Posts Tagged "Bloggers We Love"

25
Oct 10

Why Do You Blog?

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

Recently, I surveyed the bloggers who subscribe to our occasional newsletter, asking them questions about their blogs and themselves (a big thank you to everyone who submitted answers!). While I don’t purport to have conducted an in-depth, analytical survey of the entire blogosphere, at least one the questions I asked received some answers that definitely warrant further examination.

I asked the bloggers – the majority of whom identified themselves as ‘hyperlocal,’ bloggers – what motivates them to blog. I listed four possible answer choices:

  • For money
  • For fun/as a hobby
  • For fame/notoriety
  • Other

The answers I got broke down like this:

What surprised me was not how few of the bloggers said they were motivated by money. My interviews with bloggers have already told me that very few bloggers (particularly hyperlocal bloggers) are making significant income from blogging, and those that do make money are generally motivated to write by something else.  For these bloggers, any income is simply a happy bonus.

Rather, what surprised me was how many bloggers selected the mysterious ‘Other’ as their motivation. After reading through the write-in answers, though, I realized that I had left out an important and likely answer choice to the question. What was it?

  • To increase community awareness/to make a difference/as a public service

Public service! It makes perfect sense. So many of the bloggers I’ve spoken to say they not only feel an obligation to their blog audience, but they also feel a larger sense of purpose and dedication to their communities.

Even though most of the bloggers I’ve interviewed don’t think of themselves as journalists, strictly speaking, a lot of them speak about their devotion to hyperlocal blogging in words similar to those a journalist might use to speak about their obligation to the truth. (Some bloggers do think of themselves as journalists, of course, but let’s not open the whole blogger-versus-journalist can of worms today.)

Instead, today I’d like to hear from more bloggers:

Why do you blog? What motivates you, and how have those reasons evolved?

11
Oct 10

Congrats! You’ve Won a Scholarship to The New York Times’ Hyperlocal Blogging Course!

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

Last week, we ran a simple contest on our blog. We offered entrants a chance at winning a scholarship to an online, self-paced course on Hyperlocal Blogging, which is being taught by our friends at The New York Times. As promised, we randomly selected two lucky winners from the entries we received, and they are… (drum roll, please)…

  • Clay Williams, a NYC blogger, foodie, ‘professional geek,’ and aspiring photographer who’s interested in learning hyperlocal blogging skills (always great to see photographer-types getting in on the fun: photography is a core blogging skill, and it’s one that’s especially useful for hyperlocal bloggers);
  • Ginger Fawcett, a St. Louis-area real estate agent who’s interested in learning how she can launch a hyperlocal blog in her neck of the woods (a stellar example of one thing real estate agents can do to really stand out: after all, there probably aren’t a whole lot of people who spend as much time thinking about their communities as real estate agents).

Judging from the conversations I’ve had with each of them so far, they’re both really excited to begin the course, which starts today.

We’re certainly happy to sponsor both of them and we look forward to seeing how their hyperlocal blogging projects evolve (No pressure, guys, seriously! Just have fun with it and learn as much as you can).

16
Sep 10

A Rabble Rouser in Redmond?

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love — View Comments

While I’m always happy that there are bloggers creating local and hyperlocal content in every vertical imaginable, it was Election Day this past Tuesday in New York, so I was reminded just how important it is to have bloggers who focus on local government and civic life.

Happily, last week I had the opportunity to talk with Bob Yoder, a semi-retired resident of Redmond, WA, who’s also the creator of the Redmond Neighborhood Blog (RNB), a civic-centered local blog. Now more than ever, in many communities across the country we need bloggers like Bob if we want to stay on top of local government happenings. The fact of the matter is, as Bob himself will tell you, “[Local] government reporters are just not out there anymore.”

Like all of the bloggers I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing, Bob Yoder is passionate about what he does. I trust you’ll get as much out of our conversation as I did.

How long have you been interested in local issues?

I’ve always been interested in the community. My grandfather gave me a sit down talk about it when I was just a kid. I come from Amish/Mennonite roots: they’re community-minded people, they like to raise barns together. My dad was always on the town council. [A few years ago] I wanted to join the Education Hill Citizens Advisory Committee, but I was unable to do so. It bothered me that access to and notifications about the Committee were so hard to find. But they let me sit in on meetings [as a guest] and, once I had the blog set up, I used it as a notification device early on, as kind of like an information kiosk.

What kind of an impact has RNB made? What are you most proud of?

