The A-List Doesn’t Exist… And they work harder than you…

!?

Look, I’m sure Loren is a nice enough guy. A nice Jewish guy from New York with a cool New York Accent (not unlike my own although mine is much less pronounced than his) with strong opinions on tech is a good thing, but he has one thing in common with another New Yorker, Jason Calacanis, and that’s an obsession with the new buzzword (new? really?) that seems to have permeated the blogosphere, and that’s “A-List.”

Calacanis has posted about it ad nauseam on his Twitter feed as well as his blog telling us that it doesn’t exist, and it’s bullshit (oddly enough, Loren and Jason did not consult on this video as far as I know). Others have whined continuously that it does exist and it keeps people on the buttom rungs of the blogosphere there permanently.

As is usually the case, somewhere between Calacanis & Feldman’s chest-thumping bravado is the truth. Let me break it down for you.

1. Denying that there’s an A-List of blogging is like denying that the sky is blue. The only people who don’t think that an A-list of blogs exist are usually those included within the A-List themselves. Disputing its existence makes you look out of touch with the low-hanging fruit in the blogosphere.

2. Denying that A-LIst bloggers take a lion’s share of the eyeballs away from smaller and less established blogs as well as make up the largest share of the money spent on ads on blogs is ludicrous.

3. Using examples like Peter Rojas, Mike Arrington, Steve Rubel and Robert Scoble almost entirely proves the point that someone like Calacanis is grossly out of touch. I could explain it, but I think Blogebrity does an awesome job of dismantling Calacanis here:

While rebutting a lame claim that “blue-collar bloggers” can’t profit from their blogs without whoring out to paid review services like PayPerPost, Jason claims anyone could become an A-lister in three months. Step two on that get-big-quick scheme is “Go to 2-3 events or conferences a week.” Now that is a classist insult on the level of “let them eat cake.” That kind of event schedule is for power networkers, not good bloggers. Step four is basically “write about tech.” Actually, that’s a way to get ignored by the tech crowd and make everyone else scared or bored.

Now after reading those three things, you may think I disagree with Calacanis and Feldman.

You’d be wrong.

Despite my belief that an A-List exists in the blogosphere, I don’t let it hold me back. I still work hard on this site. I still try to keep it fresh, engaging, and interesting in spite of the fact that I don’t make Scoble money for my endeavors, I still enjoy doing what I’m doing. I don’t “look up” to high-up blogs as people I can never reach, or who’s league I’m not in. Frankly, I don’t have the ability to turn this into anything more than a really fun self-sustaining hobby.

ISPNMedia and insignificant thoughts both pay for themselves every month. A few years ago that wasn’t the case. In fact, at one point I considered stopping simply because I couldn’t afford it, but I persevered and kept the site going. I even accept ads now (which I thought I never would) but they aren’t pay-per-click ads, they’re just there, monthly, supporting my habit.

I work hard at what I do, and the one thing I will never do is make excuses for where I am in the blogosphere. I know where I am, and I’m happy to be here. My site and any endeavors thereto connected support themselves. I like writing. I enjoy having an audience of about 200,000 every month. I love podcasting for a small intimate group of folks who probably all know me personally.

I don’t rate my success on the Calacanis scale of success, nor do I compare myself to Peter Rojas and entertain thoughts of suicide.

I’m not A-List.

And frankly, it doesn’t matter to me.

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  • http://www.1938media.com Loren Feldman

    And frankly, it doesn’t matter to me.

    Exactly.

    BTW your 200k, dwarfs my audience. It’s all about perception.

  • http://www.calacanis.com Jason

    The A-list doesn’t “take” traffic from other blogs. Those other blogs never had that traffic to being with.

    That’s the sense of entitlement that people who have recently (less than 2 years) started blogging seem to have. “How come I don’t get the traffic of scoble?!” ummm…. well, he’s being doing it for years, every day (and night), without a break.

