How do mom bloggers make money?
How much do they make?
Should they disclose their earnings?
These are the $64,000 questions that keep getting batted around the blogosphere. This past week, the discussion elevated when several high-profile mom bloggers weighed in on a series of posts addressing these very questions.
The avalanche started with an article at Parent Central Canada. In the piece, award-winning author and journalist Ann Douglas addressed the topic of “top mommy blogger lists” and their obvious downsides – including the air of unwelcomed competition they can breed.
That article prompted Babble writer Kate Granju to write a piece that delved a bit deeper into the monetary discussion. Granju noted that the top mommy blogger lists create questions and perceptions about money – particularly from newer bloggers who may not be monetizing their blogs – and she wondered whether a more direct and open conversation about money could be had.
Many “large” bloggers weighed in on the comments. And it’s obvious that the issues are complex.
Eager new bloggers who have a goal of monetizing their hobby feel that the keys to the kingdom are veiled in mystery – no one REALLY breaks it down and says, “I make $50,000 through my blogging or related activities and this is how.”
It’s clear from the commentary, and follow-up posts made by high profile bloggers such as Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mother, that those who are making a decent (or better) living off of their blogs have a sincere and earnest desire to mentor and share their experiences with other bloggers. Many of them do disclose details – at conferences or other in-person meetups.
However, this desire is counterbalanced by a fear that being too open, particularly on their blogs, will invite jealous critique and “haters” – which only serves to tarnish a genre that is already pointed at for being laden with drama.
Connors also identified a general discomfort with writing about her own personal successes in this honest and open way:
There are, I think, a million reasons why we don’t talk about it in these spaces – for me, these include fear of being attacked for what some might think is my undeserved success (see above re: ‘obsessive interest’ and ‘undeserving bitches’) and a certain prissy squeamishness about talking about my success or about anything that might be perceived as a veiled-but-nonetheless-self-congratulatory discussion of my success – but whatever the reason, the lack of conversation hurts us.
The prevailing sentiment from most bloggers is that the top mommy bloggers should not have to delve into the nitty gritty of their annual income and break it down in a pie chart or Excel spreadsheet for the world to pick apart.
But there’s also a clear yearning for more transparency and less mystery around what it takes to turn a hobby into a viable business.
As comments flowed in on Connors’ post, more details emerged as larger bloggers shared knowledge and, in come cases, some hard numbers about what they receive for their writing. Ann Douglas replied to one commenter:
I can share some general rates about blogging. In recent years, I’ve been paid $100 to $200 per post for posts of 250 to 500 words. I used to be paid $2 per word (in the late 1990s) for writing similar types of online content. Those were the good old days — and before I had written 28 books.
Other bloggers wrote posts about having personal difficulties with both ad networks and valuing their own work as bloggers. Dawn from This Woman’s Work, whose blog has made those “top mommy blogger lists, wrote a post that said:
I now make no money with my blog because writing this post made me finally do what I’ve been wanting to do and jump ship out of the BlogHer ad network…
I have been bad at marketing myself and marketing my platform in terms of money partly because I am just pretty lousy at valuing my own time/effort[…]and also because I have let myself get tied up in ambivalent knots trying to figure out what I WANT to do.
Frankly, when it comes to money I am an unequivocal FAILURE as a blogger.
Jill from Scary Mommy took a more nuts-and-bolts approach with her readers, outlining in a list post the different ways you can monetize a blog and her thoughts on each.
Part of the reason that the question of ‘what do mommy bloggers make” keeps resurfacing is because the range can be so wide. There is Dooce, and there are thousands of small bloggers slogging it out in the trenches making $5 or $10 a post.
The commentary on another post at Quietfish highlighted this dimension of the discussion. Julie from Coffee with Julie and Annie from PhD in Parenting dialogued extensively about the chicken and the egg nature of this topic: everybody agrees we should talk dollars, but it’s hard to talk dollars because the dollars depend on the work being done and the blogger doing it.