I guess it would be in our efforts to raise water-quality awareness. Industries in SE Redmond have contributed a lot to building the infrastructure of Redmond. A lot of the politicians have gotten money to run for office from these people, so they’ve kindof been protected a bit from things.

One of the problems they have as an industry is that they create hazardous waste, and we noticed some barrels of waste on the banks of a local [salmon] creek. We thought it was a big deal, so I called up the [State] Division of Natural Resources and evidently I talked to the wrong person there, because they said it wasn’t a problem. But I’m really persistent and I like to walk around – and I kept seeing these barrels, and I thought to myself: ‘you know, this looks really sketchy.’

So, I called up the Code Enforcement Officer, who happens to be a friend of mine, and I said, ‘Carl, can you get out there? Something’s going on.’ So, Carl goes out and he discovers such a bad problem with hazardous waste that eleven different regulatory agencies were called out: some county, some city and some state. And they cleaned it up.

It turns out the big issue wasn’t the salmon [as we'd thought], but it was that all these businesses are located on an aquifer, and the City of Redmond gets 40% of our water from that aquifer, and the waste happened to be located on top of a critical area of the aquifer. What can I say? I’m really into water!

How has writing the blog influenced the way you interact with your community, personally?

I can’t say that people will come up to me at public meetings and say, ‘Hey, Bob!’ – I don’t get that often. And I don’t feel like I’m as much a part of the community as I’d like to be. I feel like it’s more like, ‘Watch out, Bob’s coming!’ – I come across as a ‘Super Activist,’ and it’s been hard. Still, I’ve learned to be [more]  friendly and [less] angry. I’m trying to be more of a catalyst for community building. When I go to meet with the government boards, I’m making friends with them and saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you publicize yourself? People should hear about you, they voted for you.’ I’m taking an on-your-side approach.

But the City government – they don’t recognize me, they never mention me.  It’s a real slight, because they’ll use me for public safety alerts and notifications, and the pulse I have on the community, so I know they’re paying attention to me every day.

What has been the biggest challenge to you as a hyperlocal blogger?

Monetization. That’s the big issue: how do you survive? How do you sustain yourself? [I've done it] using my own resources, mainly, just making sacrifices to follow my passion. It’s kindof, almost an obsession, to a degree. But it’s providing a catalyst and ‘making a difference,’ that fires my engine. Maybe you have to have an obsession to keep it going. So far it hasn’t detracted from my family life, and it’s constantly evolving and attracting more contributors. But that’s where I need to spend more of my time: marketing myself so I can sustain myself.

Are you saying you blog full time?

Yes, right now I do it almost full-time. Even though it’s hobby, it feels almost like a vocation. So far I’ve been able to do it, financially, but the economy has really taken a dent. I did medical sales for 25 years – I may need to go back into sales with this bad economy. I don’t know if I can make any money blogging – only one local blog out here is making any money at all, as far as I know. Everyone is acting like they’re making money, but they’re not making any money, really. I could always do this – I love it. I don’t think I’d ever stop– but I need to contain it. It’s like a wild animal: I need to harness it. Maybe someday these kinds of blogs can be recognized and be funded in some way.

Have you considered a partnership?

I have. I did sign on as a partner with the Seattle Times at one point, but then I realized they wanted [RNB] to be more of a news service [than I wanted it to be]. I went to some of the journalism classes they offered, and I did learn a lot, but I found I was struggling with writing conversationally [without injecting my own opinion].

I mean, I’ve learned that with blogging, people comment [on your posts] with their opinions, and you’re supposed to respond to comments. It’s hard to do that objectively. I mean, how can you stand away? People follow you because they like what you’re doing– it’s not just ‘The News.’ There seems to be a conflict between blogging and hard news. Since I’ve separated from [that partnership], I’m happier, more passionate, less constrained. But, they taught me a lot.

What about a grant? You mentioned wanting to secure outside funding for your blog.

Yes, [I was interested in grant funding,] but if the city were to give me money, that would influence my independence. I don’t want to write news that’s dished out to me, I want to write what’s really news. But how do I make money from that? This has been a fun ride, and if I didn’t have to pull away from it [for financial reasons], I’d continue to do it full time.

It sounds like you want it both ways: to monetize the blog while maintaining total independence. What does that mean for RNB, moving forward?

After exploring all the options, I’m taking the non-profit approach aimed at promoting ‘open government’ and transparancy. I realized my type of blog could never be transformed into an online [for-profit] newspaper. I’m also going to cut back: I’m trying to write only one story a day now.

You clearly have access to a lot of public information and documents. How do you obtain those, as a blogger?

