Knowing my role

Do you smell what the rock is cooking?
The Rock says, The Rock says, The Rock says, The Rock says
The Rock says, The Rock says know you damn role
Know your role
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says know your damn role
The Rock says, The Rock says, The Rock says, The Rock says
The Rock says, The Rock Say know you damn role
Know your role
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says
The Rock says know your damn role

I've been very busy the past four days getting acclimated to my new high school, meeting my new colleagues, and having a blast teasing my fellow social studies teachers (no English this year, only one preparation for the first time since the 2000-2001 school year! I'm beyond ecstatic about that). However, I've been mostly unable to find the time/energy to keep up with the constant teacup tempest brewings, so I guess the one interesting bit I read this afternoon might serve as a nice dovetail back into my personal/professional life.

Gabe Chouinard has a reaction to the reactions to last week's discussion regarding finding ways of paying bloggers. To be blunt, he's quite frustrated with the reaction that many had to his proposals of finding a way to generate revenue from getting publishers and others in the industry to buy ads on various SF/F blogs. Descriptors such as "placid" and "resistent to change" are peppered throughout his post, used to argue that those who are opposed to his ideas are being reluctant to engage the possibility of working with publishers to create content in exchange for money.

While it sounds nice, I naturally noticed a few flaws in this approach. First off, what sort of "advertising" are we talking about? If it's money, wouldn't advertisers like to see some bang for their buck? This blog probably is in upper tier of non-author/publishing firm SF/F blogs in regards to hits and between direct and feed views, I only average slightly more than 1,000 page views a day. While there are a few sites that I know of that get 2x or 3x that traffic, most "independent" SF/F blogs that have reliable tracking numbers (this is excluding Livejournal, unfortunately) that I know of receive less than half of mine.

One thousand daily page views might sound like a good number for many, but compared to the Boing-Boings or other such sites, it is miniscule. Add to that the fact that I likely share about 1/3 to 1/2 of my audience with similar blogs and it really doesn't make much sense to pay more than a pittance for advertising, even if I were so inclined.

In a time in which major newspapers such as the New York Times is losing quite a bit of its ad revenue due to the slumping economy, it seems rather odd to think that online spec fic advertising on sites that get maybe 50-500 page views a day would 1) be approved by advertising firms, and in the unlikely case of it happening, 2) would pay more than maybe $10-50/month.

I'm quite realistic where I stand in the hierarchy - just big enough for certain "higher ups" to have noticed me, but far from the gravy train of publicity/advertising revenue. I would imagine that I'd have to at least multiply my daily average by 10-20x to have any realistic expectations of getting advertising dollars. Besides, when I'm making over $40,000 a year as a teacher, I'm in no hurry to quit my day job to do what would amount to lower-paying freelance work on a more than full-time basis. I know my role, and that is to be a teacher first, a blogger somewhat further down the line.

That being said, tomorrow is my first day with the students. I expect to have some fun.