning a profit with it is the accomplishment which is analogous to making pleasant sounds come out of the trumpet rather than bad fart simulations.

Starting a blog isn't that hard. Keeping people interested in reading it is, and that's where you fellows and ladies come in. You all post a lot more copy than I do, especially keeping in mind that we're all hobbyists here. We've had a lot of great discussions and great laughs together, and you've all carried as much water as I have to keep things rolling. My hope is that we can keep this thing going and going and going for years and years.

I observed recently that some blogs run professionally which get huge amounts of hits and readership suddenly become inaccessible when they are no longer generating income. My intention is to not let that happen to Est Quod Est, regardless of how many people ever read it. I hope it becomes a small part of the real life of everyone who reads it.

8 comments:

  1. What kathleen said!

    P.S. You give the rest of us too much credit. You put a lot into this blog, Pauli, for which we thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ditto! (Just don't tell anyone I ever said ditto, but it was the most succinct thing I could think of.)

    Keith

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ditto!

    Pauli, this will aggravate your Dreher fatigue, but we now have this surprising confession from Rod.

    Everyone understands the primal need to provide for one's family. I think Rod, despite any crunchy little eccentricities, is a good father who takes that need seriously. He has realized that his crunchy little St. Francisville idyll will last precisely as long as his TAC blogging continues to make money. Not a day longer.

    This would explain the tone of desperation as he posts an ever-increasing stream of anti-Catholic bait, autobiographical ramblings, and unpleasant stories about people's sexual habits. His life and its obsessions can only be sustained by celebrity-blogging full-time about his life and its obsessions. If I were trapped in that situation, I'd also be suffering from severe insomnia and hair standing on end à la Heat Miser. Maybe all he needs is to drop his MacBook Pro down the nearest well and get a steady job as a cook at a St. Francisville BBQ restaurant. He can probably make good BBQ.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is the confession? that he's renting? I knew that; it's been on the Topix forums. That's one reason people are speculating that he won't be there for long.

    But your absolutely right about the content provision industry. It's why people have guest bloggers and why Andrew Sullivan has always employed "ghost bloggers". If I take a break here my hits go down to around 50 or 60/day. If I put up 5 or more posts I'll bounce up to 250 hits. If I post 2 per day my hits will hover around 150-200. Of course none of this matters because this is all a hobby.

    So you're right about his life being "unsustainable" without constant blogging, and making sure he's hitting what is trending at any given moment.

    Ironic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I feel for Mrs. Dreher.

    Here they are, scrambling for money and worrying about the future of blogging and future sales of autobiographies of Rod Dreher. Yet hubby begs to go to Europe for see a friend for the last time. A nice thing to do, no doubt, but maybe questionable when cash is low. Worse yet, he embarrasses her by publicly over-sharing about the trip, brags on all the awesome meals and beers he's consuming, and takes a nice side trip to Brussels just for fun to boot.

    "I know you want a nice house to call home, Honey, but money is tight right now, and we both know how shaky the industry is. And I never know when this mono is going to flare up again . . . "

    ReplyDelete