Who is making a living as a blogger
Who is actually making a living blogging?
Short and sweet; very few bloggers are making a living blogging.
The longer story is that when folks read posts and articles about people such as Darren at Problogger, our own Deb Ng, and the bloggers on Paula’s top earning blogger list, it can make some people think that anyone can make a living blogging, but it’s not true. All of these bloggers work smart, work hard, and have put in long hours to get where they are.
There’s not great research on bloggers who do make an actual living, and of course an actual living depends on who you are and how you live, but what the research we do have points to is that only 2% of bloggers actually make a living blogging. Problogger runs an annual poll about blogging income and the last one had more favorable numbers (sort of) showing that about 9% of bloggers reported an income of $20,000+.
That said, $20,000+ is pretty vague. I for sure couldn’t live on $20,000 a year. I have a son to support so for me that’s not even close to a living wage, especially not after you consider taxes. It doesn’t really matter though, 2%, 9%; both are small figures. All those “Make a million dollar” and “Anyone can blog for a great living” posts you read are stories, not the truth.
I absolutely have friends who make a living blogging. I have many friends who make a good living blogging. That said, I know many more bloggers who make nothing blogging, almost nothing blogging, very little blogging, or who make enough for maybe half the bills but if something happened to their partner (or whatever other source of income they have) they’d be sunk.
Should you give up now? No but you should be realistic. I get frustrated when I read comments or emails from people who want to quit their current job so they can blog FT with no back-up plan. Some of the reasons why people don’t make a living blogging are based on issues you can change such as only taking gigs that pay a livable wage or learning how to query job ads better. Some of it though, is based on luck, the right attitude and perseverance which I really believe some people have in them as related to blogging and some don’t.
The point. There are benefits to blogging as your career and you can make decent money blogging, but just don’t jump into it because you read a get rick quick article about it. Blogging is hard work. It’s time consuming and you will put in long hours before reaping the cash rewards.
Well done, Jen.
I know when I read any articles saying our blog is an ultimate cash machine it’s just too good to be true. And even that’s true I suppose it’s not as easy as it sounds. The journey is exceedingly steep, challenging and rocky.
I’m a fulltime blogger right now, not because I quit my offline job to blog FT or got deluded about the dream of getting rich by blogging. I’m blogging FT as I have no job currently. Day and night I take care of my blog, make a little research on how to monetize my blog, browse to find any freelance and permanent job I can fit myself into. And what makes things worse is I just started 5 months ago and I just bought my own domain a couple of weeks ago. So it’s too early, much too early, to say I’m a well-fed blogger at the moment. My blog hasn’t generated even a single dime.
Everything appears so bleak, but I choose to be positive, enjoying the rough journey to being a problogger. Being an amateur blogger isn’t that bad actually. I’ve got friends, can learn and get to know novel knowledge that I’d never known before. So this is where I am now. I am a 5-month-old blogger, trying my best to be part of that 2%.
Thanks for not sugar coating this! I quit my job in September because I wasn’t happy anymore. With my husband’s blessing, I began writing restaurant reviews on my blog, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m blessed that I don’t need a full time job but I do admit I get frustrated when I hear about bloggers who make $2,000 every two weeks. I wonder what I’m doing wrong but I guess it’s patience….
It is patience – and hard work. Plus some niches just do better naturally PLUS I really believe there’s some luck involved. It’s just really complicated, which is why those “Get rich quick” posts are hyper annoying.
The New York Times 2% figure may be misleadingly low. It’s based on 452,000 “making a living” out of 20 million total bloggers. However, that doesn’t tell you what proportion of those 20 million are even *trying* to make a living. I suspect the vast majority are just posting for fun and don’t even have an income stream (editorial pay or ad revenue).
While nobody’s pretending blogging is an easy living, people who have genuine writing skills, put in the hours and understand how to convert their skills to revenue have a considerably better chance of making a living than 2%.
My guess is the real numbers are worse. How many of those 2 percent are blogging for companies (I do this and it’s not the type of thing people generally think of when they want to blog). How many of those 2 percent are people with existing businesses that the blog tied into? In that case, the blog only makes money because of what preceded it.
But how?