Even though my Internet access right now is limited to use of university computer labs on weekdays and Internet cafes at the rate of €1 per hour, I am still trying to keep up with my usual information absorption methods through podcasts and RSS feeds. I was not particularly aware of the recent “anime is just entertainment” discussion that happened over the past week and frankly I didn’t really care about it. (My short response: anime is entertainment by definition. It is the viewer that chooses to see depth in it, if any in fact exists with the work in question.) Same goes for the “anime is dead” and “how does one define anime” discourse of the last month or so. I felt that if I happened to fashion a post on the above topics and those of similar ilk, it would get lost in the noise and not get read with as much credence or attention as the first couple people who chimed in. Though I probably would have written a “What are you talking about?!? Anime is alive and kickin’!” post if I had thought of it at the time instead of just now.

Now that I’ve wasted the precious first paragraph of aggregator sample space, let me get to what actually prompted this process of writing my thoughts onto a pad of paper and then typing them into a computer the next day. I was listening to episode 530 of Buzz Out Loud – CNET’s “podcast of indeterminate length” – and there was a news story was about shield law protection for bloggers that was amended into a House bill, specifically the Free Flow of Information Act (HR 2102). The revision was made to exclude the “casual blogger” by stating that the protections from having to reveal sources only apply to those who derive “financial gain and livelihood” from the journalistic activity. This presumably would include part-time bloggers who use Google Ads or other sorts of revenue generating system. According to the news article, the bill defines journalism as “gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.” Naturally, when I heard this, my brain tried to make a connection to anime blogging, even if there may not actually be one.

The first blogs relating to anime that came to my mind regarding having ad revenue on them were Japanator and Hung’s Basugasubakuhatsu Blog, although I am sure there are many others. Japanator is an offshoot of the video game news blog Destructoid and they regularly report news like its sister site does, along with the also usual funny video postings. Hung’s blog features mainly DVD and manga reviews and the occassional news item or two, which I certainly thinks qualifies as journalism akin to a film or book critic. However, there is a notable (in my opinion) difference between the two in that Hung has no obvious business interest besides making a little extra money on Anime Nano T-shirts, mugs and mousepads as well as some gain from participating in Amazon’s affiliate program as seen in the links to the revelant product pages at the bottom of each review.

Personally, I have thought idly on-and-off about adding Google Adsense, another avenue of revenue Hung has, to this blog when I see the “$0.00″ conversion rate in the monetization section of my Google Analytics report. I don’t particularly have room at the top of my current design for ads and I have no concrete ideas of a redesign so for now, I guess I would place them at the bottom of each page where unfortunately almost no one would see and subsequently click on them due to my longer-than-it-should-be sidebar. Don’t be surprised if I actually decide to implement this plan next month just to see if I can make a little bit of money from it.

Another possible revenue stream that I have thought more seriously about intergrating into my content-management system are affliate links from anime retailers such as AnimeNation, RightStuf and Robert’s Anime Corner Store. This would be better-looking aesthetically and easier to implement than Google Ads in my opinion but then the choice would be which store to go with. I can’t choose them all, right? One upshot that could lead me to going through with this option is the self-realization that I write about upcoming US DVD releases fairly often whentaling about news and convention reports. The only change would seem to be a simple, pretty subtle HTML edit and most of those links would be initially be to preorder pages, if they are even up at the time, so that should please the retailers a little bit if anyone happens to buy stuff through my redirection.

I didn’t start writing an anime blog with the intention of profiting from it; I simply wanted to get my voice out there about something I cared deeply about. The capitalist within me has kept this idea of monetization stuck in the back of the head just as it provoked me to start a TalkShoe podcast with the incentive of making money simply by producing episodes and having people listen to them. No, that was not a plug but rather a subconscious reminder that I should start making more episodes to upload to that account. I kind of plan to use the earnings to ease my pocketbook a little when it comes to buying stuff and paying for hosting.

Back to the journalism bent that I had originally intended to write about: the main reason I think the everyone started blogging about anime, manga, figures, or what have you was because they were passionate and wanted to share that passion with those who would listen. I don’t really consider episode-based posts to be “news” per se but I do equate them to what the series bloggers compose at TV Squad as they post about the good and bad of what shows they chose to or were assigned to follow, not sure which exactly. While there are some anime bloggers who mainly post news items such as Randall at ikimashou.net, I would place the bulk of anime bloggers in the realm of commentators of the general scene, myself included. Memes; obsessions with particular characters, series, voice actors, or directors; opinion polls; friendly teasing among members of the community; and the more philosophical wonderings that I mentioned at the beginning of this long stream-of-consciousness piece (I’m already on my third written page) are many of the non-serial things that comprise the daily patches of posts being virtually printed from fans around the world.

But that leaning toward a commenator classification raises some internal questions when I think about columnists in other fields. Would a humorist like Dave Barry, a politicalcoluminst like Bob Novak, or a technology writer like John C. Dvorak be considered reporters because they work or have worked for commercial publications? Well, I don’t think Dave had to deal with sources of non-disclosure agreements at all but Dvorak is definitely an insider and has sources he doesn’t reveal as well as refusing to sign an NDA just to get his hands on a particular device. And Bob Novak is well-known to have been involved in the Valerie Plame leak incident. The same kind of “time-sensitive” or inside information I’m sure occurs within the anime industry regarding licenses and other important news but it likely happens on a much smaller scale with a limited circle of people involved including Chris Beveridge and Shawne Kleckner.

Looking back over what I’ve been writing for the past couple hours, I seem to have frayed a metaphoric rope into many strands and left myself with just some loose ends, having made no clear point in all this except that I might start trying to making money on my blog. I guess I just felt like writing and it blossomed in length as synapses fired and various facts were stitched together into something that hopefully made a lick of sense.

Any feedback on any of the things I touched upon or on the post as a whole would be greatly appreciated. Did you like the more natural, rambling style of writing or do you have no clue what the hell you just read? More short-form or long-form posts? Would you care if started slipping affliate links into future posts and, more importantly, would you click through and buy something? Are you saddened that I didn’t get into more detail about the Free Flow of Information Act? Would you like to be protected under that provision just so you could say you are?

Thanks for reading this whole entry or, if not that, at least caring enough to skim through it or simply skipping to the end.

Related posts based on tags:

• Reflecting on My 3 Year, 1 Month, 1 Week Aniblogging Anniversary (6)
• Noein: Anime’s “Stand By Me”? (5)
• Cost Plus Ad Calls Ramune “Latest Craze From Japan” (3)
• A Call For Better Advance Awareness (1)

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 7:53 am and is filed under Editorial, Site Related. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.