The other day, Edward Taylor wrote:
"Mike—this will sound ridiculous to you, but I think you should switch to off-topic posts and sprinkle in a bit of photography. Now that phones exist, interest in dedicated camera photography is dying. You are a writer. People will read your writing. I like your off-topic posts. I already know just about everything about photography.
"Look at how successful blogs have been. They don't even have a 'topic.' They are all off-topic!"
What's your reaction Edward's idea?
I've been amusing myself these past few days with the thought of doing a new, true "all-topic" blog, and I've got more ideas than I know what to do with. I would have a lot of fun with it. Commenting on the news, ranging far afield with gear talk, unleashing my inner opinion columnist, finding quirky things to call attention to, unearthing local goings-on. Plus, I have reams of non-photo-related stories mouldering away in my graying gray matter that are aching to get out.
But I wear two hats. I'm the main content provider here, and that's a creative-side job. But I've also made a living at this for going on twenty years, so I'm the "company strategist" too. Mustn't forget that this is at root a business problem.
Would you who are reading this also come read a general-interest site if I wrote it?
More to the point, if you are a current Patreon supporter, would you be more likely to keep or cancel your pledge if I segued over to an all-new site with general content? I've got a reasonable approximation of Ctein's old "1,000 True Fans" idea—I currently have 688 people who contribute a little (some a lot) each month to help me keep TOP going. That's a lot of people, albeit not quite 1k. But the high was 804. to give you some real numbers, in May I had a net loss of 56¢ in pledges, and of three patrons; in June, a net loss of $31 in pledges and two patrons; in July, a net loss of $8.07 in pledges and three patrons; and in August, a net loss of $61.48 in pledges and six patrons. You see where that is going. From a high of 804 patrons, there are currently 688 of you. That's enough to keep me in the saddle, but for how long is the question. The trendline has been going only one way.
And second, what's to bring new readers in? The world is beset by a hailstorm of demands for our attention (I find Apple News exhausting, yet at the same time generally unsatisfying), and I'm not sure how a general-interest blog goes about attracting attention. To follow the metaphor unconscionably far, it would be like tapping you on the shoulder in the middle of that hailstorm. How would anybody even tell?
Seems like a risk. But it might also be a risk to try to ride TOP into an inevitable sunset. Looking forward to hearing your take.
Mike
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Featured Comments from:
For a photography blog, there are also surprisingly few photographs. Sometimes days go by without any photos, not even ones of cameras. I’d like to see more photos on TOP, especially the sort of thing I can’t see elsewhere.
I'm getting disenchanted with TOP, and I wish I wasn't. If it turned into a general blog I’m afraid I would cancel my Patreon pledge.
But by all means start another blog to run alongside TOP. I can see how much you want to write by the long posts on TOP. But I’d prefer fewer, shorter posts here if they were all photography based. That would free up your time for a general topics blog.
You could illustrate it with relevant photos that you have taken rather than the obviously stock and barely relevant rubbish most blogs use.
TOP has always been different from the run of the mill and dreary mob of photo sites. It attracts many seasoned photographers; I’m one of them. That’s because I learn new stuff here, which I don’t just about anywhere else; all they have is recycled and predictable “content”.
It might be a good idea to employ somebody to help with comment moderation, keeping the conversations going and improving involvement.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 03:57 AM
So I ask myself what you bring to the discussion about cameras and lenses and photography, and I'd say it is that you have long hands-on experience with a lot of different cameras so your posts are well researched. The experience just falls into the posts. And you write well and have a good vocabulary, and are not trying to sell anything.
The knowledge of life's vicissitudes in other things than photography is not what brings me here. I made a glancing comment a while ago that there is less and less photography in among the posts.
And for sure I have an emotional attachment to you from what has come out in the way you write, but the balance that causes me to visit has got to be that there is photography here.
