Is an Online Blogging Magazine an Oxymoron?
Thanks to Dawud Miracle’s post Will You Read A Blogging Magazine? I discovered Blogger & Podcaster. This new online magazine is focused toward the bloggers and podcasters of the world.
(First we’re Time’s Person of the Year and now we have our own magazine. Cool.)
Before I dive into the whole oxymoron part, let me say how much I LOVED reading the April 2007 issue. The layout and design was superb and the articles really grabbed my interest. Paul Colligan’s article Seven Profitable Habits was particularly good.
The ads were interesting and I read them all. That is the power of niche market - even the ads are interesting to the niche audience. Although it was amusing to have the audio, it was a bit disconcerting that there was no way to turn off the sound. There was a whole page of content that I skipped because I can’t read and listen at the same time. Kind of like trying to read the scrolling ticker news on the bottom of the TV and trying to listen to the newscast at the same time. I can do one, but not both. I just went to the next page to get away from the sound.
I quickly subscribed to the free digital version of Blogger & Podcaster and look forward to the next issue. I highly recommend that you do the same. And I officially add to my list of High Tech Mother’s Day Gift Ideas a print subscription to Blogger & Podcaster magazine.
One thing that kept going through my mind was Dave Talyor’s thought that this should not be a magazine, but rather a blog. It is almost as if he thinks that anything written about blogging, by definition, must be a blog. And while I can’t think of a single other occasion when I would disagree with Dave Taylor, this is it.
A blog about blogging is not new. The world has some really great blogs about blogging (ProBlogger and eMomsatHome are my two favorites). Do we really need another one? As a blog, how would B&P be any different? As a magazine it is just enough different that it breaks out of the crowd.
I think (and hope) Blogger & Podcaster magazine has a good chance of success. If we read it, it will.
I like the idea of having a blogging rag. And I certainly feel this is a pretty good first issue. Let’s see if it takes hold. It would be great if the print costs were cheaper. But, then again, for most of us it’s a business expense.
The fundamental concern I have about a magazine about blogging is that anyone who isn’t already reading blogs about blogging (if you will) has a wide range of books on the subject from which they can pick one or two. By its very definition, blogging is a *discussion* and anything that captures it in print stifles that discussion: when I read an article in B&P and want to add a comment, can you subsequently read it? Books, of course, have the same limitation…
I am planning on subscribing to the publication and look forward to reading it. Publishing is a tough space, however, and most magazines fail in their first 12 months as they find that ad sales are tougher than they thought. Perhaps I’m just a pessimist after decades in the publishing business, though!