5 Questions to Ask Yourself if You Want to Be an SL Blogger

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Two weeks ago, I laid out something that had been on my mind for awhile. I shared five painfully honest questions that I think every aspiring designer should ask themselves before they dig into the world of SL fashion. But there's another side of this equation, a role in the Second Life ecosystem that comes with almost as much idolization as designing: Blogging.

I'll be the first person to tell you that blogging (fashion or otherwise) is not as glorious and glamorous as it might seem. I'll also be the first person to tell you how rewarding blogging can be, again regardless of the subject... As long as you're doing it for the right reasons.

So if you're thinking of starting your own Second Life blog, here are five questions you absolutely need to answer:

Will you still want to be a blogger if you never get a single reader?

Yes, this starts the same way that the designer's list did, but that shouldn't be surprising. My motto in Second Life (and to some extent real life) is that if you are doing something purely for the recognition, the popularity, the clout, then you should probably look elsewhere. Wanting to be recognized for a thing you're doing is normal, but SL is a very big, very busy place. It's incredibly hard to carve out a place for yourself and your work unless you are either exceptionally talented or exceptionally lucky. If that's the only motivation you have, then you're only setting yourself up for hard work and heartbreak. 

Are you willing to spend, spend, spend?

This won't necessarily apply if you want to blog about cool sims or builds or art, but it's not a secret that one of the biggest reasons many people start blogging is for review copies and and freebies. This is true of blogging outside of Second Life as well, and the reality of both is that even if you do land some sweet swag, if you want to grow your site and your audience you will always need to be producing more than you're being given. If you're covering fashion, then you will need to buy things. There really isn't any way around it. Blogging Second Life fashion is a good way to empty your wallet, and it's unlikely the freebies or even the ad revenue that you may eventually receive will ever cover those expenses entirely. Best case scenario? You'll bust your ass for months and maybe break even.

Can you meet minimum presentation standards?

No one wants to look at aliased screenshots that look like they were taken in 2006. No one wants to read 5000 word walls of completely unformatted, unproofed, unedited text. If you can't keep pace, well, it's not much different from a hair designer that can't do anything but basic prim editing. Most people will look once, cringe, and leave.

Do you have something new to say?

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of Second Life blogs. There are so many that if you pull up the various virtual world blog feeds you can watch new posts being churned out in real time. It's a machine in constant motion, and if your voice or style or focus or something about you doesn't stand out you're just going to be another blip in that pattern. If you're doing it for yourself more than anyone or anything else then this is absolutely fine (and more power to you!) but if you're hoping to be the next big thing then you'd better have something that readers can't find elsewhere.

What's your definition of success?

In society at large we have a habit of putting writers on pedestals even when they're barely scraping by behind the scenes. One of the most important realizations I've had as a games journalist in particular has been learning that every single one of my favourite writers was juggling multiple jobs to support themselves, or were scrabbling for freelance gigs so frantically that they rarely had time to play anything they weren't being paid to play. It wasn't a happy realization, but it was an important one. Being popular and well respected in these niches doesn't really mean much. You're a big fish in a small pond, and that gets you very little in the end.

Much like designing, it boils down to this: Do things primarily because you enjoy them and not just because you're expecting good returns. If you need to meet some sort of unpredictable (and often rare) external condition to be satisfied -- if the act of writing or taking pictures or whatever you're producing doesn't provide a solid baseline of enjoyment -- then you need to sit down and decide if this is really the best use of your time and energy. 

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Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart on Twitter, Iris Ophelia in Second Life) has been writing about virtual worlds and video games for nearly a decade, and has had her work featured on Paste, Kotaku, Jezebel and The Mary Sue.

Comments

[Connie Arida]

"if the act of writing or taking pictures or whatever you're producing doesn't provide a solid baseline of enjoyment -- then you need to sit down and decide if this is really the best use of your time and energy."
Agree totally

[Canary Beck]

I’ve been a Second Life blogger for three years, and a real life blogger for five, and I'd agree with all the points you've made in your post, with a few additions.

The toughest time for a new blogger is at the start of their blogging journey. Many will give up after a few posts are received with little more than silence. So your first point is very good advice indeed - in fact, sometimes imagining that no one will ever read what your writing can make you a better writer.
Fortunately, it isn’t only boom or bust. For some, the silence doesn’t quench their initial enthusiasm, and these stubborn souls continue to regularly post until they eventually get some kind of following. I’d suggest that any new blogger commit to regularly posting for 3-6 months before expecting to get anything but the feedback of their close friends.