I was always afraid to ask for public information because I considered it their information, and I felt I was intruding on them– the government– and being nosy. What it turns out to be, though, is this: those public records are the public’s records, not the records of the administration.

Don’t be afraid to request records. [Every local government should] post record request proceedures on their website. They’re hard to find, of course, and they probably won’t identify who their Public Records Officer is. Here in Redmond, the Public Records Officer] happens to be the City Clerk. Fill out the form and write the request. If they can’t complete your request within 5 days, they have to tell you why — and, eventually, they have to come up with [the information, or an explanation as to why they can't provide it]. It takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

13
Sep 10

A Blowhard Blogger Looks at 40: Mike Doyle’s Top Blogging Tips

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

Mike Doyle

  1. “Don’t be a dick.”
  2. Write. Write some more. Keep it up.
  3. Have the courage to write what you really think or feel.
  4. Be gracious about it when you write something controversial or potentially offensive. Think twice. (See #1).
  5. Your blog is not an island. Be grateful for that fact. Celebrate it.
  6. Fear is not an excuse not to write. Just do it. You’ll learn from the doing of it.
  7. Have a viewpoint. Know what you want to say. You wouldn’t write a press release if you didn’t have any news: the same goes for a blog post.
  8. Go into yourself. Know yourself. Figure out what’s motivating you to start your blog, because that’s what’s going to motivate you to keep writing. Figure out what it is you’re trying to share and why.
  9. Your blogging will impact your professional life. Consider that. If you’re constantly critical, no one is going to be brave enough to hire you.
  10. Your blogging will impact your professional life. Consider that: “I’ve gotten about $40k in work over the past 5 years [that I wouldn't have gotten had I not been blogging].  Blogging has brought me a lot of professional and social connections, some of which have been financially rewarding.”
  11. Give yourself more credit. Give others more credit, too.
  12. Don’t pressure yourself to blog every day.
  13. Get over yourself.
  14. “It’s really important to keep the technology of your blog current. If it still looks like 5 years ago, it makes others wonder about how serious you are about building a community on that blog. There are crappy-looking blogs out there that have incredibly large communities and are very influential, but those are rare. If you’re going to blog, put as much love and care into the design of your blog as you do the content. People want your blog to be a fun place to come.”
  15. You don’t have to hit your readers over the head with a 2×4 in order for them to ‘get it.’
10
Sep 10

On Honey, Vinegar & Bees (A Blogger’s Midlife Crisis)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love — View Comments

Ok, folks: what is the #1 lesson Chicago Carless blogger Mike Doyle has learned in his 5+ years of blogging about Chicago, ADHD, blogging, not driving a car, technology and all aspects of his personal life?

Hint: it’s not about managing his ADHD, nor is it some tip about how to come up with blogging ideas year in and year out. And it’s certainly not what you’d expect if you’ve ever spent some time reading Doyle’s blog.

Give up? Very well. Here’s what Mike wants all you bloggers and wannabe bloggers to know:

“Don’t be a dick! Please, please, please quote me on that.”

So, there you go. 5+ years of hyperlocal blogging and that’s the takeaway: listen to what your mama was trying to teach you. It’s simple enough, but there’s always more to the story. Mike goes on:

I think I blog a little too much at the expense of others. I just turned 40, [and] I’ve really been reexamining and rethinking my relationship with my blog and my relationships with the people I blog about. I do a lot of navel gazing on my blog, which a lot of people do– but now I’m really taking responsibility, emotionally, for my relationships, [which has made me realize that] I can be a jerk on the blog. I’m a big believer in not taking back the things that you’ve said, and I plan on being equally opinionated– but a lot more inclusive– on the blog. I share the blogosphere with others, and I want to celebrate that. My blog is not an island.

To a lot of us, that sounds really simple: you’ll catch more bees with honey than with vinegar, and you should treat others the way you’d like to be treated. We strive to live our lives– both online and off– in accordance with those simple principles. We certainly have other personal shortcomings and lessons to learn, but we’ve got that one down, at least.

Still, for others of us, this is a lesson that’s less obvious in the online realm, and it’s a lesson that must be learned the hard way. This was certainly the case for Mike, who’s probably made just as many enemies as he has friends in the last 5 years. One example of this can be seen in a blog post he wrote after choosing to leave the blog network ChicagoNow. The post got him plenty of attention, and not all of it was positive, Mike admits:

My criticisms [of ChicagoNow] stand – but I could have been less ad hominem. There are things that I said that I find disappointing. I am upset that in the comments on Windy Citizen I named names and called people out. Yeah, I regret that—because I don’t think I was fair. The thing that I was missing there is that [just as I was] doing my best, [a lot of the people at ChicagoNow were doing their best, too]. Sometimes I don’t give people enough credit.

