Problogging Is A Thankless Occupation
Ever hear about those people complaining about their jobs being taken for granted—such as maintenance crews, service people, night watch men? These are people who do a great service to those around them, but oftentimes they’re unseen; they work away from the limelight. They’re invisible to most everyone else. True, they probably don’t have as glorious jobs as top-paid lawyers, doctors or famous pro athletes. And they probably don’t wield as much power as politicians and business tycoons. But they’re there, and they’re part of the backbone of the economy (not to mention the world would probably be a mess without them).
Anyway, sometimes I feel like pro-blogging is one of those occupations that seem to be so thankless. Most of the people who read blogs probably idolize those A-listers and those people who seem to be earning gajillions from their blogs and blog networks. But not everyone is like that. And on the audience’s side, not everyone reads blogs, and everyone is a fan of professional bloggers, no matter how high in the A-list you are.
It’s probably because pro blogging is not yet as recognized as other IT-related professions like, say, web development, programming, systems analysis, security-related specializations, and the like. Heck, when I tell people I earn some part of my living through blogs, I get raised eyebrows in puzzlement (and usually the big “Really? How?”). And hey I hear some people have even been turned down by Immigration when entering certain countries because they stated their business being in blogging.
It can even be worse if it’s your own family that criticizes you for those late nights spent sleepless in front of your computer scouring for interesting ideas to blog about. Or those weekends spent, again, in front of the computer madly typing that scoop you got from some insider info. Or perhaps they’re just concerned?
Anyway, if the money is good, then why not? But then again I think pro-bloggers deserve a little more credit.
[...] As for writing for print and online journals (blogs included), well, it’s a whole new world. Respect doesn’t come around easily. In fact, I can say writing can sometimes be a thankless job. Some people even think you’d have do crazy stuff to get people’s attention. [...]
Writing for a Living Sucks » Jack Of All Blogs said this on February 10, 2007 12:04 am