OJR: The Online Journalism Review

Scott Joseph

Orlando, Florida

Homepage: http://www.scottjosephorlando.com/

Scott Joseph has been reviewing restaurants in Central Florida and beyond for more than 20 years. In that time he established himself as the most trusted, reliable and comprehensive source of restaurant information in the region.

During his career at the Orlando Sentinel, Joseph wrote thousands of reviews. He now maintains a food blog at http://www.scottjosephorlando.com/

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These articles are the work of their author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of nor an assignment by OJR.

From buy-out to boss: A case study in post-newspaper blogging

January 21, 2009
When I decided to accept a buyout from the Orlando Sentinel after 20 years as the senior restaurant critic, I had a particular path in mind moving forward. There were a couple of companies I thought would fall over themselves to hire me; there was the occasional magazine article I would write for $1/word paychecks; and I figured I would start a blog just to keep my eye on the beat and to have a constant creative outlet. And, I’d heard that if you place Google Ads on your blog, every time someone clicks on an ad on your site, Google sends you a few pennies. I thought if I could just make enough money from the blog to pay for the restaurant meals I would write about on it, I’d be happy.

None of the companies I applied to showed the least bit of interest in hiring me. And I found that while several local magazines wanted me to write for them, their pay-per-word rates made Google Ads look generous.

So I started focusing on the blog, or flog as I call it (food plus blog equals flog). The irony is that if I had started concentrating on the flog as soon as I left my position at the paper in July -- or, better still, before that – it just might be making money by now. Enough to keep me in the lifestyle to which I’ve become accustomed? Probably not. But I think it eventually can be a supplementary source of income. But it isn’t going to be easy, and it isn’t likely to be fast – much too late for that.

But learn from my mistakes. If blogging is something you’re thinking about doing when your number is called for downsizing at your publication – and if you don’t think that’s going to happen, would you please turn the lights off when you leave? – I have some suggestions to help you get started even before you claim your first unemployment check. More...

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