So, bloggers – let Mike’s experience be a lesson to you, a cautionary tale even. It’s often tempting to go for the jugular and really write the zippiest, snarkiest, most bombastic blog post you can come up with – but sometimes your words can come back to haunt you. The internet never forgets, so be sure you’re prepared to live with everything you’re writing before you hit ‘publish’!

PS. Tune in next week for the rest of Mike’s top tips for local and hyperlocal bloggers!

23
Aug 10

It Takes a Village (& Other Lessons Hyperlocal Bloggers Teach Us)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love — View Comments

Last week I spoke with John Hawbaker, the Publisher of Chattarati, the Chattanooga, TN-based news and opinion blog. I found John to be an incredibly impressive, interesting individual, and I was especially impressed by his ability to effectively work with others to build a vibrant, relevant, important hyperlocal blog. Like Tom Bridge and his collaborators at We Love DC, Hawbaker understands that when it comes to comprehensive news coverage, it takes a village to raise a hyperlocal blog. Of course, once you spend some time reading Chattarati, you know that Hawbaker and Chattarati’s entire talented team of volunteers understand a whole lot more than just basic teamwork. Here are just a few of the lessons we learned this week.

The Chattarati crew relaxing at their Happy Birthday Happy Hour. Photo courtesy of Flickr user danielryan.

It Takes a Village

I don’t think it’s possible to do something like this alone. You need a great team. From day one, Chattarati has been a team effort. It’s very collaborative. When we launched we had a crew of 5-6 core people, most of whom still write with us today. – John Hawbaker

It Takes Creativity

Chattarati started as a really small, simple idea. I work [in] downtown [Chattanooga], and it’s been changing a lot. I wanted to start a daily photo blog to capture, visually, how the city is changing. I started thinking about it more and talking to friends, and we realized: ‘Something’s missing from the media scene here – a blog about Chattanooga.’ That’s how we started. We started talking about it in April, 2008 and we launched in July, 2008. – JH

It Takes Humility

As we got into more original [reporting and] writing, we realized how many things we didn’t know. That’s really become a strength: we try to learn as much as we can [about a topic], then we try to explain what we’ve learned to our readers. You have to know what you don’t know – and we’ve started to learn that.  -  JH

It Takes Curiosity

I love it when I get to write a story when I get to learn a lot. I wrote about a local grant program for local food producers, for instance, so I actually got to go and talk to people who are growing the food that we eat. That’s a rewarding experience for me – and then I get to help explain it to the reader so they can learn the same thing. [Since helping to found Chattarati,] I’ve learned a lot more about the area, its history, the people. – JH

It Takes Leadership

Editor-in-Chief David Morton has really led by example, especially when it comes to beat reporting. His coverage of city hall, and the recent budget controversy, is top-notch. He spent hours and hours going through the proposed budget so he could explain it, and its implications, to our readers. He’s also developing a style guide so we can maintain consistent standards throughout the publication.

And there’s a lot more management or facilitation involved than we ever would have imagined. I work a lot with the writers on developing and refining story ideas, and David works with them to edit articles and get them ready for publishing. We work together on planning coverage, and we host a biweekly writers meeting to help keep all our contributors on the same page. – JH

It Takes Resources

We all have full-time jobs. A lot of us work as writers, or in marketing or communications or something like that. I stay really busy, for sure. Any real work that I get done is at night, after my kids go to bed. I can call someone at lunch, but a lot of the time [communication is done] via email, or it’s research online. A lot of the other guys [at Chattarati] have similar arrangements. I spend probably 2-3 hours a night [on Chattarati], so I would say 15 hours a week is a pretty easy estimate. I think one of the biggest challenges is simply time [management] and not having a great deal of financial resources. We’re totally bootstrapped. – JH

It Takes Ingenuity

Our CMS [which we developed] is called PressWorks. It’s built on the Django framework. We started bumping up on some limitations with WordPress, and there were some things we wanted to simplify. The way PressWorks is organized is that it allows us to publish a collection of blogs as one site. Each of the categories on our site [i.e. Metro, Editorial, Culture, Neighborhoods, etc.] is a blog of its own. They have their own editors. Over time, each of those blogs will develop it’s own community feel.  It’s very easy to use. Eventually, we’re going to release PressWorks for other publishers to use. – JH

