- Almost two months ago, I wrote a post decrying how “a-listers” were poo-pooing payperpost as evil incarnate, without acknowledging that not all bloggers have the luxury of *not* trying such methods to earn some money. I called them “blue collar bloggers”.
- It was hardly noticed, and I moved on.
- Six days ago, Lorelle picked up on my post, commenting on how “blue collar bloggers” rarely get much press
- Five days ago, Jason Calacanis decided to tell me how ludicrous it was that I was making it in to a “class” argument, when in fact there is no “a-list”, and that anyone had it in them to be sucessful, and a-list-like, if they could but follow a few steps. He was helpful in listing some of them in the comments of my post, but also on his blog.
- At this point, things were picked up by a number of places, got Techmeme’d and StumbleUpon’d, and there were lots of interesting voices that decided to chime in on a cold March weekend.
Some of the thoughts that were floating around:
- Eric Berlin wondered what it means to be an “a-lister”
- Jim Kukral waxed philisophical and wondered if the ‘a-list’ existed only in the minds of bloggers
- Jason from Webomatica wondered about the definition of an ‘a-list’ blogger
- Stan Schroeder agreed with Jason Calacanis and drew parallels between making it in the music industry and and the blogosphere
- Marshall Kirkpatrick contributed the thought that most, if not all A-listers are white men
- Hugh Mcleod dropped by, and then actually drew a comic about the situation (actually, I’m mildly honored — the guy who has “unresolved-high-school-issues” about himself is supposed to be me)
- Knots thought that there was a geographic distribution of a-listers, and who could remember an a-lister who wasn’t living in a certain parts of the US?
- Nick Denton called me whiney
- Jayson Joseph feels that being an a-lister is a function of your own success
- Robert Scoble wants us to be ‘a-listers’ in our own niche — like lawnmowing.
- Kathy Sierra chimed in that in spite of writing a highly regarded Java book, it had no bearing on her success as a blogger
- Rebecca at SEOMoz thinks Jason Calacanis is the Ann Coulter of the blogosphere
- And there is currently a three way slobber knocker between Trish Grier, Seth Finklestein and Mack.
At the end of the day, my own thoughts haven’t really changed — and there’s one thing about the conversation that erupted thereafter really seems to ignore … and that’s the real point I was trying to make.
I don’t begrudge a-listers for being a-listers, because its not an issue of blogging success. Many bloggers took that to be the substance of my beef. Its not. And that’s because being part of the a-list isn’t a function of how “good” you are at a blogger, how “well” you market your blog, or even how “interested” you are at creating blog rolls and interacting with your community.
Rather, all of those things are necessary but insufficient to be “a-list” as part of the way I was using the term. A-list isn’t about just being a good blogger. Its not just about having bongo amounts of traffic. Its not about your Adsense earnings. And its not about being highly regarded.
Folks, its about their ability to be so close to The News, that they’re either creating it, reporting it, or delivering it. These guys, through their connections, their businesses, or their activities are real influences in the real industry of choice.
You cannot BUT help but pay attention to them because they are a genuine source of News in any way that you want to define it.
And its ludicrous to say that ‘a-listers’ don’t exist. Its not an existential definition, and its not about how “good” some bloggers are. When I refer to an “a-list” I am referring to a specific set of bloggers who can make, change, and report news and opinion on a different scale by virtue of who they are, who they know, and what they are actually doing.
In the Technosphere, they *are* the news.
And its not about how “good” they blog.
Which brings me to to thank some some well-meaning attempts at educating me about how important it is to stick to “best-practices” in blogging, how important it is to be nice, write on other people’s blogs, participate as part of a community, create novel content, be frequent with your postings, generous with your outbound links, and remember how unimportant it is to have a large blog link to you.
Even if some of them are rather shrill and patronizing.
I have had my modest share of blogging success since I started out 6 months ago. I have learned, reflected and thought about what I’ve been doing right, and even was asked to write an article or two about it.
A-listers are different. They are often the subject of envy. But no matter how “good” a blogger you are, very few of us will actually be “a-list” in the way that I’ve defined. And that’s fine. I never had aspirations to be such, and I’m sorry if it sounded that way.
My original intention was to merely highlight how frustrating, and a little arrogant it was, that some a-listers didn’t recognize the stratification exists, and how independent it was of blogging effort, best practices or otherwise.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:24 pm | Permalink
[…] Tony posted an epilogue, to end the ongoing debate that he seems to have started (which I linked to here). […]
March 21st, 2007 at 5:39 pm | Permalink
You have to look at some kind of luck also. Many bloggers started posting about things where the niche in question was not populated back then. Now, posting 10 excellent posts about good things will not get you directly into the elite club.
Similarly, like you mentioned before, many people have lives and many people have to treat blogs as something that affects their life directly. Most “A-list” bloggers already had enough finances to support marketing or experiments. Even today, you can see that most blogs with good content that are not getting enough attention are the ones who have a chaotic life and thus a blog affects them directly. I guess one thing to do is to organize the rest of your life, and the organization itself will flow into the blog aspect of your life.
My point: just because someone is not on the A-list does not mean they are bad. Many times, people read a post about something on a new blog and ignore it, whereas if they read the same post on a popular blog, they start commenting like crazy. Many people will prefer to say “Hi” to Paris Hilton or Bill Gates than a stranger on the street like myself, even if all three of us said “Hi” with the same tone and sincerity.
Ok, maybe Paris Hilton was a bad example; sorry.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:46 pm | Permalink
I personally thought your post was well argued. I don’t understand why some feel it necessary to resort to name calling (e.g., “whiney”). Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:54 pm | Permalink
Tony, great summary of what all went on (and it went on… and on…). It’s an issue to many bloggers judging from the wide response and many comments.
