I'm blogging from the Apple Store in Soho at the NYBloggers event run by Gothamist. I've got the best seat in the house -- next to the bathroom, on the floor, and right beside the power outlet so everything should be good. Unfortunately the digital camera is in the proverbial shop so this will be a text-only report. No doubt Jen will be on hand to deliver the photos.
I'll try to keep the snarkiness down to a minimum and just report the facts as they occur. First up is the publisher panel.
Panelists: Nick Denton, Jason Calacanis and moderator Jeff Jarvis.
This is the one everyone's waiting for. Calacanis (ugh, going to get carpal tunnel if I have to type that one more time) vs. Denton. They're arch enemies with nothing in common. One wants to be a blogging mogul by creating branded consumer websites, while the other ... wants to become a blogging mogul by creating unbranded B2B websites. I mean, how different could two business people be?
For the record, here's what Mr. ummm...JC... has to say on his blog:
guaranteeing two things: 1. a lot of pain, and 2. a knock-out by the 3rd round.
Meanwhile Denton has no pre-game banter to offer.
And we're off...
Jeff asks what is going to me important, the brand or the byline. Denton believes they're interlinked, more than traditional media. Best blogs built around individuals, not groups.
JC disagrees. Believes the publisher must prove their worth to the bloggers, who are now independent and can create their own blogs. It will be challenging for publishers to keep and retain editors as seen in the defections from Gawker. In contrast to the time at Silicon Alley Reporter where the pressure is on the publisher to control editorial costs while trying to monetize the traffic, the blogging world connects the editorial and publishing side by splitting profits with writers. "I don't think Nick's model works" since every 6 months there will be editorial turnover.
Denton thinks the lesson of the dot-com years is that there should be caution in developing relationships based on ownership and equity. In particular editorial people got burned with these promises. "Most writers want a paycheck." "Writers want to be writers, not business people."
JC says its great that there are suddenly two options for bloggers who want to get paid. Either take Denton's $1000/month or take the first $1000 of revenue from us and take some risk.
Denton brings it back home, that it's really cool that we have some commerce opportunities to create cool design and editorial properties. JC objects, saying you're not doing this for free.
JC says he's been around for four months, and his best blog "Social Software Weblog" got an advertiser for $2,500/month, and now is getting a second one paying $2,000/month. So when you have 100 blogs it is a serious business. 1/2 of that is $2,750/month to the blogger, or $30K+/year. (note, typing too fast to verify any of this math).
Denton asks what the average is for the blogs. JC says zero, outside of the Social Software blog.
JC says a good blogger can make $20K/year, and this could double in a year or two, which will make it more than a starting journalist can make. He believes he will be able to recruit a major NYTimes writer within a year.
Denton asks "Why get someone from the Times, when there's so much talent out there?"
"What is Tom Friedman from the Times blogged 6-7 times a day about the Middle East"? Audience laughs at the idea of that boatload of pretentiousness.
Some discussion of Mark Cuban, I'm not sure the relevance...
Denton asks whether Cuban will become an investor in Weblogsinc. JC blushes and makes strange non-denials. Well, they're both interested in basketball, so seems like a fit.
Jeff asks the big question: "What is a blog?"
Denton says it has nothing to do with the format. "What we're talking about is independent media. The blog should retain a blog-like tone. Never sell out to advertisers."
JC says "there's no editor, it's unfiltered." Secondarily, comments are key.
Denton talks about "Skullfucking" article which loses an advertiser on Gawker. Will blogs lose their essential blog-ness in order to serve advertisers? They also lost Microsoft as an advertiser because they were advertising a "dildo-powered bicycle". JC calls him a pornographer.
JC is discussing a "blogger disclaimer" which he and Denton are collaborating on. Something like "This is all just a load of crap we're writing and don't trust any of it" (my paraphrase, JC didn't use those words). The idea would be to lower expectations on corrections and fact checking. Blogs allow for strikeout and comments, thus allowing for more corrections and accuracy than the Times or other journalism. (ed. imagine the implications of the <blink> tag!).
Denton claims that the key is the traditional separation between church and state. He believes that the same person shouldn't be responsible for both. He looks accusingly at JC since Weblogsinc revenue shares with the writers.
Discussion of why Drudge is a blogger not a journalist...
Jeff brings up size, audience chuckles.
Denton and JC agree that it comes to talent, not marketing. Great writers and designers, not spending money. Engadget gets 1MM visitors immediately, and there is a first mover advantage.
Jeff asks whether the big media companies will be able to crush the small guys. JC says it will "validate" them. Denton's not sure, but thinks the only way the media companies will succeed is if they're willing to take risks and use "skullfucking" in headlines (ed note, spellchecker doesn't like "skullfucking").
Jeff asks what about Howard Stern, are blogs going to be the media edge?
Denton: "You don't need that many advertisers to survive." JC agrees, says they both have less than 10 employees.
Jeff: 10 years from now, where are you?
JC: $10MM/year in ad revenue. $2-3MM profits (EBITDA), multiple 2-10, turns into $4-$30MM worth (editor's math, JC wasn't going to commit to a number).
Denton: We'll be worth less than Jason, we'll have fewer sites, and we won't sell out.
Jeff: What doesn't exist now that you need?
Denton: Ad rep firm, improved self-service ad system.
JC: Scalability.
Audience questions...snore...
OK, here's something. They are asked about other models. Denton mentions The Smoking Gun, JC mentions subscriptions, with the idea that one posting per blog might be paid only.
JC is also interested in consumer plays now with the success of Engadget .
Question about RSS feeds and the business model behind people syndicating the content. JC indicates that he's OK with headlines, but the full posts are directly competitive and he stamps people out when they do that.
See also: Editors Panel, Technology Panel.
As for Nick and Jason being archenemies (one word, btw), I presume you were just hyping up the coverage, but I recently spend a few hours in a car with Jason, coming back from BloggerCon, where he had lots of nice things to say about Nick, characterizing their relationship as friends. Nick later told me Jason is "sweet." I think the archenemies thing is all part of the PR act.
BTW, that would be "recently spent".
It is true... Nick and I are friends. Of course, there have been tense moments over the past year as you can imagine.
Had a great time last night, enjoyed the final planel with Lock, jen and choire...
