Blog 2.0 – How Blogs Continue to Re-Define Author, Publisher, and Reader Dynamics

This morning’s Blogging Panel at BookExpo featured author/editor Dan Burnstein, Managing Partner, Millenium Technology Venture Partners ; Michael Cader, Founder, Publishers Marketplace; Anna Marie Cox, Blogger, Author, Critic; Shawn Gold, Publisher, Weblogs, Inc.; and Markos Zuniga, Founder, The Daily Kos, and author/entrepreneur. Each panelist spoke individually and then took questions from the audience. Some insights from the panel:

• As of February 2006, there are 27 million blogs with 2.7 million of them being updated at least weekly.
• There are 60 times more blogs than three years ago.
• There are 75,000 new blogs per day and 1.2 million posts to blogs everyday.
• There are 150-200 blogs which have significant readership and that gives them a form of cultual authority. (Stats quoted in this presentation are from Technorati).
• Bloggers may trend away from print media as it does not provide the opportunity to respond that blogs do.
• Publishers should take advantage of blog technology. Use Author Bloggers to promote new books – pay authors to write blogs for a couple of months to generate interest in new, upcoming books/topics.
• Blogs represent the rise of individual voices over institutional voices. Athough in the future, blogs will likely be a vital part of most organizations.
• Look for ways to use blogs to showcase individual voices speaking on behalf of your cause.
• In today’s world if you do not have an electronic voice (Blog) you are not being heard.
• Many people start blogging because they do not have a voice elsewhere.
• Blogs serve as mediums that help identify the strongest voices in a niche.