Scrivs has waded into the ‘How much should blog networks pay their bloggers?’ conversation by refocussing the question (as he is in the habit of doing):

‘So really should we be asking how writers in these networks should be getting paid? I don’t think so because you can find people to write for you in almost any model. The question you have to ask yourself is what type of model do you need to bring in the talent to help you succeed?’

I’ve been pondering this whole question for a few days now since we launched b5media and I’m coming to a similar position.

The question of ‘how much’ IS important. But I’m wondering what else makes a blog network successful?

I chatted this morning with a blog network owner who told me how he couldn’t believe the response we’d had at b5 from people wanting to be involved – he asked why he’d had little interest from a similar invitation to bloggers to join with what he thought sounded like much more generous terms.

I’ve been wondering ever since why this is the case? With networks being announced every second day (I saw two new ones yesterday alone) – why are some taking off while others seem to disappear so quickly?

My answer to this question is still forming in my mind – but let me attempt to give a glimpse of what I’m coming to by describing what I’ve noticed so far about those wanting to join b5media.

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I’ve long fantasized about having a blog HQ where I could blog from – with space for designers, writers, reviewers and for me to sit back in a spa sipping champagne watching it all – so when Niall Kennedy reported that Weblogs Inc is launching Engadget Labs I got really jealous.

‘Editors Peter Rojas and Ryan Block will work out of their new office in New York with possibly a few other members of the Weblogs Inc. network. The new office space will include a special podcasting room for interviews with visiting companies as well as the weekly Engadget podcast.’

Ok – it could just be a spare room or two in someone’s apartment – but knowing the way the Weblogs Inc team does things it will be a step up from that! It certainly sounds cool.

Update: Ok – if Engadget can have Labs – so should ProBlogger! Here they are….
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Martin has an interesting post on Blog Networks with some comments about B5media especially. Interesting in the comments section are some reflections by Jason Calacanis from WeblogsInc who comments on the idea of revenue sharing as opposed to paying bloggers outright.

While WIN have gone for the paying of bloggers outright after their bloggers reacted against a revenue share/split model – Jason writes that perhaps things have changed now with more bloggers wanting to explore making an income from blogging and as a result an increased number of bloggers willing to do the revenue share thing. He writes:

However, it’s different today – there might be many more people out there to work for a future share of revenue. So, I think B5 and 9rules will both do very well in this space. In fact, it’s the most under serviced space right now, so they have the market all to themselves.

I think that there is some sense in this. What interests me is that despite the criticism of b5′s revenue share model by a few people – we’ve had over 100 bloggers have applied to write for the network – with more pitches arriving in our inboxes every day. These applicants are not your niave, ignorant or inexperienced bloggers either – they know what they are doing and know where they want to blog. Something is going on here.

Also interesting are Jason’s comments about how much their bloggers currently earn:

Today we have over 130 people getting a check every month. The average WIN blogger is doing 80+ blog posts a month (or ~3 day). some folks make a couple of hundreds bucks, some folks a couple of thousand.