Winebits 255: Birthday week notes

A few thoughts about blog trends over the past year:

• Apparently, no one really cares: The Robert Parker-Vintners Hall of Fame posts, which ran earlier this year, generated almost no buzz -- Nos. 224 and 225 over the last 12 months. Even a 2 1/2-year-old post about Hello Kitty wines did better (No. 100). What's fascinating about this is that the posts did generate buzz in the wine community (or so I was told), which speaks to Parker's position among the general wine consumer. Which that there isn't, apparently, much of one any more.

• Still looking for the big money: The blog earned about $1,500 over the past 12 months, about the same as last year. Frankly, I'm stumped about how to increase revenue. I'm certainly not going to do it with advertising, recession or no, and I'm not new media savvy enough to figure out what will do it. I have a few thoughts, including a paid service, which would let people subscribe to the Wine Curmudgeon data base. I'll probably detail some of my ideas in a later post.

• Full disclosure: The blog has followed that policy for five years, whether it's subscribing to the eGullet code of ethics for online writers, disclosing my relationship with anyone or anything I write about, and letting you know whether I paid for a wine or got it for free. No quid pro quos here, and I have the angry emails and phone calls from publicists to prove it.

 

Comments

[bob]

863

[Alfonso]

just blow out the candles and let's open up the Cava now...

man you are getting some mileage out of this milestone...you are Batman!