Commenter Michael Mathews suggested substack and that seems to me to be a gift for you - no downside if it doesn't work and the possibility of an income if people like what you write. And maybe here on TOP you have a weather eye out for whether you have strayed too far from photography - but on the other platform you could fly your flag however you like.
Maybe google 'Hanif Kureishi on Substack' - he has turned his accident into a well crafted diary.
On the whole I agree, a tap on the shoulder in a hailstorm - but sometimes a quiet tap finds a big audience.
Best of luck
With affection -
Posted by: David | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 06:30 AM
Briefly, the strength of TOP is not just its author but its readers 9just look at the number of comments this post engendered. To that end, I humbly suggest-
For Now-
- [ ] ‘Continue’ with 3/4 Photography, 1/4 Off Topic (NO POLITICS)
In the mean time-
- [ ] DITCH TypePad and to a lessor degree Patreon!!!!
- [ ] Find a suitable/workable replacement for TypePad (and Patreon) that allows your subscribers to especially read (lurk?) and maybe even dialog (if they chose) with other subscribers who comment on a Post. (I emphasize subscribers! If wondering readers want to read/post to comments, let them become subscribers. It becomes an incentive to subscribe!) You have ,in my opinion, an invaluable collection of followers (dare I say characters).
Posted by: Dave B | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 07:57 AM
Essentially, I agree with MikeR so I can't really help you decide. However, just so you know, I come for the photography, but stay for the life lessons and commonplace info.
Posted by: Nick Van Zanten | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 09:41 AM
I would keep reading and supporting you. I enjoy many, though not all, of your off-topic posts, but don't mind just passing them by if they don't interest me. I'd prefer to continue to read mostly photography-related posts, though I usually skip the gear posts unless I'm in the market for something, which isn't often. You're writing is always interesting. Have you considered something like Substack?
Posted by: Lois Elling | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 10:30 AM
Reading through all the comments here, it seems like... damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Mike, I don't know you but I feel like I do. I find that when I ask the "What should I do?" question I almost always already know the answer, even if I don't like it. I just want confirmation from my wife/friends/peers to grant permission to make the choice I've already made in the back of my mind.
I've never really thought of TOP as being a photography blog. I've always seen it as a slow-form autobiography of Mike.
Every life is the result of all the days up to this point. All the wins and all the losses. All the laughter and all the tears. You've found a way to talk about photography and (increasingly) both the good and bad of life to a larger audience than most of us can. That's why I'm here.
So, if my advice was worth a penny here it is:
1) keep doing what you're doing
2) try to find a way to move through comments more efficiently. Perhaps schedule comment processing time just like you might schedule new post research/writing time
3) to free up a little time for new writing, maybe re-introduce us to older posts once a week. Perhaps those could be organized into topics as someone suggested above. So, maybe Monday is "Way-back" day, and you can progress through topics like "reviews of cameras you forgot that you used to slobber over" or "photo techniques" or "Famous photographers" or whatever.
4) on the photo presentation front, I think most would like to see more of your photos and/or more photos in general. Maybe a weekly thing, like Wednesday is Photo (critique?) day where you present one or more photos and use all your varied knowledge to delve deeper into your (or the photographer's) decisions and choices.
On that front, I do think it would be beneficial to move to a platform that better displays photos. Having said that, I don't know anything about anything, so maybe that's not easy for a one man band.
Posted by: ASW | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 10:51 AM
Your reputation and expertise are anchored in photography and many of your readers seem to want at least 50% photography related content along with a way to see more full screen, high rez photos. Maybe you could use Flickr for future Baker's Dozen events and have readers submit files with a minimum width of 1,920 pixels instead of a max of 800 pixels. You may also want to look into Flickr Groups. When I do a web search on the term "Flickr Group Administration" I find an old video detailing how the Groups feature can be used to teach an online class. It seems to me that leveraging a social media platform like Flickr could bring in new readers.
There are only so many hours in a day and you already have a blog, your invaluable moderation duties and a book to juggle. It doesn't seem like a second, generic blog would fit into your day but only you can answer that. Good luck.
