Today the Columbia Journalism Review released a giant report with some surprising insights into the new writing economy. Most dramatically, sponsored blog posts have proven to be the most lucrative corner of the writing economy.
Here is an excerpt: “But a 2010 study by Izea found that many people engaged in this ‘social media sponsorship’ weren’t aware of the FTC guidelines or had been offered compensation without a requirement to disclose it. The survey respondents also priced a ‘sponsored tweet’ from a personal Twitter account at an average of $124 and a ‘sponsored blog post’ at $179—around the same amount a small news organization will pay for a story and far more than an average blog post would ever get from display ads.”
Entitled “The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism,” the report also looks at digital advertising, subscription rates and new ways of making money as a writer. What do you think about sponsored posts? (Via Edward Champion)