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I’ve done a deal with Matt Preston from the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival that the first 20 bloggers to write a post linking to and promoting the Out of the Frying discussion on food and the media on 3 March will each get a free ticket worth $135 each.
The rules are simply:
Write a post about the Out of The Frying Pan event and link to this festival page here and the booking page here (I think this works). Leave your details in comments by Wednesday 27th.
The whole event should be fascinating to anybody interested in food and food media trends. In particular, there are two sessions which will probably interest bloggers. Matt tells me that “Future food. Future Food Media” talking about how chefs innovate online will be addressing social media and blogging and the cutting edge of the internet.
There is also the afternoon session “Web2.0: How to blog and how not to blog” in which Stephanie Wood, Simon Johanson (Fairfax Online editor), Jackie Middleton, Helen Razer (ABC 774 Sunday Show) and myself waffle on.
Matt emailed me some questions that will be addressed during this session. But inevitably the discussion will range far wider. I’d be interested in comments.
What makes a blog a blog?
A diary format and certain features such as the ability to comment and subscribe to RSS feeds. A blog is a subset of social media, which includes sites such as Flickr, Facebook, Last.fm. Del.icio.us and so on.
What are the benefits of writing a blog?
Many people just do it for pleasure as a personal diary of their cooking, eating or drinking. For others it is about opinion. Some make money but I don’t think any food blogger will be making as much as someone like Problogger Darren Rowse who since 2003 has personally earned $700,000 from two advertising products, Google Adsense and Chikita.
When I started it is was a hobby but as an unintentional spin-off has led to some paying journalism work. It also made me rediscover photography something I’d dropped last century when my SLR broke.
Importantly it has connected me with a community of like-minded people interested in food and wine.
What are the pitfalls of writing a blog?
Potentially stalkers and trolls. None have chased me - yet. Criticism if you can’t take it.
Spam, but software mostly takes care of that.
What should you never never do a when writing blogs?
I have no idea. A lot of people are hung up on grammar and spelling. I often have to rush posts so make mistakes. It’s more about getting the ideas out there that is important, I think.
How do you maintain control of your blog?
I ony delete comment spam and have powerful tuned-up spam filters. Anything else goes.
There are some technical issues relating to having my own domain but they are quite boring.
What are blog readers looking for?
My statistics tell me how people find me. Many people are looking for tomatos and are, sadly, dissapointed. Otherwise the most popular search term is some permutation of Anthony Bourdain Gay (over 4,000 people last year).
Here is a rough list:
- My Chai recipe (linked from Wikipedia)
- Sydney vs Melbourne
- How to cook perfect lamb chops
- First night at Nobu
- State of Melbourne food blogging
- Restaurant review category in general
- The best burger in Melbourne
- Gordon Ramsay
- Jeremy Clarkson
- Zingara Cucina con
- About me
- Tempura Hajime
- How to make the perfect cup of tea
- Foolproof greek salad
- First peek at Dan Hunter’s food at Dunkeld
- Bloggers banquet
- How to make the perfect sandwich with leftovers
- Friday night is local brew night - Emerald Hill Microbrewery (Guardian blog link)
- Pizza e Birra
- Old media hacks bagging bloggers
- Designer kitchen on a budget
- Movida
- Top ten gins
- Best Pho in Melbourne
I should add that some people simply like to see the pictures of new restarants and dishes.
How do you best pitch to them?
I don’t pitch. But last year I decided to be much more Melbourne focused rather than global. I try to go to restaurant opening nights, give top tips and comment on the state of blogging. Very personal posts about health and disasters are popular. Also very bad reviews.
How do you best reach them?
They find me. But I’m social and leave comments on blogs which often leads to a visit. I also occasionally participate in food and wine blog events.
How do you differentiate your blog?
See above. I also try and be a bit different in the way I write things, perhaps polarising in opinion. I also use a lot of pictures of restaurant food.
What advantages does blogging have over traditional media?
Instant publishing. When I blogged the first night at Lau’s Family Kitchen it was up within an hour of me leaving the restaurant. Also it is not constrained by the fixed formats and conventions of print. I can fucking swear if I want here. I can publish a one-word post or a ten thousand word post.
There is also the interactive element. I get comment feedback and statistical feedback on posts.
What disadvantages?
I don’t get paid for it. Time consuming.
What rights and responsibility do you have as a blogger?
All the usual laws on defamation and copyright apply. There is a lot of talk about defmation and blogging. It is more important to look at the practicalities of somebody taking an action against somebody who probably has a very small audience - a few hundred people a day - compared to a newspapers with potentially millions.