Posted by: Jim Arthur | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 10:53 AM
Um. From a business perspective I think this is likely a bad idea. The only blogs that have traction these days are ones that have some legacy. People aren't launching blogs as money making endeavors any more. Or, if they are, they exist as a home base for social media content creation. If you were to start a new blog, it would attract a portion of the audience you already have. If you were to alter this one, you'd lose a portion of the audience you have. I don't think you'd gain much from either scenario.
Personally, I'd love to see more content about fine art photography and photographers. I FEEL like there used to be more of that and that's what I'm missing.
I think what you need to do is find other outlets for your writing, or maybe finish one of the books you've begun. Or find new ways to monetize the audience you already have.
Posted by: Alex G | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 11:25 AM
Mike, you surely already know this, but even if more general in subject, the new blog would need to aim at the intertests of a specific group of people. I think, many TOP's current readers like myself are happy with a couple of new posts per week, because we find most of TOP's content worthwhile reading. If you make it too broad, you may need to publish new posts more frequently.
What I imagine you could create is a blog equivalent to how The New Yorker compares to the average printed magazine of years back. The New Yorker is broad in subject, but has a very specific population of readers as its target, those who appreciate good writing and trustworthy information.
As others have already told above, TOP is unusual in that a lot of what you have written over the years has remained interesting and worthwhile reading again. I think this is because you always bring into the posts very interesting contextual information that makes posts "age" well.
You have from time to time republished, or highlighted in new posts the old related contents in TOP. I think doing this more frequently, even routinely, would be a good way of attracting readers to TOP. For example, if you added at the end of each new post links to related old posts in TOP, it would make it much easier to reread them, and at least for me, provide a lot more good reading on each visit to TOP.
Going back to your question about broadening the subject, I would be very happy if you wrote proportionally more book reviews (any books), music, photography and other visual arts, etc. as well as your well told tales (past events, stories about photographers or artists or family or neighbours).
Posted by: Pedro J. Aphalo | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 11:46 AM
"...And second, what's to bring new readers in?
I would suggest a modernization of this web site. The current site is not mobile friendly and Google is penalizing you in its search results.
A new, modern site that had an adaptive theme (i.e., small device friendly) and also allowed larger images would go a long way to attracting new visitors--as well as increasing visibility in Google search results.
Posted by: DavidB | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 02:27 PM
I note many of the comments above, such as those of louis mccullagh, Andrew Sheppard, Thom Hogan, Vadim Gordin and Andy Kochanowski.
1. Make your header link to the main page like almost all other sites. At present it opens a page which contains a link to the main page but which then opens in another tab, orphaning the original.
2. Post comments when they are made or if you can’t, abandon prior moderation. It must be possible alternatively to have a whitelist of regular posters or Patreon supporters who are allowed to post unmoderated. (Mentioned in several comments.)
3. Boost Patreon at the end of every post as you did for a short time. I like your layout but I’m sure a lot of reader, like me, expand the central test and thus don’t see the Patreon and other links most of the time, Several commenters said they didn’t know you had a Patreon connection and one had lapsed accidentally.
4. Have more photos on the site and critique them.
5. More Baker’s Dozens or similar.
6. More print sales.
7. No one can write an interesting photography post every day so the off-topics are fine within reason.
8. Maybe more guest posts and reprint older post.
9. “Post comments when they are made” is probably the most important one. You are blessed with many interesting commenters, albeit fewer and less frequently, which other blogs are not. Also if you continue the present moderation system, at least put something searchable each time you post a fresh batch so readers can find them easily.
A mainly non photographic blog will be a slow death or maybe a quick one.
Posted by: Richard Parkin | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 02:30 PM
I'd continue to read and would probably keep the patreon contribution but I wouldn't be as regular of a reader, or as happy with the change. I like the balance of photography, tangentially related to photography, and off topic posts you've settled into here.