It Takes Vision

We started our company [The PressCore, Inc.] not only to publish Chattarati, but also to develop products that solve common problems facing online publishers. The first is OnLocation, our live blogging app, which is in private beta. OnLocation allows for multiple authors, and the live blog feed can be integrated into any website, so it doesn’t look like a plugin, it looks like you. It’s built on the Tornado framework so it’s fast and scalable. We’ve used it for live blogging recent elections in Tennessee – it also has a mobile admin interface, so we were live blogging from our phones a the victory parties. We feel like we can get our products out there and grow the company. – JH

It Takes Passion

I think you have to have passion, first of all. You have to care about your topic, you have to care about where you live and the people there. Our real goal is to help inform people so they can be engaged and active in civic life, whether that’s involvement in the political process or it’s giving them a good framework about what’s going on culturally. That’s the ultimate goal. – JH

19
Aug 10

Bon Voyage! (Or, Why Taking a Blog Vacay is Awesome)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / Guest Posts / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

(This is a guest post from blogger extraordinaire Erica Reitman, who does her hyperlocal blogging at F*cked in Park Slope and her design blogging at the aptly-named Design Blahg. She also serves as the Marketing Director at Squarespace. Erica can be reached via Twitter @effedparkslope or @designblahg.)

So, I took a vacation from my blogs for 2 weeks. This vacation didn’t coincide with a real vacation. I wasn’t sitting on a beach or hiking through a rain forest. In fact, I was mostly sitting on my couch, catching up on TV, meeting friends for dinner and on one particularly delicious night, going to bed at 9:30. Like 9:30 p.m., in bed, lights out. And yes: it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

A blog vacay doesn’t have to mean leaving town. If you’re anything like Erica, it can mean spending some QT catching up on your favorite reality TV, like SYTYCD. It’s YOUR blog vacay: do what you want!

I have two blogs now (FIPS and Design Blahg) and I typically post 2-3 times per day on FIPS and at least once a day on DB. I also have a Twitter account for each and a Facebook page for each. Oh, and a full time job. So needless to say, it takes a lot of friggin’ time to manage this all. Like A LOT. Now, no one held a gun to my head and said: YOU MUST WRITE TWO BLOGS OR ELSE, so I take full responsibility for this insanity. But it *is* insanity and I decided that I needed a mental break from it all, and so my blog vacay was born.

Logistically, it was slightly easier for me to organize the vacation as I’m lucky enough to have other writers on both blogs who help me out. My gameplan was to take the entire two weeks, save two Sunday eves where I had to recap a TV show.

Here’s how the first few days went down:

* day one: I caved and did a blog post
* day two: I took some cell phone pics and sent info on a post to my FIPS editor.
* day three: I came up with a new blog idea

SON. OF. A. B.

Ok, so things didn’t go *exactly* as planned. And it was waaaay harder than I thought it would be to just step off. But also, after the first few days, I did swing into a bit of a groove. And if I’m being really honest, there were even a couple of days toward the end that I didn’t even bother going to FIPS to see what stories were posted (or even IF any stories were posted… and, of course, they were). But it felt really nice to just take a step back and enjoy a different view of my life for a couple of weeks.

In the end, I really loved the time off. I think it was worthwhile for me to clear my head and feel like a normal person, without the pressures of “OMG WHAT AM I GONNA POST TOMORROW” swirling around in my head day and night. Yes it was slightly challenging getting my head back in the game after my vacation was up, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So I say bon voyage… take a blog vacay of your own and try it out.

(ED NOTE: To learn more about Erica’s secrets to blogging, check out the Mediabistro class she’ll be teaching this fall in NYC: Intro to Blogging.)

11
Aug 10

The Cream of the Crop: 10 Top Tips & Quips from Bloggers We Love

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

I’m on vacay, but Bloggers We Love are here for you!

I’m on vacation this week – but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about you guys! That’s right, this week we’ve got the Bloggers We Love clip show post! Please enjoy. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.

10. Adelle says: “Just Do It.”

One of the biggest benefits of blogging is just starting the blog and acknowledging that creative desire and giving in to it — and then, once you give in to it, it just opens you up to so many other things.

- Blogger We Love Adelle McElveen of Fashionista Lab

9. Jill says: “Start Your Own Meetup.”

In January, we started holding monthly Meetups. We go out into Brooklyn neighborhoods with our cameras and explore them — and invite whoever is interested into the group to come exploring with us. For instance, we went to Gowanus, right after the Gowanus [Canal] was declared a superfund site — more than 35 people walked through Gowanus shooting [photographs]. It was great because I got to meet all these people that I correspond with on the internet.