There is a code of linking and citing between bloggers.
How do you start blogging?
At the most basic level establish a free blogger account. And just start writing.
What advice would you give to those who want to blog?
It’s never too soon. Focus on one thing. If you think you are serious get your own domain and use Wordpress. A dot.com.au can cost $100 plus. A dot.com in Australia costs about $60. In the US $10. It’s a no brainer. Also webhosts in Australia are ridiculously expensive. Go to the US everytime.
How is the food publishing landscape changing in relation to blogging?
In Australia the food media haven’t really taken as much notice of bloggers or blogging as in the US.
Blogging is fragmenting media in its own small way as well as fragmenting itself into many tiny niches. It certainly has changed my reading habits and now I get my ideas and kicks from a much more diverse group than trad media journalists.
What do you see as the future opportunity for bloggers?
Some will be the restaurant reviewers, wine writers and food writers of the future. In Europe and the US some have published books and no doubt some will here. There is little opportunity to make money with a food blog because the local audience is small. But there is a huge opportunity to connect in niches such as vegetarianism, food allergies, vegans, preservative free wines, kids, grannies and so on.
What impact will tech advances have on blogging?
The point is that the technology make blogging easy and cheaper and more effective than a static website. To publish a blog in its most simply form is as easy as clicking save on Microsoft Word. Adding various widgets to blogs has become and will continue to become simpler. Faster and cheaper broadband in Australia will make it easier. In particular, cheap access to fast WiFi on the move will make blogging much more mobile as will the new generation of WiFi enabled phones such as the iPhone (whenever it arrives).
How do independent bloggers avoid being swamped by the traditional media’s push into new media arenas?
They haven’t been swamped and trad media probably won’t swap bloggers in Australia because there isn’t enough money in it. A niche audience of 0.001% of the population in the US is 30,000 people, possibly viable as a magazine. In China it would be 100,000 people, definately viable as a magazine. In Australia it is 2,000 people. I can’t imagine traditional media swamping that space here. What is happening is that blogs are contributing to the general fragmentation of media and building audiences in very small niches, often connecting globally. There are some big global food blogs and old media food blogs in the northern hemisphere but because we are out of season there is a disconnect with the southern hemisphere.
What do life experience / knowledge have been valuable in your blogging life?
I work in the media so I knew about writing and already had a fairly thick skin to reader criticism.
Popularity: 34% [?]
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
I have dutifully posted http://confessionsofafoodnazi.blogspot.com/2008/02/into-fire.html and look forward to seeing you on the day (and hopefully at least 19 other bloggers in the audience).
There was a lot in comments to my original post last year about how food bloggers perceive themselves which you might find useful.
What do people come to food nazi for? Except the odd dickhead looking for nazi recipes or even the soup nazi’s recipes - it is specific food mainly that people are looking for ideas on how to cook. Gyozas or vegetarian gyozas still get the most hit for me but there is a growing number of people who are seeking smoked eel. In 2006 - Fifteen - got massives of hits, all these frustrated punters who were searching for an unbiased review of the place. The audience is both local and global.
…but please please please do your best to get the essence of blogging across. It is unique, it can cause an immediate reaction and it is different to journalism in so many ways. Writing without an editor might mean the odd typo or grammatical error but it gives us a freedom that the mainstream just doesn’t have.
I’m tempted to post, but it’s seems like a short step from accepting free tickets to accepting free food/booze to write blog posts. It is however a great way to discover just how easily corruptible 20 Melbourne bloggers are.
Sorry “corruptible” -> “corrupted”
Bring on the corruption I say! No, i think i have to take a little credit being the one to kick up the stink initially last year- so am happy that I don’t have to pay for the privilege to see what the festival comes up with. It would take a lot more than a free ticket to sway me. So keep an eye on out on any follow up post Phil and keep me honest. I give you full permission to publicly berate me if you think I succumb to any arse licking.
AOF, you’re first in line. Amazing there are still proper Nazis out there. Fifteen is an interesting one and sunk from view (although I’ve been waiting for the go ahead on something) and is typical of the service blogs give to the public.
Phil, corruption perhaps. But the suggestion came from me to the Matt as I’d had a couple of emails about the price and a few bloggers just wanted to come along to blogging particular session. With the disclosure of the free tickets I think it is okay. It’s not disclosing freebees that is the problem. Go on do it, your Asian perspective would really add to the event. Don’t worry about the spelling - I got the idea
As a Spin Doctor, I’m always willing to be corrupted. Give me half an hour at the most and I’ll have a post up.
