Martha Stewart has gone and dissed bloggers on Bloomberg TV, asking, “Who are these bloggers?” in a tone that she might use when encountering a cheap brand of crème fraiche. She said that bloggers create a “kind of popularity, but they are not experts” like editors at Vogue magazine, for instance.
It’s not a good thing. And yet, she has a point that bloggers (and journalists) need to hear.
I have long been sitting in that curious spot between traditional journalism and blogging. While I write for mainstream magazines and newspapers (they’re like web sites, but on paper), as well as the Internet, I have also been a blogger since I flipped the switch on MommaSaid.net on January 20, 2003.
I’ve written books both for major publishing houses and soon, for me in a self-published ebook.
I’ve keynoted the American Society of Journalists and Authors’ annual conference, and I’ve also served as a panelist at Mom 2.0.
I’m a blogger. I’m a journalist. And yes, Ms. Stewart, I’m an expert. What is an expert? I looked at two definitions (both online, because I no longer own a printed dictionary.) I offer the Dictionary.com definition for the bloggers, and the Miriam-Webster one for the journalists who will likely scoff at my pedestrian use of Dictionary.com:
expert
Dictionary.com: “a person who has a special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority.”
Miriam-Webster: “having or showing special skill or knowledge because of what you have been taught or what you have experienced.”
I’d venture to say that if you write frequently about how to turn pine cones into cute table place markers or offer up assorted cheese-based recipes for game day gatherings, that makes you someone with a special skill because of what you have experienced. You know, an expert.
If you happen to have a sizable following of readers, that makes you a sought-after expert. And if you had to build up that following all by yourself, that makes you a blogger.
It doesn’t make you an editor at Vogue, which requires a different set of skills. Judging by the continual layoffs of my editor friends, those skills need to include updating your own resume.
Journalism is dying, and blogging is partially to blame.
When your mother shared her kitchen-tested recipes with her friends, it was a hobby. When Martha Stewart did it — buoyed by perfect pre-Internet timing and unwavering ambition — it grew to an empire. When you do it on your blog and tweet, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook it, a little piece of Martha Stewart dies.
Why? Because thanks to the Internet, you have broadcasting power that your mother (and before the magazine and TV deal, Martha) didn’t. The Internet has leveled the playing field for anyone interested in sharing information, while simultaneously making it harder and harder for people who used to get paid to share this information to make a living at it.
It’s simple supply and demand economics, and Internet economics have made it increasingly difficult for traditional media to stay afloat. Just a year ago, Ms. Stewart had to lay off about 10% of her print employees, leaving my editor friends to update those resumes — but for what?
Freelancer writers like me have seen our pay cut. Back in 2001, I was paid $2,000 for a 700-word essay that ran in Woman’s Day magazine. Last year, I was offered $173 to write a 20-slide (more clicks matter!) online piece for a major web conglomerate that required me to interview three experts and do my own fact-checking. And that’s not an anomaly. Freelance budgets have dried up or simply don’t exist, with compensation sometimes in the form of “exposure.” (Cough, cough, Huffington Post.)
But bloggers may die of exposure.
Serious bloggers — that 10% or so who are in it to win it — need to be mindful of what has happened to their journalist cousins. Chances are, you’re sharing your expertise for free on the Net in the hopes that you’ll get a pay day from, quite ironically, traditional media, in the form of a book deal or a TV Show. (Props to Pioneer Woman and the Bloggess.)
When it comes to sharing expertise and selling ideas, the rules have changed and are still changing. It’s the ones who figure out how to ride that roller coaster who’ll laugh all the way to the bank, or, more likely, Paypal.
So bloggers, if you’re wondering why Martha Stewart refers to you using the same voice she uses when faced with cheap Chinese glitter, it’s because you’re taking money out of her pocket. (Presumably this doesn’t apply to “Martha’s Circle,” which is “a community of the Web’s leading lifestyle blogs, chosen by Martha Stewart editors.”)
Your readers want your expert advice instead of Martha’s because you live the way they do. Unlike Martha Stewart, you’re relatable and authentic, and that’s helped you build your following. Getting paid for your expertise, however, isn’t that easy to do anymore.
And that’s not a good thing.
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MommaSaid won’t let Abby Green post, so I’m doing it for her:
You make some excellent points, Jen. And Meagan does in her comments, too. As someone who has also straddled that line between traditional journalism and blogging for years, I admit to being frustrated at times. Those figures you shared about what you were paid for the essay vs. the slideshow – mind-boggling! I have experienced that, too, and it’s hard not to just throw your hands up and go work at Starbucks.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the different skill sets. Writing for a magazine and being a successful blogger require vastly different skills. And as someone who prefers the writing part to the marketing, self-promotion, dealing with advertisers… I’ve not yet figured out the winning formula for myself. There’s also the issue of WHAT you’re writing about — I can see how a food blogger would earn more than a humor blogger, say. (The Bloggess notwithstanding.)
