Michael at 2blowhards (although there appear to be four listed in the sidebar) considers the economics of blogging and observes,
According to usage and stats tables, approximately 150% of blogging activity takes place during what are usually considered to be “work hours.” Which a non-economist might take to suggest a few things, such as 1) A lot of people are underemployed, 2) A lot of people feel that they aren’t able to contribute much of what they have to offer at the workplace, and 3) A lot of people find blogging more rewarding than job-style working.
Well, yeah.
Maintaining a good blog is a lot of work; more so than most jobs, frankly. But few people can make a living living “the life of the mind.” Aside from perhaps think tank fellows, syndicated columnists, and endowed chairs at truly elite universities, not too many jobs I can think of allow people to read what they want, write about what they want, and chat with interested visitors from around the planet. And think tankers and columnists have deadlines to meet and even the most privileged professors have the occasional paper to grade and committee meeting to attend.
As the reminder to those complaining about having to do stuff they don’t want to on the job goes, “That’s why they call it work.”
There are a growing number of bloggers making a living at it. For the most part, though, I suspect they have done so by turning it into work.
Hat tip: Tyler Cowing
