Presenters:
Ben Huh – I Can Has Cheezburger?
Christian Lander – Stuff White People Like
Kerry Miller – passiveaggressivenotes.com
Heather Armstrong (Dooce) – Blurbodoocery Inc
Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette) – Air America
Takeaways from the internet famous bloggers panel:
1. Get yourself a good therapist.
2. Start a blog because you have something interesting and funny to say, not because you want to become famous, people can see the sparkle of authenticity dust.
3. Don’t write a book. It’s like running a marathon. Blogging is like sprinting. It’s over faster and you can go back to your normal life. And blogging makes more money.
4. When you do fold and write a book, stick to your guns and don’t let them change your writing and what you think is important.
5. The biggest drawback to professional blogging is that you can never take a break. Your fans demand content constantly.
6. If you keep sacred blogging boundaries about things you won’t blog about, then keep them invisible to your readers. They should be under the impression that you are putting all of yourself out there.
7. Never keep track of the most active commenters in the sidebar. You will invite trolls. Instead, select the most insightful or funny comments and feature them in your sidebar. It’s very rewarding for the commenters, and gives new people an idea of what good comments look like. If you need to, start an “off-topic forum” to act as a padded room for the really crazy commenters.
8. You will get death threats and possibly suspicious packages, but just ignore it. None of them have died.
9. Although the blogging business model sometimes is discouraging, it’s way more stable than publishing or the recording industry. Have faith and keep a savings account for times when the advertising runs a little dry.