- Blogger We Love Jill Harrison of For the Love of Brooklyn

8. Tom says: “Focus on Friendraising.”

We’ve done huge things with the Kimpton hotel group. For instance, we did a survey last year just looking at the demographics of our readership [and those that completed the survey had a chance to win a free dinner and hotel stay from Kimpton]. We’re getting ready to plan our second birthday party, and we hope to partner with them again. Another great partnership we’ve started has been with the 9:30 Club. We do concert ticket giveaways each week– it’s fantastic.

- Blogger We Love Tom Bridge of We Love DC, on why partnering with local businesses is a good tactic for local bloggers

7. Caroline says: “Relax.”

Try to write every day — just don’t pressure yourself. I’m able to enjoy [blogging because I don't pressure myself too much]. I used to actually write every day, but then I decided to take the weekends off.

- Blogger We Love Caroline of Caroline on Crack

6. Tasha says: “Diversify, Diversify, Diversify.”

I do make some money off of my blog – but it’s just like writing: your money comes from a lot of little different places. Some of my income comes from local ads, some of it comes from internet ads, and some of it comes from freelance blogging projects: for instance, I contribute to a local TV station that has a mom site. When you’re a writer, you very rarely have one income source—that’s something I always remind bloggers of when they start out: they should diversify. It’s really tough to make it happen any one way—and, as a blogger, you have to straddle the editorial/advertising divide, which are usually separate in traditional media. It’s a full-time job in and of itself to sell ads.

- Blogger We Love Tasha Ball of Tasha Does Tulsa, on generating revenue

5. Lee says: “Blog What You Love.”

I love nachos. I used to talk about nachos so much that the girl I was dating at the time made me a ‘I <3 Nachos,’ T-shirt. I wasn’t even in New York yet. I was living in China, and I was blogging there about the city I was in. When I came back I wanted to start another blog because I really enjoyed it – and my friend was telling me how it had to be niche, how I had to find something I knew and liked. Nachos was, like, the first thing I could think of – I love nachos.

- Blogger We Love Lee Frank of Nachos NY

4. Liz says: “Do Your Own Thing.”

Take your time and go at your own pace. Don’t compare yourself to other blogs. Do your own thing. If you like to use photos, do that. If you want to make videos with your Flip cam, do that. But don’t feel obligated to do things you’re not interested in.

- Blogger We Love Liz Stambaugh of What’s to Eat, Baltimore?

3. Christy says: “Listen to Your Readership.”

One good piece of advice in terms of local blogging relates to the fact that you often have a lot of people trying to do the same thing, and blogs kind of fade in and out. It’s not so much about how many people are doing those things; it’s more about how you’re doing it a little bit differently and a little bit better – that makes it interesting. Try to pay attention to your readers – tailor your feature content to the things people will like. We do pay attention to our page statistics and we pay attention to our Twitter feed and we engage people and we listen. We always strive to be a resource that’s listening to our community instead of just being an outlet that pushes out information.

– Blogger We Love Christy Frink of Nashvillest

2. Michelle says: “Dream Big.”

I’d love to take a sabbatical from my job for a month and work in a restaurant kitchen — or go work on a farm, that’d be great. Haha, yeah, the chefs would probably be like, ‘who let this YAHOO come in and cook in my kitchen?!’ But I’d love to do it.

- Blogger We Love Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie

1. Steve says: “Don’t Force It.”

Blogs die for the same reason that any project dies. Something gets someone mad or passionate about that subject, and eventually people move on [to other projects].  If someone has a blog that’s passionate for a while, why is that invalid? I wouldn’t want someone to feel obligatory about something they’re not passionate about anymore.

- Blogger We Love Steve Shanafelt of the Spartanburg Spark on how it’s OK to start a blogging project and, when the time is right, move on

P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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4
Aug 10

Bloggers We Love: FoodGPS’ Joshua Lurie Talks Food, Drink & LA’s Infinite Possibilities

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

FoodGPS’ Joshua Lurie. Photograph by Gary Leonard.

BLOGGER: Joshua Lurie
FEATURED BLOG: FoodGPS
TWITTER: @FoodGPS

Joshua Lurie is a food blogger. Not because it’s trendy – he’s been at it since 2005 – but because he loves to eat, write and share. Food is all about the people and the stories that are behind it, he says.