    Also, he might have more to say.

    If there is or isn’t an A-list is moot. If there is it doesn’t matter because you can get on it really easy, and even the biggest A-lister on a blog is less famous than the lowest celebrity on the lowest rated reality TV show. The stakes here are really, really low… I think thats why people are fighting so hard.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Guess so, Loren.

    Like I said, I don’t disagree that people who worry about that sort of thing are idiots, I do disagree with the notion that an A-List doesn’t exist at all.

    Thanks for writing!

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    I don’t agree Jason.

    Bigger sites do take a lion’s share of the eyeballs away from other sites. People have a finite amount of time to read blogs, websites, browse flickr, etc. If someone is hanging on every post that Kottke writes that says he changed an html tag on his site (just making an example) there isn’t a lot of time to read others.

    Your philosophy boils down to blogging success equals the ability to blog at all times foresaking everything else and so on. That’s true, of course, but there aren’t a whole lot of people who can make that sort of commitment to blogging.

    You are right, though, that if you can’t make that level of commitment, you can’t expect that level of success. I don’t think even the most self-centered vanity-blogger can argue that point.

    I don’t think it’s about a sense of entitlement, though. There are lots of blogs out there that are well-respected and add nothing to the conversation simply because they’ve scratched the right back at some point. They didn’t work hard to get to the top, they don’t deserve to be there, and they produce nothing. For them it isn’t about quality, it’s about having been there and stumbling into the clique.

    Like I said, I could care less. My blogging and podcasting isn’t done to be the next great personality. I’ve had my smash hits in the blogosphere. I’ve made my impact. And I’ve been at the bottom of the food chain. I prefer to look forward than up, but that’s just me.

  • http://www.1938media.com/ Loren Feldman

    And frankly, it doesn’t matter to me.

    Exactly.

    BTW your 200k, dwarfs my audience. It’s all about perception.

  • http://www.calacanis.com/ Jason

    The A-list doesn’t “take” traffic from other blogs. Those other blogs never had that traffic to being with.

    That’s the sense of entitlement that people who have recently (less than 2 years) started blogging seem to have. “How come I don’t get the traffic of scoble?!” ummm…. well, he’s being doing it for years, every day (and night), without a break.

    Also, he might have more to say.

    If there is or isn’t an A-list is moot. If there is it doesn’t matter because you can get on it really easy, and even the biggest A-lister on a blog is less famous than the lowest celebrity on the lowest rated reality TV show. The stakes here are really, really low… I think thats why people are fighting so hard.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Guess so, Loren.

    Like I said, I don’t disagree that people who worry about that sort of thing are idiots, I do disagree with the notion that an A-List doesn’t exist at all.

    Thanks for writing!

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    I don’t agree Jason.

    Bigger sites do take a lion’s share of the eyeballs away from other sites. People have a finite amount of time to read blogs, websites, browse flickr, etc. If someone is hanging on every post that Kottke writes that says he changed an html tag on his site (just making an example) there isn’t a lot of time to read others.

    Your philosophy boils down to blogging success equals the ability to blog at all times foresaking everything else and so on. That’s true, of course, but there aren’t a whole lot of people who can make that sort of commitment to blogging.

    You are right, though, that if you can’t make that level of commitment, you can’t expect that level of success. I don’t think even the most self-centered vanity-blogger can argue that point.

    I don’t think it’s about a sense of entitlement, though. There are lots of blogs out there that are well-respected and add nothing to the conversation simply because they’ve scratched the right back at some point. They didn’t work hard to get to the top, they don’t deserve to be there, and they produce nothing. For them it isn’t about quality, it’s about having been there and stumbling into the clique.

    Like I said, I could care less. My blogging and podcasting isn’t done to be the next great personality. I’ve had my smash hits in the blogosphere. I’ve made my impact. And I’ve been at the bottom of the food chain. I prefer to look forward than up, but that’s just me.