I wrote this post before getting outed by my fellow PFBloggers with regards to advertising for Interest.com.One of the things pulling me in different directions is the opportunity to get paid for blogging. I've got a few friends who make serious money from their blogs and I wouldn't mind a little side income. However, being paid to post is kind of hard for me. I'm free form. I take my inspiration and schedule whenever the mood strikes me. That's probably why some of my posts don't make sense a few days after I've written them when they get published.
However, the opportunity to blog about products or as part of a marketing effort seems like fun. (Not here, but for a blog representing an actual commercial venture.) I figure the publicity couldn't hurt me and it's another potential job skill.
One of my commenters asked me recently if I was a journalist. I'm not. The extent of my experience has been the high school paper. Hm... On second thought, I guess I actually have done it, but it was a bad job experience, I kind of blotted it out. For about a year, I took press releases and repackaged them as small blurbs. I've always fantasized about turning into an actual writer, but only to make this blog better. I'm not one of those literary types who writes to get published in the New Yorker. I just want to get my point across.
I guess this is what they mean when they tell you that you can turn a hobby into a real job.
That was the original end of the article. But I feel I should say something more.Interest.com will be compensating me for the advertising space on my blog. Whether or not they make editorial suggestions, I will take full responsibility for writing what is posted here. Meaning, if I choose to accept their suggestion for content, it is because I have judged it to fit and be appropriate. I fully expect to decline some of their suggestions. If there's an ethical dilemma, I'm sure I'll write about it.
I don't care if people think I'm selling out. I already sell out by wearing a corporate uniform and going to work every day. If you haven't seen
Trainspotting and heard the diatribe that Renton spouts and the beginning and end of the film, see it. Just remember. CHOOSE LIFE.
I expect that being compensated for ad space will help me live my life more fully.