Althouse: How insanely wrong is Mark Penn about all the money there is to be made in blogging?

April 21, 2009

How insanely wrong is Mark Penn about all the money there is to be made in blogging?

If he's not wrong, I feel like a fool.

50 comments:

Automatic_Wing said...: He's wrong - spectacularly so. I always thought Penn was an idiot while he was strategerizing for Hillary's campaign and this nonsense just confirms it.; 4/21/09, 9:04 PM
Zachary Sire said...: Wait a minute...wasn't this the guy who was running Hillary's campaign and didn't know how the primary system worked or how the state delegates were awarded? HA. Failure then, failed and wrong now.

And people wonder why newspapers are failing...they're giving column space to fucking Mark Penn!; 4/21/09, 9:10 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/21/09, 9:13 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Instead of publishing a correction he should have offered to sell people a collection of tapes outlining his quick and easy, money making, blogging system.

"Five years ago Ann Althouse was eating out of garbage cans. But with my easy-to-use system she learned how to convert pictures of dead plants and links to stories other people wrote into a money making enterprise. Now she spends all day on a yacht with her boy toy husband."; 4/21/09, 9:14 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Speaking of making money off of blogging, the Amazon Honor System is kaput, but they're still getting advertising space!; 4/21/09, 9:37 PM
Donna B. said...: I made $7.52 off blogging one year. Mark Penn is vindicated!!; 4/21/09, 9:43 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I was about to comment on how off Penn was, but then what about product bloggers? There are a whole lot of those. There are also spam-ish blogs that do nothing but redirect to buying products. What if you add those in? He's still likely way off but maybe less than those of us used to political and cultural blogging might think.; 4/21/09, 9:44 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: ZPS said:

"And people wonder why newspapers are failing...they're giving column space to fucking Mark Penn!"

I nominate for the best comment of the week Althouse!; 4/21/09, 9:44 PM
Debbie Belding-Thornbush said...: You have been told numerous times to get an agent.

If you don't have the wherewithal to parlay this site into an actual, bona-fide published work, not to mention get a Drudge link....there are people out there who are professional promoters, managers, publicists..... why have you not made use of the appropriate talent experts ? If you don't cultivate a retinue of such specialists, you aren't going to look important enough to derive the requisite compensation.

You didn't even have your own make-up artist when you travelled to C-Span.

You've rejected Maxine's tutiledge, and she could have made you a star by now.

You didn't; 4/21/09, 9:46 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Donna: Heh.

Someone in my comments once accused me of colluding with Glenn Reynolds to drive traffic back and forth so that we could both rake in the big bucks. Yeah, Glenn needs traffic from me. Ha ha ha.; 4/21/09, 9:46 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: They just take a number and make shit up.

What was the one I heard the other day? This MLM company I forget which runs an ad ........something like "we have annual sales of $4 Billion and 250,000 make a living off of it."

Then you do the math and it comes out to like $1,800 per person per year. Some living huh!

Also I think that "reknowned internet super-jeenyous" Joe Trippi" may be even dumber than Mark Penn.; 4/21/09, 9:48 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Freeman - good point there are many websites (non-blogs I guess) that must be making real dough.

I was talking to someone the other day who claimed they make $100K from a rather mundane info-resource industry site.; 4/21/09, 9:51 PM
Jennifer said...: Anyone else think that Maxine - creepy fascination with the Blogress' children aside - come up with the best freaking names? Must enlist her help in naming any future dogs...; 4/21/09, 9:52 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Yeah - Maxine chooses names that could fit your long-lost angry spinster aunt who is likely deceased (you hope).; 4/21/09, 9:55 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Penn calls his column "microtrends" because only he can detect these trends?; 4/21/09, 9:56 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Hey everybody,
"My name is Mark Penn. Let me show you how I make millions of dollars blogging from my one bedroom studio apratment."; 4/21/09, 9:56 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Mark Penn? sounds like a middle reliever on his way down to mopup guy.; 4/21/09, 9:58 PM
Kylos said...: Apparently, you didn't do the math either, AJ Lynch. I'm thinking you might be the one making shit up.; 4/21/09, 10:01 PM
blogging cockroach said...: tommy just bought an x box 360
tommy is the boy whose computer i use
he and his brother saved and saved for it
and last year they saved and saved for a wii
mom and dad are happy to buy them
books and violins and piano lessons etc
but they drew the line at digital games etc
so tommy being an enterprising cambridge sort
has been doing odd chores for the neighbors
which in cambridge may be odd indeed but mom
keeps an eye on him not to mention the
neighbors being french and naturally
suspicious not to mention nosey
anyway tommy would like to earn money from
blogging who wouldn t
but even he knows that a blog would never pay
for that b m w he wants when he gets
his learners permit so he doesn t put too much
effort into blogging which if you think about it
is a very odd chore indeed even if you are a spammer; 4/21/09, 10:04 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Kylos:

I was just giving an example- I did not remember the actual company (it could have been Amway) or the precise numbers they were dishing out.

