Going Forward

I’ve decided to blog less. I posted daily (mostly) for two years, with the theory that my efforts would be compensated in four ways.

1. Advertising dollars
2. Compiling the best posts into a book.
3. Growing the audience for Dilbert
4. Artistic satisfaction.

Readership of The Dilbert Blog is growing rapidly, but at about the same rate people figure out how to use RSS feeds to get the content without the ads. So there’s no longer a correlation between how hard I work and the ad income I earn. It topped out at “trivial,” even while the audience grew to substantial.

My book based on the blog posts, STICK TO DRAWING COMICS, MONKEY-BRAIN! got great reviews for content, but angry reactions in people who feel that other people, who didn’t read the content on the Internet, and never will, should not buy the book, to protect the rights of the people who already read it on the Internet, and might want to read it again for free sometime. You win.

I hoped that people who loved the blog would spill over to people who read Dilbert, and make my flagship product stronger. Instead, I found that if I wrote nine highly popular posts, and one that a reader disagreed with, the reaction was inevitably “I can never read Dilbert again because of what you wrote in that one post.” Every blog post reduced my income, even if 90% of the readers loved it. And a startling number of readers couldn’t tell when I was serious or kidding, so most of the negative reactions were based on misperceptions.

Lastly, the blog has been a source of tremendous artistic satisfaction. I enjoyed being relatively uncensored, and interacting with the readers on fun topics. That’s why I will continue blogging, albeit less controversially. I’ll just do it less often, especially over the holidays. It’s hard to tell the family I can’t spend time with them because I need to create free content on the Internet that will lower our income.

Try www.reader.google.com to see blog posts without the ads.

Comments

[Shane]

Hi Scott,

I've been an avid reader of your blog from day one, every day I've come to this page and been entertained, and sometimes left with something to think about. Thanks very much for that, and all the effort you've put in. I was disappointed to read this particular post, but fully understand your reasons for cutting down on the blogging.

I've read dilbert for the last few years, since I was about ten or eleven, it's giving me a deep cynicism for the work place, and I'm doing my best to avoid cubeville!

Thanks,

Shane

[Elroy]

I'll be honest I'm a few days behind and not willing to read all the comments, so at the risk of repeating what others may have said...
If you aren't worried as much about ad revenue, could you please put the entire post in your feed? I have Ad-Block Plus also, so I don't see the ads anyway. But, I'm lazy and would prefer to read the whole post in Google Reader and also share the post through the reader. In a way, that might increase your readership through my non-RSS using friends?

[DK]

I feel you Scott, but I think people need to grow up and understand that everything you write is either 1% a joke or designed to create reactions and opinions. Besides, if you like a comic, why would you stop reading it just because the creator said something you didn't like on a blog?

[carl]

I doubt you will be able to stop :) You are addicted to writing this blog as much as the readers are addicted to reading it...anyways...good luck. It's been an interesting ride.

[Gryffin]

"Mars Attacks!" was a rather average invasion movie...until alien heads started to explode. Your blog has provided lots of amusing head explosions--or, as you put it in one of your early strips, paradigms shifting without a clutch.

Looking forward to the posts, even if they are less frequent.

[HumbleOpinion]

I see that you only post an abbreviated feed now so that if we want to read the post, we have to click through to your site. However, that does not stop us from getting angry and terminating our subscription. Not that I would - I still enjoy your writing. I especially enjoy learning the mechanics behind the comic; what alternatives you considered and the panels that you have to rewrite to satisfy the newspaper editors.

Thank you continuing to write.

[Asil]

Dear Adams,

Why don't you let readers comment your cartoon, instead. Let people discuss. I think it will be fun. You'll blog less, people still can talk about Dilbert and it'll probably help your advertising.

What do you think?

[David Gian-Cursio]

See, now that you've switched to summaries, I'll never not look at your ads again. And maybe this is psychosomatic, but the blog seems to be running slower than it used to, so I guess I'm not the only one who used to just read the feed.

[Ruben Llibre]

forget to mention before...
i know at least 5 friends that hate your (yet secretly read) blog.. but read dilbert 'religiously'

[Kent]

I like cats!!!!

[DAVE]

Hi Scott,
thank you for your blogging efforts over the past two years. i have enjoyed and learnt from a good majority of your posts. i always knew you had hidden motives, e.g. archiving your old posts and not telling us about the book until it was done, but i dont feel at all betrayed.

1. i have a good idea of increasing advertising dollars. put in flash or video content, enhance the usuallbiility of the website, have a better comment filtering and possible rating system to entice users to rate other posts. have a link to the top posts on the left hand side and categorise the posts to make past posts easier to access. and unarchive all your previous posts.
2. the audience you are aming the book at is the same as the one which has already read all your blog posts and saved the best ones on their hard drive or printed them out. everyone who is a fan of dilbert already knows about the blog already! so who is going to buy your book!
3. make a new cartoon tv series and post it on youtube :).
4. i hope you are satisfied.