Posted by: Larry Gebhardt | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 03:45 PM
One source of your dwindling patreon subscribers is expiring credit cards, at least in my case. I went to add a bit to the monthly amount and found it hadn't gone through since April. I'm sure I missed the email in the flood of them I get daily. I doubt I'm the only one overwhelmed with email messages. So everyone check to see if Patreon is still sending.
Posted by: Larry Gebhardt | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 04:18 PM
I am a Patreon supporter and I enjoy your occasional off-topic posts (particularly about Jazz). But while you are an excellent writer, there are others with targeted subjects I'm interested in. While I'm happy to continue to support a heavy mix of photography posts with a mix of off-topic, if it was more off-topic than it is now, I would likely not continue my Patreon support. Life is short and I try to read any number of people who I consider talented writers, but there are limits.
Posted by: JD Ramsey | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 08:54 PM
While I do enjoy the occasional off-topic article I come here for the photography. And not for gear reviews, although I do like those that you have. but your strength is in critiquing and discussing the ideas behind photography.
Interesting articles may be:
- discussion of a famous or not-at-all famous photograph, the story behind it and what we can learn from it today
- have photographers talk about their business and how they manage this in todays world
- more articles on curating your photos and how to present yourself
- discussion of analog photography to help those that start their now
- the value of printing
- the occasional personal review of technical gear
I think more colaboration with others and guest-writers would help as well.
Going 'off-topic', ie with barely any photography content, would, as much as I enjoy your writing, probably have me look elsewhere.
Posted by: Lars Jansen | Friday, 15 September 2023 at 03:37 AM
I don't know the answer to your dilemma. I read pretty much everything you post, but I'm mainly here for the photography-related content. Your writing on photography is fairly unique among all the photo sites/blogs/vlogs on the web, so I would be disappointed if it went away or diminished. That said, I would certainly read a more general blog that you wrote, at least to start. It seems like this blog has gradually become a lot more general/OT over the years anyway.
Posted by: AN | Friday, 15 September 2023 at 09:53 AM
I agree with the people who mentioned Substack. You could do it in addition to your main blog and just post some of your "best of" from TOP.
Posted by: Laura Majerus | Friday, 15 September 2023 at 01:47 PM
Mike,
1. I think a majority photo related is best, and a significant of it about images and not gear--which I guess is the way it has been.
2. A request: as you look at lots of user internet sites, a review of what you think about them, and the company(s) that host them.
(I have a personnel reason for 2. I am interested in setting up one for images and science disc.--maybe including my unpublished textbooks I use in college course.)
Thanks, Daniel
Posted by: Daniel M. Speyer | Saturday, 16 September 2023 at 05:00 PM
Look at the number of comments. But little reply from Mike to whom the comments are made.
You have 100's of readers and a vast amount of expertise and photos/websites which you are not making use of. I get 100% it is your blog but you are mostly excluding everyone else which means the potential community is stifled.
Big websites like instagram make no posts it is all the community. I do not suggest you turn this into such a generalist site but that you leverage your readers. They have photos, stories, opinions (cameras, printers, software etc all photo related) and they are a source of content that would ease the pressure on you considerably.
We all are 100% happy that it is your site and 100% your choice. Apple was 100% Steve Jobs but it is more than 1 person.
We are all probably interested in more exposure for 'some' of our images etc and would like to be 'published' and not concerned with payment.
You have been an editor before so the circle is back at the start again maybe you can embrace that role again. If you got one story/post from a group of readers each month/2 months think how it would ease your load and maybe increase the diversity/scope of the website.
I do believe TOP is only at the beginning NOT the end.
PS I am emailing you a story and photos as an example which you can use if you wish.
Posted by: louis mccullagh | Sunday, 17 September 2023 at 04:59 AM
One more vote for photography! Nothing against other random subjects as long as they're random around a core of photography.
Posted by: Nikojorj | Sunday, 17 September 2023 at 04:27 PM