A couple of days ago I was contacted by Bazaar magazine and was offered a chance to have my own “B-Sides” page in the magazine every month where I could post mini reviews on anything related to Kuwait. At first the idea sounded really interesting, combining blog with print sounded like an excellent opportunity. But the more I thought about it the more I realized.. excellent opportunity for what? What could I gain with this?
Increased Readership
Bazaar prints around 25,000 copies a month while 248AM gets more then 3 times that amount of visitors every month and we are still growing. Bazaar readers would only read around 4 mini reviews by me every month while my blog readers would read at least 4 mini posts by me a day. My sites url would be advertised in that Bazaar page but from those 25,000 readers how many would actually think about checking out my site? When was the last time anyone saw a url in a magazine and then checked it out online.. it happens but just not that often.
Digital to Print
At first this sounded interesting, but then I realized isn’t that a step backward? Isn’t print trying to get online? Shouldn’t Bazaar start thinking about getting online instead? WIRED magazine have a small 2 page section where they print interesting posts from the web but I never liked that section but thats besides the point, WIRED can do whatever they want since their whole Magazine is published for free online anyway.
The Money
The first offer I got was KD20 (yes two and one zero) a month. I calculated the amount of time and effort I would have to put extra every month to have at least 4 mini reviews of something interesting to do with Kuwait and I realized KD20 wouldn’t be worth my trouble at all. Bazaar were nice to say they would consider another amount I had in mind but if they had KD20 in their mind to begin with I doubt they would go that much higher.
The Magazine
Do I even like Bazaar? Not really. I do think its the best locally published magazine but thats because their competition is really crap. I pick up Bazaar once a month so I can skim through it quickly and see if there is anything interesting. I mostly don’t find anything worth reading and the magazine ends up in the trash or left on a food court table. I enjoy reading local blogs a lot more then I enjoy reading Bazaar thats for sure.
Who’s the boss?
When someone suggested to Zaydoun that he should hook up with one of the newspapers as a syndicated writer, Zaydoun replied saying “I am my own editor… I can’t imagine being subjected to deadlines and editorial controls!”.
So taking everything above into consideration, I sent an email back to Bazaar today morning thanking them for their kind offer but that I wasn’t interested. I think I made the right decision.
30 replies on “2:48AM in Bazaar”
Couldnt you just take a few things from this site & send it to bazaar every month.
no because i dont post 4 mini reviews on something to do with Kuwait every month..
your site/blog is already famous, mesh na2sak bazaar
@Mark, I consider it should be more about building your reputation than the money. I would have accepted this offer by the Bazaar magazine.
what would i gain by building my reputation?
i mean you will increase your credibility . Everything in life should not equal to monetary purpose.
Being in Bazaar won’t make me or anyone more credible.
its just a difference of opinion .I’ll be doing it more for the position than monetary means since i am not as popular as you are.
Firstly I never said the reason I wouldn’t do it was for the money. Secondly if you think you would be famous by having an article in Bazaar you are wrong. Name me one writer from Bazaar and then name me five kuwaiti bloggers. Its easier to name 5 bloggers then it is to name 1 bazaar writer..
Mr. Impressive and um .. Mrs. Unimpressed .. yeah.
i think what rehan is trying to say is, it’s just a first step. For all you know, you might be contacted by a bigger & better publishing co. later.
The Best thing about Bazaar is that they will NOT edit you. They WILL let you write what you want. And I agree you shouldnt do anything similar to your blog because that takes away from its original online concept, but why not write 4 mini things a month? You write 4 a day easily here so its not like it would take you more than an hour to do it for Bazaar. I definitly Bazaar need some new Blood and fresh writers so I would love it if that were ou and maybe then more fresh people would join and the whole magazine would improve. And you would have done that!
Nouf you know how difficult it would be to find 4 new interesting things in kuwait every month to talk about? It would mean I would actually have to go around looking and finding places and things. Thats a lot of my time which I do not have and it would take a lot more then an hour for sure and why for only KD20? I would rather pay KD20 and not have to go through all that lol
Plus Bazaar would censor inappropriate language.
I would pay money to read bazaar if holla wrote for them …
If Holla wrote for Bazaar the government would shut down the magazine
There’s nothing to gain from either magazine or blog really, but it would be useful for readers who haven’t found your blog yet or still don’t believe in online articles.
Tell them ok, you will write whatever you want to write, but in return take 25% of the revenue from the advert on the page facing your column:)
While on the topic … how much does Bazaar charge per advert?
Mark: yes it does make you more credible. Anyone can write on his own blog, but not everyone can snip their fingers and write in a commercial print magazine.
(I am not in Kuwait and I do not know Bazaar magazine though.)
Cote thats not being fair. There are a lot of bloggers out there who are a lot more credible then many comerrcial writers. Andy Baio (waxy.org) and Jason Kottke (kottke.org) being two. Its easy to blog, anyone can blog but not anyone can be a good blogger you know what i mean.
Mark, I bet you could get at least 50 KD. And tell them you will start on a freelance basis, not every month, and see if you like it. By the way, I am sure they would not make you stick to “4 interesting things about kuwait”. I know Bazaar and they would let you write ANYTHING as lond as it is attracting readers. For example, one month could be a one page review of the international vet hospital, which would be easy for you and so many people with pets have never heard of it. Another month could be your favorite pieces of technology (which you know so much about). I doubt they will make you stick to any one formula.
Seemz like a lot of people wants you to do it…
Does this mean, you are open to them for negotiations ?
Mark … revolve.
actually, if you had accepted their offer you would’ve made Bazaar so much popular and interesting for once and I’ll definitely start reading it.
Vineeth maybe lol no i am just kidding.
mark… your blog is boring, and your reviews would have been boring too. you’ve saved us all from spreading your boring self around kuwait!
thanks for refusing Bazaar.
my dear esmeralda. .
sounds like Ur Bazaar staff or somethin..
I mean, mark is already ‘spread around’ kuwait without the help of that stupid magazine
uh huh… spread out by quantity, and not quality. riiiiiiiiiight!
“uh huh… spread out by quantity, and not quality. riiiiiiiiiight!”
Sounds familiar .. do you read Bazaar?