But I do remember it came to about $2,600 each. Hardly a living wage IMO.

Please don't sue me for imprecise commenting. heh.; 4/21/09, 10:06 PM
blogging cockroach said...: oooh i just thought of something
along with 978000546 others
how bout a sex blog where you sell
sex toys on the side
just don t send any to arkansas
but they don t need them down south
cause i ve heard southern women
are
sex toys; 4/21/09, 10:10 PM
blogging cockroach said...: yes such things are illegal in arkansas texas etc
sex toys you sell on the internet that is
not women; 4/21/09, 10:11 PM
Gigi Clausen-Gillroy said...: OMG, did Christopher just "Friend" me ?

Why is he "Friending" me? We don't move in the same social circles---no Friends in common.

I do have to admire him trying to expand his reach, but his grasp might exceed his depth, and I don't like the looks of his current Friends, so I'm gonna have to refuse.

Sadly.

Love,
Gigi; 4/21/09, 10:12 PM
blogging cockroach said...: ooh you know in my last life i was a lech type professor
constantly hitting on grad students
which is why i think i m a cockroach this time around
anyway i had a fling with a girl named gigi clausen
at least i think that was her name
you don t suppose...; 4/21/09, 10:15 PM
blogging cockroach said...: gigi had nice legs and was a soprano whose debut
was as the first lady in the magic flute who
oogles prince tamino if you remember the plot
now this is getting seriously o t
but you can see how even being as inventive as
gigi and i are is not making us a dime

i ll shut up now and let you get back to arguing
about arithmetic and whatever else gigi wants
to dream up; 4/21/09, 10:21 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Positively swamped with Friend-Requests on Facebook.....(now that I added a tasteful picture to my own Profile).

I have no idea who these people are though.

And, unlike Althouse, I won't accept people just because they happen to walk through the door.

At this stage of the game, I figure I can afford to be choosy, bide my time, and carefully consider all options before making my selections.

Love,
Maxine; 4/21/09, 10:24 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: NOTICE: If you Friended me on Facebook, and I failed to respond, it's either because:

1. I don't know who you are.
2. You haven't proved yourself, socially.

AVICE: Become one of my "Followers" on Twitter, and let me get to know your personality, and then I might reconsider adding you as a 'Friend' on Facebook.

That's how it works: Twitter first, then Facebook, possibly.

www.twitter.com/maxinesplace

Love,
Maxine; 4/21/09, 10:29 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: how bout a sex blog where you sell
sex toys on the sideThere would be almost no profit margin. With the internet customers can go right to the source.

You need to be able to add value to the product you sell. Many internet-comic sites sell t-shirts or signed prints. And lots of bloggers have published books, but most of them are anthologies and more collectibles than books.

Althouse has threatened to sell stuff, but I don't see her doing it. How weird it must be, to know people will buy stuff from you just because YOU touched it. I can see why someone might NOT want to make money off the internet if it meant doing something like that.; 4/21/09, 10:33 PM
Kylos said...: But you see AJ, imprecise commenting can be just as bad as you make various organizations out to be. You perpetrate stereotypes by using statistics and numbers to show how some corporations are evil, but the numbers don't hold up to scrutiny. You've just enhanced a perception while not actually providing any reliable facts.

And then you pointed to Amway as the culprit. Now you've gone from making generic claims to actually tainting the reputation of a company with no factual basis. You may not feel that it matters much if you damage the reputation of some faceless corporation, but you actually do damage to the individuals and distributors who work for Amway.

Indeed, if Amway is actually the company concerning which these bogus stats are made, then you've missed a likely explanation in your vague aspersion. Amway makes many of its sales through in-home distributors. This type of distributorship is typically supplementary income, not intended as a full-time job.

I don't represent a big corporation, so you don't have to fear me suing you; I just want to point out the problem with spreading claims that are meant to teach a moral if in fact there is no data to support it. You've developed a sort of straw man; I can't examine your facts to determine if there are other circumstances or factors to explain numbers that you didn't even bother to verify, and yet, you've managed to feed a perception of the evil corporation with bad data that actually points to a rate closer to minimum wage.; 4/21/09, 10:33 PM
traditionalguy said...: The amazing Mark Penn, who sounds like he knows more about everything than anyone else, has been outed as the Bernie Madoff of advisors for investing your life in made-up new winning schemes. Reality therapy would kill off most of today's believers upon these special stars of the insider advice game. They are the culprits who blow up the Bubbles that always crash.; 4/21/09, 10:36 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Oh my, blogging cockroach and Maxine Weiss, together again.; 4/21/09, 10:36 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: There is definitely something about Maxine.; 4/21/09, 10:40 PM
Monique Fontainelle-Drucker said...: Here is a current picture of Maxine Weiss:

http://inyourface.freedomblogging.com/files/2008/11/gretchenagain.jpg; 4/21/09, 10:44 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Kylos:

I actually don't give a frig what you think.; 4/21/09, 10:48 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Monique you may need to use Tiny URL.