Once you get past the ‘lone voice period’, I’d ask “Are you willing to post on a regular basis?” to your questions. There is no doubt that posting frequency impacts views and feedback, and if you’d like to get past the feeling that you’re talking to a handful of your closest friends (regardless of how intrinsically rewarding that may be), then sticking to some kind of reliable schedule should result in some traction.

I'd add one more comment about competition (e.g. “do you have something new to say?) Some estimate the number of Second Life blogs to be around 2000 - Blogging Second Life has almost a thousand in its directory alone, and these are only the bloggers that have taken the time to submit their blog to the directory. So yes, it’s a very crowded field and it’s really difficult to get a foothold. Because approximately 90% of SL blogs focus on fashion, the aspiring fashion blogger has the biggest hill to climb - so it’s not only probably the most expensive category, but also the most competitive.

[Janine/Iris]

@Canary I hinted a little bit the consistency issue but you're right, it REALLY deserves a section of it's own. Regular content keeps people checking in, but it can be exhausting. Having an off week? Too bad, gotta blog. Not feeling inspired? Too bad, gotta blog!

[cyberserenity]

I use my blog to vebalize my own thoughts. When you write you see your self in a new way. Some deeper thinking. If someone reads it i am happy. Have been doing it for many years now.

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

It also helps to be good at "networking". The "A-list" bloggers tend to be good at that. That's how they get their pictures on the Seasonal header on marketplace, get to organize events, etc etc.

Me, I consider myself to be a "D-list blogger" , and I'm mostly okay with that. Of course one of the reasons I'm D-list is the fact that I don't blog or network enough.

And we all know that blogging SL fashion is a serious L$ sink, even if you were to become a "official blogger" of some designer.

[Orca Flotta]

Consistency is the most important factor. We all know what a fast world SL is and how quickly everyone will be forgotten if you don't press on and on and on and ...

Consistancy is also the most important factor when establishing your blog. Kill 'em with a steady stream of content. Dunno what to write? Post more and bigger photos. Still dunno what to write about? Didn't you just post some big photos? Write about the process of producing those, about the technology you're using abdout the philosophy behind your photos. Voila, one blog more.

Don't worry, noone's gonna read your shit anyway, so just blog away as if you're the last living person on earth and do it just for the joy of doing!

Got nothing to say? Really? Then why the hell are you having a blog? Just find another theme, break out of the confinements of your usual blog topics once in a while and you'll find more than enough material to blog about. For example my blog, which was about sailing in SL and the sailing community first but became so much more. Right now I can't login to SL since my GPU died so I blog about RL stuff. And RL computing on Linux, and empowering women to join the free and open source software movement opened up a whole new field of blogworthy material ... and RL/SL politics and and and ... everything but fashion really ;)

So right now my computer is kinda semi broken and I can't really log in to SL, still I'm churning out 2 - 3 blogs each and every day. The world is such a big place and there is sooooo much to blog about, I really have to restrict myself to just a handful of topics, else I'd need to blog 24/7 =^.^=

[Melissa Yeuxdoux]

Thanks, Orca! I now have some good reading to look forward to, and good advice to follow.

[Orca Flotta]

@ Melissa:
Good reading? "Good" as in well done, nice writing style? Oh I beg to differ. I'm an ESLer and hardly able to communicate my ideas, ideology and oponion in this language. Nevertheless I try since it's fun and I have more readers than I'd have with a pure German bloggy. Not that I care much but hmm, let's say it's just cooler to have a blog in English.

So hello and welcome to my humble blog thingy.

[webspelunker Ghostraven]

Very good article about the lonely work of blogging about Second Life!

I will express a minor disagreement about having to spend a lot especially if one is not focused on fashion.

And I would add another, enjoying what you do!

[Zoe Connolly]

I quite happily found a niche in SL I totally enjoy. The perks are certainly nice - Once in a while a builder sends me an interesting prop for roleplay or a newly released airplane to fly.

I couldn't fashion blog to save my life. Listing every bit of clothing and accessory would drive me bat-excrement crazy, however... I'm very happy others have such patience. It makes my shopping SLife so much easier!