Blog Network Slashes Pay For Bloggers
By Anna Johnson on October 7th, 2008TechCrunch reports that Toronto based b5Media plans to change how it pays the bloggers in its blog network. For many, the changes will mean considerable pay cuts.
Based on an email memo issued by chief executive Jeremy Wright, b5media – which consists of hundreds of blogs – plans to ditch the previous pay structure under which bloggers were paid a guaranteed $100-$200 per month plus bonuses for traffic.
Now, bloggers will receive smaller guaranteed payments plus monthly bonuses for: press coverage received by the blog or blogger; exclusive interviews they organize; and the growth of the blog. There will also be a quarterly bonus based on a scoring system.
The upshot will be that bloggers will be paid less, in many cases MUCH less, than previously. Mr Wright, however, stresses that this is due to a previous system that over-paid bloggers and the need to better align payments with performance.
Source: Michael Arrington, “Big Blogger Pay Cuts At b5Media”, TechCrunch, October 2, 2008