[Technical Writing Geek]

What is profitable reflects how good of a product it is, not how good it is. I love reading your blog and will still check in when it is updated. I think the real truth of blogs is that they're oversaturated, since everyone has one. It's hard to find reader fidelity in that kind of audience, or readers who will put up with your opinions they don't like in order to find greater wisdom on the whole.

My blog is for misfits only:
http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/

Total income: $0
Total visitors: close to 0
Interest in continuing: high

Can't explain that in an equation.

[d.bert]

You must be having a bad day. Shame.

A learned economist such as yourself must know that running a successful blog with hoardes of dedicated daily readers is Internet paydirt. Marketers kill for this sort of eyeball stickiness for their sites. Yes, actual murder.

That this blog has only grown your Dilbert audience is not even up for debate; it's fact, even if not an easily measurable one.

Your problem is in monetizing your blog's popularity. Selling blog advertizing and blog books is fine, but it's pedestrian and unimaginative. It's certainly not worthy of your creative intellect.

Note that Google's success has been based on "get the eyeballs first, figure out how to profit from it later." Should be all the inspiration you need.

Good luck; you have a real success here, you just need to figure out how to unleash it.

[Ruben Llibre]

i was just talking with fellow readers of how sadden we are by this.
i stand by you on the family issue, and maybe even on the ads one (i always open a tab for your page thru the reader, i just never see any real good ads here :( ).
im sad your dropping a bit of the controversy, the long posts i get...
i feel like a lost a small daily nugget of happiness...
cant we negotiate?

[Ruben Llibre]

i was just talking with fellow readers of how sadden we are by this.
i stand by you on the family issue, and maybe even on the ads one (i always open a tab for your page thru the reader, i just never see any real good ads here :( ).
im sad your dropping a bit of the controversy, the long posts i get...
i feel like a lost a small daily nugget of happiness...
cant we negotiate?

[Mishlai]

Well, I enjoyed the daily read, but your time has to be your own. Hope you enjoy the extra hours at home.

[Mark Whybird]

Dear Scott,

Because of what you just wrote, I hereby refuse to read your blog daily any more. I hereby reduce the time I spend reading your blog in exact proportion to the amount you reduce your blogging output.

So there! ;-)

[Leigh]

I’ve never had anyone break up with me before. I think I'm actually depressed. I might have to go eat ice cream and shave my head or something.

This sucks.

Can't we talk about it? Go to counseling? You didn’t even give me a chance to make it up to you…Reconsider Scott.

PLEASE!

[vonfuzzner]

We can only hope that your blackberry and blog addictions override that sense of needing 'family' time.

Seriously though, I love the blog and bought the book.

[zdsfgadsfhateJ]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Che]

Blah blah blah I have an opinion and it matters blah blah blah

hahahaha

Che

[Marco]

I'm taking my ball and going home!!

Seriously, you're one of 3 blogs I read every morning. Until Pastis starts a blog, I'll be lacking intellectual stimulation...

[Dylan Mccormick]

Scott, blunt but to the point. I've sat and read your blog for ages now, and it occurred to me that you're a hell of a lot smarter bloke than my initial impressions of you led me to believe. At first I thought the blog was for no other reason than you had something pent up inside you you had to get out, and it was your best avenue for doing so. But as time went by, the cynical side of me started to go, he's not doing this for blogs sake, but for purely commercial reasons. I think the incessant referals to your restaurant and new books might have done it (I live in South Africa - hell i have bigger priorities in life than making it to your chain eaterie - like making it through next week without being hijacked). Anyway, I wanted to say thanks, it was great while it lasted, and you've definitely made an impression on my life. I was just looking at my bookshelf, and out of roughly a hundred books, 16 of them are terry pratchetts, 5 of them are by bill bryson and in 3rd place, 3 of them are your dilbert books. Not bad that you're in my top 4 authors of all time (sorry, Roald Dahl is up there too, but his books aren't in my current bookshelf anymore since "i grew up and turned into an adult"). I'd consider that a pretty good achievement. But all said and done, my most important motivator in life is you can't carry on doing things you don't enjoy (it works in all spheres of life..) - so Scott, if you're not enjoying the blogging any more, I'm totally 100% with you on the choice to move away from it. I just truely hope you find something even more enjoyable that fills the void.

So all the best for your future endeavours.

[Erik]

I know that, as a single consumer, I am irrelevant. However, you might like to know that when you advertised your recent book (Stick to Drawing...), I immediately purchased it along with two other books that I probably never would have noticed, much less bought. So, for this insignificant induhvidual, your blogging has garnered some income (I also never use RSS. I don't care about ads, and I occasionally click on them at websites I like so that business think they're getting something).

[Rick]

I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't think you can stop yourself. It isn't about money. Its about being accepted and loved and you feel that 'stealing' content is showing you the opposite of that.

You will continue, and you will still complain .(that is who you are)

The only thing that will change is that you will admit to yourself it has never actually been about the money and you will look at how the website 'pays' you in a different way.

The only thing that will stop you is when your life gives you what blogging gives you. When that happens I will be so happy to see you stop.