I spent many years as a newspaperman, as big an ink-stained wretch as ever sneezed during a church service and refused to be sorry for having done so.
So, when I was offered the chance to teach journalism at a local college, I got right on it, took a few months to think it over and then gave my would-be employer a resounding, “Okay, I guess.”
The teaching went well and I enjoyed it. I marched into classrooms every day for six years and in all that time, though I taught 12 months of the year, I was never a full-time professor. My colleagues who enjoyed that status, taught only eight months out of every 12. I taught every summer while they were surfing and driving around in their convertibles and picked up the courses they weren’t teaching.
One course I taught one summer was on magazines. I had never worked on a news magazine or any other kind so this was new to me. And one of the first things that jumped out at me from the course materials I was given to work with is that magazine readers love numbers. And pictures. So it is never good enough to write an article on the best way to prepare a delicious macaroni and cheese supper. It has to be the 14 best ways to do it. Or the 21 or 42.
I thought this was kind of nuts but when I started looking at magazines, I could see that this was the case. Every article had to be broken up into pieces. Like a parent cuts up his toddler’s food at mealtime to make it more appealing and digestible. Therefore, appears The Six Sure Ways to Stop Sneezing in Church. The 12 Best Ways to Suppress Flatulence During Your Wedding. On and on.
Magazine readers, it seems, want their solutions served up step by step and in beautiful living colour. And magazine publishers know their market. In fact, this is an old tradition and they are just the modern, updated versions of what was put in front of the heathens in bliblical times. The Ten Commandments. The Seven Deadly Sins. The Beatitudes (not sure how many they were.) The Sermon on the Mount delivered some number of goodies, I believe.
Fast forward to 2019 and the Internet which is basically magazines for the modern age. And what attracts the most attention are the 20 ways to get healthier and the 30 ways to start earning a six-figure income.
I make no criticism of this and, in fact, am easily led by the numbers merchants. I write this blog (and two others) and so, of course, I want to find out how to do it better, reach more people, and earn a buck or two in the process.
That is why I just watched a video of the Top 10 Money Making Blogs. I have to say, it was darned interesting.
And here, listed below, are the Top 15 Reasons I Like the Video So Much, followed by the Top 22 Reasons I Will Never Follow Even One of the Money Making Blog Suggestions.
After all that, I will also list the Five Biggest Reasons I Need a Nap.
©2019 Jim Hagarty
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