Blogging isn't the path to riches, I guess

I'm getting a lot of sad stories about bloggers struggling financially, and I just thought I'd mention a few of them.

There's the perennially struggling Gary Farber, of course. He's a blogger emeritus, having been around for several years longer than I have. Check out his left sidebar for options to help him out.

Gary has mentioned that the fierce and acerbic Roy Edroso of Alicublog is having a rough go of it, too.

Now I learn that Lance Mannion is deep in a hole and scrabbling to escape. He's writing a book on raising a child with Asperger's — somebody ought to snap it up, he's a wonderful writer.

The annoying thing about these writers is that they're all good, thoughtful, interesting people…and they ought to be writing for the big magazines or newspapers. But, unfortunately, when the NY Times goes looking for columnists, writing skills and cogent commentary aren't among the qualifications, or plodders and hacks like Ross Douthat or Jonah Goldberg would be unemployed, rather than living well on wingnut welfare.

I'll also mention a fourth example of low-budget blogging: me. Seed hasn't managed to send me a paycheck for the last several months. I, at least, have a solid stable day job and a family that has grown up and moved out on me, so I'm not panicking. I'm definitely not asking for money for me…if you're feeling like dropping a few dollars on someone for online content, look to Gary or Roy or Lance. Or if you can't afford anything right now (I'm definitely sympathetic about that), at least go start reading their stuff regularly.