I also think Meagan made an important point in talking about the checks and balances involved in publishing a magazine article. There is certainly a vast difference in quality among blogs, which is another reason it bugs me when people just throw around page views and popularity as a measure of success.
Thanks for adding your perspective and yes, expertise, to the discussion!
I think there is one other distinction between bloggers and magazine “experts.” Magazines predominantly make their money through advertising. This means that the majority of their “tips” encourage readers to buy and buy and buy. It’s been said again and again, “Oh you don’t like your home. Go buy a new pillow. Change the paint color.” Then, with next months edition of the magazine, change something again.
Bloggers do make their money through advertising, but it looks so different than magazine advertising. Thus, bloggers can be honest! They can make money-saving suggestions rather than money-spending suggestions. They can encourage readers to use what they have, to share, to swap, to thrift!
Thrifting does not drive the magazine market! But it can gather a large blogging audience.
My newest edition of Elle Decor recommended buying high end furnishings, b/c the editor made the point that it is the high end companies paying for the development of new style. We all learned this lesson in the movie the Devil Wears Prada. His point was well-taken. However, a Martha Stewart is NOT developing anything high end. Rather, she is taking the high end and making it affordable for the common person, which means, that yes, her empire is in danger b/c of bloggers.
Your article touches on this so well. Thank you for writing!
This article is very well written and I agree. My blog is in its infancy and only a hobby at the moment but as someone who would like it to be a career option one day. Im saddened that Marthy would take a jab in this format. While Martha attacking those who in great part help sustain her isn’t the smartest idea. Hopefully she’ll be a little more tactful next time. I know several of my favorite blogs host MSL ads and love the product. While she has a point, she should definitely think twice.
I completely agree with you Jen and with Meagan’s comment above.
It is a fast-changing world in new media and the changes have pros & cons and affect people differently.
It’s natural to be defensive when your job or business is being threatened, but it’s important to be respectful and aware of the new market conditions.
Martha’s condescending words revealed she does not understand nor respect the new world of media.
I will be first to admit how difficult it is to monetize writing in this new age and how hard it is to continue changing your business model to keep up with the market.
I shared my opinions on her view of “experts” in my post… http://www.5minutesformom.com/83896/martha-stewart-lack-of-expertise/
~Susan
I posted this at FB, but wanted to put it here, too, Jen.
I keep thinking, what makes somebody an “expert” anyway. Being an editor at a glossy magazine?…sorry, no. In my years of writing for newsstand mags, I worked with or knew plenty of editors who assigned stories for parenting magazines, but had no children and knew nothing about parenting besides what they saw coming across in press releases and the pitches they got from their own writers. (I don’t think you need to be a parent to have expertise in children, but trust me, some of these editors were neither parents OR experts in the subject matter.) I remember an editor for a popular country lifestyle/gardening magazine admitting at a conference that he lived in an apartment in Manhattan and had no yard. (Again, if he can intelligently edit a story about it, I don’t much care. But an expert? Ahem….)
Truth is – and this is something that surprised me when I first started freelancing – most of the people giving you advice from the glossy pages of those big name magazines aren’t “experts” according to Martha’s definition, and a lot of times the people who come up with the story ideas and assign them aren’t experts either, and the reporting that goes into the stories is often biased to begin with. Magazines: I love ‘em. But please, let’s be realistic about what they are.
That said, it IS threatening to make a living providing information and suddenly find that world turned upside-down and your skills no longer as valuable as they once were, and there ARE bloggers out there who pass off bad information or blatantly steal other people’s work, and there AREN’T the same checks and balances in place to keep those things from happening as there used to be. It’s just how it is and Martha isn’t necessarily wrong to point that out.
Anyway, that’s my long winded way of saying this is a complicated issue that goes beyond “rah rah, bloggers are great and Martha is evil.” I totally agree with Jen’s take that the playing field has been leveled, which is good in some ways and bad in others. But I’ll also challenge anyone who tries to say that an editor at a food magazine is necessarily more of an “expert” in cooking than somebody who’s making multiple meals per week for her own family. They’re experts in different ways, maybe, but in the end, if I come away with a recipe or new technique or idea that works for me, then the blogger’s real-life advice is just as valuable to me as the pretty pretty inspiration I get from the pages of Living.