For me Blogging is fun, has grown my circle of friends, gets me freelance writing work, seems to be helping me in the search for a US literary agent, provides research for a novel and bolsters my ego. I love reading them to the point that I’ve done away with magazine subscriptions.
I have encountered a troll - and software cannot beat a tech savvy
freakazoid with Multiple personality disorder.
I’m still a beginner in the Blogasphere, learning more every day. I don’t know why people read my blithering rants on Deep Dish Dreams. I know they like my pics given the number of hits I get from Google image search and Flickr. Anything about the Malouf’s gets hits as does the John Torode post, Dim Sims and Molecular Gastronomy. I don’t suppose I’ll ever have the readership that recipe swappers have, but I’m not in it for the numbers.
For more focussed food writing I write
The Vanilla Slice Blog & with the Grocer, PG & Gobbler there’s PiEcon. I love it.
Done!
–> http://sarah-cooks.blogspot.com/2008/02/2008-melbourne-food-and-wine-festival.html
Done, wish me luck, I hope I did it right!!! Vida x
Done! Consider me corrupted, Phil…
Ed, I’m afraid my stat counter capabilities are still extremely limited so don’t know which posts have been most popular over time (other than the post I did on the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book, which is consistently popular). As per Sticky’s situation, I think my readership will always be limited to Melbournites given my lack of recipe-swapping, but my 9-7 job doesn’t allow for much more blogging than my current output anyhow!
Hope to see you all at the festival!
I would do this but I have to work on Mondays and am currently hording my leave for my 6 week european adventure in April. Sigh. next year.
Link’s up, but as my ticket arrived in the post yesterday…oh well.
Should be great.
So far that’s AOF, Stickyfingers, Sarah, Vida, Claire for tickets.
Ran, don’t blame you. I’m meant to going home sometime…
Lucy, Shame I didn’t get in earlier.See you there anyway.
I should have mentioned Jamie from http://thebreakfastblog.blogspot.com too who is in a session how to get into food writing.
I really want to go but I am so far behind at work that I don’t know I could take the time off for the day - maybe if the bloggers spot was just an hour or so I would be really interested. Will think about that!
oh silly me - I have just seen they do have the times - so maybe I could do an hour and a half - by the way - interesting post about blogging - I am such a naval gazer I love hearing others reflect on blogging!
This is really cool. And I would love to attend to listen to some people I think are really cool also. Wish me luck.
Ed,
i have posted about this event and am very excited about attending. Please let me know if I am in with a chance of scoring a ticket.
Many Thanks,
Jon!
Hello!
This has been done.
Cheers
Juliette
Excellent post, thoroughly enjoyed it. I blog because I can and I love it!
Squishy, I think that’s the most important thing of all and with all the uncertainty in life the one thing that nobody an take away.
Dammit, so sorry I was unable to take advantage of the freebie, Ed! This last week has been the most hectic workwise since I started at the firm, I was in at the office for most of Sunday and couldn’t escape today.
Great to read the reports that are trickling in from other blogs. Thanks for organising the tix!
hey ed
thanks so much for organising the tix yesterday. it was very informative and lots of fun to meet other bloggers… inspired me to finish a few articles to put up on my blog. i was impressed at how readily the blogging community defended each other, what with the general animosity towards blogging that’s out there. i was going to add a positive note on blogs at the session but we ran out of time.
i started my blog after doing the ucla online food writing course (excellent course) and i wanted somewhere to publish my writing.
after doing a publishing course at uni, i applied to a publishers here in melbourne with a large food and drink list - and now work there, partly thanks to my blog which showed them my passion for and knowledge about food. my blog is now required reading for students at my old course!
yesterday’s session gave me a whole new take on blogging - nice to be part of a community and meet some like-minded food lovers. you seem to be the lynchpin of this community, so thank you and keep it up.
cheers
juliette
Hi Juliette,
It was good to meet and I think i am flattered by Tim White’s comments. It was a shame we ran out of time as towards the end as it became more interesting. It’s good to meet bloggers and I’d imagine that blogs are where most new talent will be spotted. I think most of the blogging community is very inclusive and egalitarian while old media is quite exclusive and nepotistic. It is always difficult to get published when starting out and for job interviews you always need published work. Blogging is a good alternative although still people who have the tenacity to get into print probably have an bit of an advantage. I took the lead for commenting on what’s happening on food blogs from some overseas blogs. It is a good way to built traffic but also led me to write about blogging two years or so ago for Gourmet Traveller. Which food publisher do you work with (feel free to tell me via email if you want to keep that offline)?
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