There are countless stories to be told about our food and the people who farm, distribute, make, sell, prepare, cook, eat and otherwise influence it. Of course, now that food blogging has exploded across the country, it’s not terribly difficult to find decent, locally-focused food blogs that are telling some of those stories. Still, it’s always a treat to run across a well-written, well-organized hyperlocal blog like Lurie’s FoodGPS, which centers on Los Angeles, CA, the city he now calls home.

Raised just outside of New York City in suburban New Jersey, Lurie says he grew up on “a steady diet of red sauce Italian food, pizza, Americanized Chinese food, burgers and fried chicken.” During his adolescent years, Lurie’s culinary world gradually expanded with each trip his family would take into the City. Still, his training as a foodie (and as a writer) really got underway once he went off to college at Vanderbilt and began spending his summers in LA, where he’d eat adventurously while interning at City Hall and also at film production companies.

“I originally got into TV because I was a tour guide at the studios, [and] part of being a page was being ‘leased out,’ to different production companies on the lot,” Lurie says. “They leased me out to Belisarius Productions and I found out about a writer’s assistant position [that was open]. I never would have imagined writing fiction at all, on TV or otherwise, but that kind of inspired me to start writing, and I eventually pursued [writing as a career].”

Lurie went on to work on television programs such as JAG and NCIS. After launching FoodGPS, taking a food writing course and expanding his network, however, he eventually made the switch to full-time freelance food writer and blogger (I asked him if he missed working in TV. His response? “Not at all.”). I’m thrilled to add him to our Bloggers We Love blog roll, and am happy to share part of our conversation here. I hope you find it as valuable as I did.

What prompted you to launch FoodGPS?

I was originally inspired on December 29, 2004, after an old high school friend and I shared a meal at Per Se [in New York]. We asked for as many courses as they’d serve us, figuring we might not have another opportunity to eat at Per Se. They brought 16-18 courses for each of us, each of them different, and we shared everything. It was such a spectacular meal [that I felt I needed to share it, so] I got on Blogger and created a blog. That was in January 2005. That was my first post – this epic meal at Per Se.

How has the blog changed since then?

It’s been an evolution. [For a while,] I only posted about meals I thought were special. Then, eventually, in 2007, I decided to write restaurant news related to Los Angeles. Then, in early 2009, I created separate pages for drinks and for coffee, and I also started focusing more on the people [behind the food], instead of just providing commentary on food. FoodGPS continues to cover the special meals that I come across both in LA and beyond, but I also do quite a few profiles with [people in the industry], as well as event coverage.

How has blogging influenced your professional life?

I really do think FoodGPS has been great for providing exposure [for me] and I do still put a good amount of time into FoodGPS since it’s my personal brand. As far as having my own brand, it’s one of those few opportunities as a freelance writer [where I get to] control the content and cover what I want to cover, and [that's important to me because] I think that I’m adding unique content to the food blogging universe. There are hundreds of thousands of food blogs at this point. A lot of them fall into the commentary realm. I have some friends [blogging in that realm], and I enjoy many of those [blogs] But, finally, that wasn’t really enough for me [so I decided to do something a little bit different.]

What’s been the most rewarding aspect of local food blogging?

This is actually easy – it’s meeting all sorts of interesting people in the food community – [those who work in] bars or restaurants, or other bloggers. I’ve been able to form all sorts of great relationships and have been able to enjoy [the drinking and dining] experience on a much deeper level than just consumption.

Your profiles are really interesting. Who have been some of your favorites?

John Rivera Sedlar – the Chef/Owner of Rivera in Downtown LA. I didn’t really know much about his history before interviewing him prior to Rivera’s opening, and it’s a restaurant I keep returning to, including last Friday night. He’s an incredibly ambitious chef but he’s also humble and gracious and I think what he’s doing isn’t being done anywhere else. [I've really enjoyed] getting to learn about his approach better.

Another was Aiden Demarest, who was the opening manager at Seven Grand, which was a very influential bar when it opened in Downtown LA. He’s now gone to work [elsewhere], but he has that historic perspective on the downtown cocktail scene, which has really exploded.

Reza Esmaili was another interesting one. He’s President of the Northern California Chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, and I met with him in San Francisco. Not only is he a bartender, he’s an owner/operator. He’s just taken over a place called Long Bar, and it was interesting hear him lay out what’s important [for that venture]. He has the ability to put together a great cocktail program [at Long Bar], but that wasn’t the priority to start. He’s been working behind the bar and on many other levels, so he’s got a historical perspective on the cocktail scene. There’s more context in his approach, and a personal history [that I found interesting].

What’s the most challenging aspect of local food writing and blogging?