Otherwise the link is broken.; 4/21/09, 10:49 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Got it.. I had to leave the comment section.; 4/21/09, 11:00 PM
blogging cockroach said...: wow
that was quite an insultingly
pollysyllabic endorsement of m l m
if i ve ever seen one
makes me want to go right out and sign up
to sell those formic acid based cleaners
some ants want to get you to do
i think they have a company called antway
but don t get me wrong
i m sure every insect who sells their stuff
gets rich from it; 4/21/09, 11:13 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/21/09, 11:22 PM
SteveR said...: He probably makes money because he uses Comic Sans.; 4/21/09, 11:37 PM
Zachary Sire said...: I was about to comment on how off Penn was, but then what about product bloggers? There are a whole lot of those. There are also spam-ish blogs that do nothing but redirect to buying products. What if you add those in?Well you know, you're right Freeman. But I would bet a zillion dollars (that I made off my blog in 2008!) that good old Mark Penn most certainly did not have any of them in mind.; 4/21/09, 11:48 PM
hdhouse said...: Just two observations:

1. He said "primary source of income" not HOW MUCH.
2. remember Mr, Cheney suggested that 500,000+ use e-bay as a primary occupation (yes he really said that).

numbers, like thin air, abound(s).; 4/22/09, 12:05 AM
blake said...: Not quite, HD, at least not according this USA Today quote:

"[EBay]'s a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago," he said. "Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay."The actual number, according to AC Nielsen is actually in the 600K. Whether or not that's significant income is a separate issue--but it doesn't appear to be what Cheney said.; 4/22/09, 2:15 AM
EnigmatiCore said...: I wonder why HDHouse came in to cast (apparently false) aspersions against the former Vice President?

I wonder why he didn't use a more egregious and stupid comment from a person who currently sits in a position of power?; 4/22/09, 5:46 AM
hdhouse said...: blake said: 400,000 was the quote and he is right, not 500,000 and i usually check that before i write. thank you.

Edwards retort that if the GOP included bake sales etc., the economy would be rosier is appropos. the implication was that ebay was an income source that doesn't get counted into the jobless or job creation numbers and with that i hold to what Cheney said and impled.; 4/22/09, 5:53 AM
Luke Blanshard said...: One foolish thing you do is go halfway in your attempt to monetize (sorry about that word) your Atom feed. Your posts always end with two lines that say "blog advertising" and link to blogads.com. They never actually, you know, contain any ads.; 4/22/09, 6:28 AM
Kylos said...: That's fine, AJ. Just thought I'd try to encourage valid dialogue instead of the oh-so-common spewing of made up facts. Your choice how you want to present yourself. I'll just be sure to ignore your hyperbole from now on.

hdhouse, this isn't some debate about politicians and parties, just a request to not make baseless accusations on unverifiable data. AJ said, "They just take a number and make shit up." In fact, he just made numbers up, which showed minimum wage profit rather than his claimed $1800 (or is it $2600, I'm confused). Minimum wage isn't a lot, but some people do live on it. And he didn't bother to provide any corroborating details by which I could examine the accuracy of his statement. You can't complain about spin when you don't bother to get your own facts straight. It's dishonest to try and make a point without providing any verifiable info.

But (and I'm being nice here, responding to your tangent), if Cheney was making stuff up, or spinning data, then he ought to be called on it. It's not clear to me how employment stats are figured, so I can't vouch for the implication of Cheney's statement. However, I would think many ebay sales (those not using ebay as full-time employment), are not reported as income, so it may skew national profit levels somewhat, but I don't see it affecting employment figures. Therefore, I'm not really sure what Cheney's point is.; 4/22/09, 10:00 AM
Trooper York said...: With all the effort I put into my blog I don't make a dime. But NBC called up my wife and offered to pay her a salary to do a fashion blog about plus size issues after they saw our website.

I guess nobody cares about celebrity camel toe, gratuitous bathtub photos, large breasted sitcom stars of the sixties and sandwiches.; 4/22/09, 10:58 AM
blake said...: What's wrong with this country's priorities, Troop?; 4/22/09, 2:21 PM
Trooper York said...: I fear for our republic.; 4/22/09, 3:14 PM
Mark Daniels said...: In seven years, I've made like $109.00 from the Google ads on my blog. My lawyer has made a little more than that.; 4/22/09, 11:36 PM