My final, personal thought on the matter is I never started blogging to get super popular. It was just about writing and being read. Instead of worrying about A list level popularity I think my time is better spent writing interesting content, keeping my relatively small number of readers happy, and reaching out to other people’s blogs on my level. Sounds obvious, but there’s so much going on in the blogosphere that can distract one from those meager goals (I type as I madly update twitter).
March 21st, 2007 at 6:32 pm | Permalink
Nick Denton is actually quite a bit bigger than me judging by the photos i’ve seen. Im definately better looking though :)
March 21st, 2007 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
A brilliant clarification of your original post. Bravo.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:50 pm | Permalink
Good followup post. Just pinged you with proof that Jason does actually believe the A list exists
March 21st, 2007 at 8:22 pm | Permalink
Good wrap up. I still can’t decide if this debate is worth keeping talking about, or/and, does anyone besides a handful of bloggers (in the grand scheme of overall web readers) really even care? I’m not sure they do.
I suppose it’s good for the few of us to keep chatting about it?
March 21st, 2007 at 9:37 pm | Permalink
[…] I like to think I’m an A-lister. One of those folks as marked by Tony Hung as one of those folks who are so close to the news that they make it. In my job I’m pretty close to the news and often make the news. On my blog, I’m far from it. Even though I sometimes hit the mark with my posts, not many people pick up on my insights (If you’re reading this, please hold down the laughter to a minimal roar). […]
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:51 am | Permalink
Hi Tony,
I never knew, there was a class divide in Blogosphere too.
I guess it only exists amongst the elite.
Precisly; those who consider themselves Elite.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:52 am | Permalink
Hey, great followup. I’d like to add a couple of points, though.
First, you’re automatically an A-list blogger if you’re the CEO or founder of some IT company. If nothing else, you can make/break the news on your own products. This is a very important, yet simple, part of the equation. This is what makes the ‘a-list’ very easily separable from the ‘blue collar’ bloggers. And in this part I do NOT agree with Jason Calacanis, because this is an easy shortcut to the a-list for the chosen few.
But when we’re talking about quality of writing, then it’s the same road for everyone.
There’s one piece of advice I can give to all bloggers, but especially a-listers: when you see quality stuff, link to it, no matter what’s the author’s pedigree.
BTW, when we’re talking about blogging success another thing bothers me more, and that’s the folks who claim that blogging is easy money, although none of them are making money out of a single blog but a myriad of various online businesses. The advice they give is, simply put, false. Oh well, that’s another story.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:20 am | Permalink
You might like this article from Clay Shirky:
“In systems where many people are free to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole will get a disproportionate amount of traffic (or attention, or income), even if no members of the system actively work towards such an outcome. This has nothing to do with moral weakness, selling out, or any other psychological explanation. The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and freely enough, creates a power law distribution.”
http://shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:01 am | Permalink
I hear you, Tony. I didn’t begin blogging to change the world - nor to create the news. I began because I wanted to share what I know with others, learn from what others know and just generally create relationships with people through the web. Somewhere in there, I wanted to grow awareness in my business and possibly get more clients. I think those goals are lofty enough that trying to be more than that would be suicide - for my business.
All over you see posts about the clarity it takes to write a successful blog. Seems that each of us just need to be clear in what we’re after and do that. If it’s try to become an A-Lister, then try away. If it’s to create a community - create away. Or if you’re trying to grow your business - grow it baby. Clear intention is the beginning.
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 am | Permalink
Hugh,
Thanks for the quote.
I think that’s the point that Seth F is/has been trying to make as well, although some folks don’t quite seem to get it.
Cheers
t @ dji
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 am | Permalink
Hugh, I shared Shirky’s piece in the last thread :)
Shirky’s God :)
As you aptly put it in your own piece I also share:
http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/002238.html
All it is - is an admission of reality - and an release from the hype some spread.
Maybe that’s why some folks don’t want to get it Tony.
Again - great post.
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:55 pm | Permalink
I assumed Hugh was being what he thinks of as sarcastic (note phrasing).
Great followup, Tony.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:20 pm | Permalink
[…] [BLOGS] A-list Epilogue: Just So We’re Clear — Its Not About Being A Better Blogger (deepjiveinterests.com, 2 saves) […]
March 24th, 2007 at 9:54 pm | Permalink
As a new blogger, your comments are definitely food for thought.
March 26th, 2007 at 1:33 am | Permalink
[…] So sure there’s a sill A-List - it is human nature to quantify success and even in the blogging world this holds true but as Tony said in a post at Deep Jive Interests And its ludicrous to say that ‘a-listers’ don’t exist. Its not an existential definition, and its not about how “good” some bloggers are. When I refer to an “a-list” I am referring to a specific set of bloggers who can make, change, and report news and opinion on a different scale by virtue of who they are, who they know, and what they are actually doing. […]
March 26th, 2007 at 1:31 pm | Permalink
[…] Bloggers Mar 26, 2007 at 11:30 am by Lorelle VanFossen - There has been a lot of screaming and yelling, fussing and fighting, and whining over the issue of whether or not the A-List of bloggers exists and what it takes to be on such a list, emphasizing hard work and sticking to a plan. […]
March 28th, 2007 at 6:19 am | Permalink
[…] There is no A-list […]
March 28th, 2007 at 10:21 am | Permalink
[…] Tony Hung has the last word on the “A-listers vs. blue-collar bloggers” debate he started by saying that being an A-lister isn’t about blogging ability, or traffic, or Adsense earnings, or being highly regarded; it is about leveraging their real-life connections, businesses, and other activities to act as an influencer. […]
April 14th, 2007 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
[…] While personal publishing tools allow anyone to start writing and publishing their thoughts, as evidenced by a recent blogging dust up, there is still a natural heirarchy in the currency of attention. Its partially dominated by early […]