So I observe over on Ensight that Jeremy has basically sold his blog for something in the neighborhood of $15,000 (Canadian or USD?), and still got a sweetheart deal:

I am effectively considering bidding closed. I have a deal on the table. It’s substantial, is from a longtime Ensight reader, allows me to keep editorial control and turns me into a paid blogger.

Right on! It’s the blogging brass ring. I’ve been thinking lately of ways to make money doing this whole blogging/”nanopublishing” thing, and in addition to this highly apropos example, I’ve been poking around the Weblogs, Inc. sites to get a feel for what they’re doing and how.

I’m not necessarily talking about writing in general—that’s a whole different topic that I will actually address sometime soon—but rather how to leverage some of these trends and technologies in weblogs toward money. It seems to me that if you can’t get someone to pay you to blog, then the best bet is to bootstrap yourself via advertising (Google’s AdSense and/or other?), like what the Weblogs, Inc. guys (and guys like Nick Denton) are doing. And perhaps via the “tip jar” method: accepting PayPal donations and the like. And of course this doesn’t even address RSS…

Not to say I’m ready to give up blogging if I can’t make money at it; I’m not, of course, there’s too much of the writing bug in me. But I’ve got some ideas in mind and I’m wondering, can it be done?

Thoughts?

Yikes, it would appear that I’ve taken a blogging hiatus. Not so. I guess time just sort of slipped away from me, and keeps slipping; I’ve got things to write about, I just always seem to be doing something else. So consider this the recap post for the past few days.

I’ve been playing with Bloglines as my primary newsreader/RSS aggregator, and I really, really like it. Very well done, the kind of web app that I’m totally envious of when I write web apps. The big plus is it’s web-based, so I can comfortably read my RSS anywhere, not just on the one computer at home. Highly recommended.

Fall seems to have arrived a bit early here in Central Oregon. The weather forecast this evening indicated it would be in the mid 60s this week, and 54 degrees on Saturday. I have nothing against fall, but man, where’d the sunshine go?

Cold weather’s not the only thing arriving; Simone saw a cockroach at Super Burrito in downtown Bend, Jake picked up the story and now everyone’s anti-Super Burrito. Too bad, I liked eating there from time to time. Could be worse, though, we could all live back east or in the South where roaches are a way of life. We’re pretty lucky overall.

It was (another) small get-together tonight, with only myself, Simone and Dane. Lot of fun, though. And the Cascade Lakes Brewing Company‘s westside lodge just rocks! Upstairs is the game room, with a couple of pool tables, real dartboards, and… Donkey Kong.

Oh yeah, you know we were playin’ that.

Notice for the next Bend blogging get-together: Wednesday, September 8^th starting at six o’clock at the Cascade Lakes Brewing Company in Bend. That’s on the westside, just off the Chandler/Colorado roundabout.

All the usual suspects will be there. And let’s mix it up a little! New bloggers and out-of-town bloggers, come on down too!

Fun evening at Timbers South with the other bloggers. Let’s see, who else showed up… Jake, Dane, Jesse and his wife, and Barney. Simone, who suggested Timbers in the first place, never made it.

Some takeaways:

Jake is a pool shark, man, he ran the table. Never shoot stick with him. Ever.

(Well, okay, so I won the two games we played. That doesn’t mean he’s not a pool shark. Supposedly. Or something.)

Dane actually brought half a carton of eggs (expired in May) and a street sign, just as he promised he would on his blog. I guess I just have to learn to take everything he says at face value…

Jesse knows way, way too much about fonts and typefaces.

And finally, just three words:

Chicken Gizzard Blizzard™.