Finding balance. At this stage, my primary income comes from covering restaurants and events, so I basically have to be out every single night. I’m at restaurants 2-3 times a day. I cook very rarely at this stage. I feel like my life has gotten increasingly imbalanced in terms of non-food/drinking related activities. A quiet night at home, being able to cook, is almost unthinkable at this point. That’s been kind of a struggle. Most of the time I’m able to enjoy myself at some level, but I’m certainly [aware of the imbalance]. Exercise is also a priority, and there are days when I have trouble finding the time to do that. Luckily, [I'm fairly young, so this lifestyle] hasn’t taken it’s toll yet, but it’s certainly something I’m conscious of and I need to find a way to address it.

I imagine you’re a pretty adventurous eater. What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?

There’s nothing I won’t eat except for maybe some sort of insect. I’ve had Mexican grasshoppers, chapulines, fried with chili, lime and salt. I’ll try just about anything.

The other day I went to dinner at an Indonesian restaurant, and we finished our meal with a big plate of durian. I was traveling in Asia in 2005, and they don’t allow it on public transportation [because of its smell]. I actually like it. It’s kind of custardy– yellow and green– and it’s got some sweetness to it – but it’s massive, too, green and spiky.

In Taiwan, I tried stinky tofu, crumbled. It was pretty funky. It’s hard to get past the smell. But I might try it again.

So, considering all the places you’ve traveled and all the food you’ve eaten, what is it you like most about the LA food scene?

I think what I like about the LA food scene is what I like about Los Angeles: there are infinite possibilities. There’s no limit to the types of cuisines you’ll find. It requires more driving, but that’s OK – as long as the results are interesting.

What advice would you have for someone who’s interested in starting a local food blog?

A bunch of people have told me that they’ve always thought about starting a food blog. My reaction is, ‘Just do it. It’s free. You can start it today. You can write your first post tonight.’ Sometimes people get too wrapped up in making their blog unique, but once they start, they can figure that out later.

P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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23
Jul 10

Spartanburg Loses a Blogger We Love: Can You Help?

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

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We were deeply saddened this week when we heard that Spartanburg Spark publisher Steve Shanafelt (a Blogger We Love and, most recently, Outside.in guest blogger) is leaving Spartanburg, SC in the fall to pursue another hyperlocal adventure in another town (we’ll let him tell you about that exciting project himself).

While we’re incredibly excited for Steve and his new endeavor, we’re also worried about what will happen to the Spark after his departure from Spartanburg, an issue he addressed in his ‘Big Idea’ post this week:

Here’s the deal: I’m in town until October, although I’ll increasingly be focusing on non-Spark projects as I get closer to that deadline. While I would love — absolutely love — to hand the project off to the right person or group of people, and to watch it grow, I’d rather end the project completely than hand it off to the wrong group of people. To put it another way, I’d much rather have this be a two-year experiment I can look back and be proud of than to let it become a mockery of itself in the hands of others who don’t understand the mission of the project. Call me the Diogenes of Spartanburg, but I’d rather snuff this lantern’s spark out while it burns true than give it to someone who won’t use the light it gives to illuminate the community. I should also note that money isn’t a factor in this decision, and the Spark isn’t for sale.

Which is where you come in. I’ve had a number of discussions with a variety of people about what should happen to the Spark, and some of those are very much on the table. But none of them are concrete, and most are just as dependent on finding the right person or people to take over the project. But you’re a savvy group of folks, and you know the town. Some of you might be in a place in your lives where you might even be able to take on a project like the Spark, or perhaps you know someone else who is. Maybe you’ve even fantasized about how you’d run the site if you were in charge.

Here is the place to brainstorm about what you’d like to see the Spark become. It’s a non-binding brainstorming session, and while it may influence my decision-making process about the future of the site, ultimately the decision is still mine to make.

The post-Shanafelt future of the Spark certainly is a big idea — and we definitely hope Steve finds someone as awesome as he is to take it over (a tall order, for sure, as Steve is really, truly awesome). Still, knowing how many incredible bloggers there are out there, we know it can be done. We figured the least we could do would be to share this news with you: perhaps you know someone in Spartanburg (or, someone who’d want to move to Spartanburg) who might be interested in helping to shape the future of a vibrant hyperlocal community site?

Please take a few moments to read Steve’s full post, aptly-titled “Big Idea: The Post-Shanafelt Future of the Spartanburg Spark,” and to congratulate Steve and his crew on the Spark’s two-year anniversary, an accomplishment to be celebrated, for sure, regardless of what the future holds.

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