bookofjoe says 'show me the money'

Richard Pérez-Peña's November 18, 2008 New York Times front page story about the rise of web-based news operations made me stand up straight and pay attention.

Why?

Consider the following excerpts from his article:

“No one here welcomes the decline of newspapers,” said Andrew Donohue, one of two executive editors at VoiceofSanDiego. “We can’t be the main news source for this city, not for the foreseeable future. We only have 11 people.”

The executive editors, Mr. Donohue, 30, and Scott Lewis, 32, each had a few years of experience at small papers before abandoning newsprint. So far, their audience is tiny, about 18,000 monthly unique visitors, according to Quantcast, a media measurement service.

Mr. Donohue and Mr. Lewis earned $60,000 to $70,000 last year, according to the VoiceofSan Diego I.R.S. filings.

On a budget under $800,000 this year — almost $200,000 more than last year — everyone does double duty.

....................

Huh.

I started the same year they did, in 2004.

"We only have 11 people."

That's 10 more than I've got to work with.

"... earned $60,000 to $70,000 last year" — they only thing I earned was a couple cease-and-desist letters.

"... about 18,000 monthly unique visitors" — I had more than that Wednesday last week:

My budget this year?

Well, let's see: I pay TypePad $14.95/month to host bookofjoe and Sitemeter $19.95/month so I have some idea of what's happening... lemme get my calculator, hold on.... OK, that's a total of $34.90/month x 12 months = $418.80 a year.

That's what it costs me to produce bookofjoe.

After 4+ years, total income here is $0.00.

I must've missed the clue train when it came through my Podunk town....

But wait, there's more from the Times story:

Most of this new breed of news sites have a whiff of scruffy insurgency, but MinnPost, based in Minneapolis, resembles the middle-age establishment. Its founder and chief executive, Joel Kramer, has been the editor and publisher of The Star Tribune, of Minneapolis, and its top editors are refugees from that paper or its rival, The Pioneer Press in St. Paul.

MinnPost is rich compared with its peers — with a $1.5 million bankroll from Mr. Kramer and several others when it started last year, and a $1.3 million annual budget — and it has been more aggressive about selling ads and getting readers to donate.

The full-time editors and reporters earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year, Mr. Kramer said — a living wage, but less than they would make at the competing papers. MinnPost has just five full-time employees, but it uses more than 40 paid freelance contributors, allowing it to do frequent reporting on areas like the arts and sports.

"The biggest of the new nonprofit news sites, MinnPost in the Twin Cities and the St. Louis Beacon, can top 200,000 visitors in a month....

.....................

Lessee, a $1.5 million bankroll to get going and then $1.3 million a year — I could do quite a lot with that.

And $50,000 to $60,000 a year would be nice to have for walking around money, fer shur — though there's not a whole lot you can use it for while you're shuffling along on a treadmill all day.

MinnPost has five full time employees, and with all that money sloshing around they've managed to "... top 200,000 visitors in a month."

Well, they've got me beat there, as any fool can plainly see by looking at my traffic stats below:

But not for much longer.