It is indeed a tangled web.
Weigh in on if, and how YOU think an open, productive and constructive dialogue can be had between the bloggers who make money and the bloggers who want to?
Video: Mommy Bloggers Share How They Make Money
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ProBlogger offers a good break down of HIS earnings. I think it is true that disclosing your success as a blogger can bring competition and sometimes hatred. I have to admit that I am guilty of that myself… but it has more to do with whether or not I feel the blogger has EARNED his/her success. Blogs such as ProBlogger & Karen Cheng’s Fashion & Life are an inspiration because the blogs add value… every penny made is well deserved. Other blogs… which I will not mention… stir feelings of discontent because its association with ‘popular’ blogs has been the main contributing factor to its success. After a thorough review their blogs… in my humble opinion… the blogs have been decidedly undeserving of its success. But I suppose who is to decide which blogs add value and which do not? Just because one blog does not add value to me does not mean it does not add value to another reader.
I think this type of discussion would be better suited for an anonymous survey. While I’m quite happy to share HOW to make money while blogging when other bloggers ask, I won’t say how much, at least publicly, for many of the reasons listed by other commenters.
I guess my answer is– sort of. For example, when I worked in the corporate world, no one would come up to me and ask “so how much do you make per year?” It’s not polite. Why I think it’s good to share HOW you’re making money (like Problogger breaks his down in percentages), I don’t think people need to know exact amounts.
So many bloggers seem to jump in because they “heard you can make money and get free stuff.” And then they are disappointed when AdSense pays them five cents that month. But, like you said, there are so many variables that affect the blogger’s ability to make money: experience, talent, etc. If one person says, “I make $2000 a month,” many will assume they can too without taking into consideration that person’s experience, talent, etc. The Internet is seen as a place to make quick money but those of us in the trenches know that it isn’t quite true!
Great points!
At my old company, people were paid different salaries and we didn’t walk up to each other and ask what each other was making. So I think it is somewhat odd that people expect us to specify exactly what we are earning. It will vary from blog to blog, and blogger to blogger, and contract to contract. When I am with my “top mom blogger” friends, I don’t say, “So how much did you earn last month?”
BUT I am happy to help bloggers learn how to make a living online and that is why I speak regularly about how to monetize your blog and how to build a business online. I am all about sharing how we make money and how people can make a living online. (And yes – I love ProBlogger too!)
I think we need to be careful and tactful — and of course helpful too! At Blissdom, they had a survey of anon. numbers of what people were making and that was really interesting and helpful.
I want to be clear — when it comes to making money I *am* a failure as a blogger but that’s not why I blog (if it was, I’d have gotten out of it years ago and I’ve been doing it since 2001). I think there needs to be a discussion about money but also that people need to know that not all of us are blogging for money. I blog to have a voice, to raise awareness about the things that interest me and to raise my profile as an activist in the adoption reform community because that’s the work I want to do. Now if you’re blogging adoption but won’t take money from adoption agencies, fertility docs or for baby goods (I kinda think babies don’t need many goods so I turn down PR folks who want to sell baby blankets and the like) so that limits me.
I used to feel bad about this (well, terrible actually — money is an issue in my house meaning we could always use more) but you know, these are my choices and I stand by ‘em.
Dawn, I SO wanted to include that aspect of your post in this piece, because other bloggers on other posts raised it too (the writing to have a voice)..but it was already getting lengthy, and didn’t want to copy too much of your original post, either.
Thanks for reading!
I understand totally Gigi and I think the article is great as is! I also think that as the business columnist that it makes sense to come at this topic from a business standpoint. I just wanted to toss this into the comments.
I think Cat Davis is on to something here. In fact, I just received a survey today about the state of salaries for engineers … all stats and numbers come from engineers filling out an anonymous salary survey. My professional association (IABC) also does a yearly survey which is anonymous.
I make $64,000. Oh wait, that wasn’t an offer, was it?