First of all, my blog is not up for sale. No blog is. I am not actually being traded on an online stock market. The money you spend buying and selling shares in blogs isn't real. Let's just get that out of the way.
Blogshares is a game where you spend fictional money buying and selling shares in blogs (both your own and other peoples'). The "value" of a blog is assessed as the number of links you possess -- both the number of people who link to you, and the number of people you link to. Then the forces of stock trading (whatever they are) take hold and also affect your price.
It's an addictive little game that makes a point about the nature of blogs in the blogosphere, that encourages links and can, if we're lucky, foster closer ties within the blogging community. It's hard to believe that Blogshares is a volunteer effort, but it is -- and it has the feel of a rather intense labour of love. And the folks behind Blogshares love blogging. I'm pleased to have been one of the (many) beta-testers, and I highly recommend that you play as well.
Aside from the fun of seeing your investments grow, the most exciting thing about Blogshares are its peripherals. Not just gimmicks, they have a strong purpose and benefit. For example, consider the first issue of the Blog Street Journal, a free online publication that features interviews with prominent bloggers, tips on building good blogs, and reviews of sites traded on Blogshares.
You begin to see the benefits, don't you? Blogshares, if it fluorishes, could become a useful promotion tool that helps to promote the small blogger as well as the big. The presence of a Blogging "A-List" has been one of the frustrations in the blogging world (20% of the blogs get 80% of the traffic), and Blogshares cuts to the heart of that. After all, small blogs are inexpensive to buy, and given that people who sign up for Blogshares receive only $500 in fictional money to invest, they're likely to stay clear of the popular blogs whose share prices have already been inflated and delve deeper looking for the lesser known deals.
Because Blogshares is a volunteer effort, it's a little early to say whether or not they'll be a big part of the blogging community down the road. But the game is fun, the website is incredible, and I've already spotted some interesting new blogs just by looking around.
Thanks to the Eleven Day Empire for putting me on to this.
Ever wanted to turn the tables on telemarketers? Here's a way! Thanks to The People's Republic of Seabrook for the link.
The interruption of my trip to Chicago, plus other projects, halted progress on the Trenchcoat Farewell Project for the last little while. Things are going well, however. When last I dealt with it, The Shattered Clocks was laid out. That means only ten more stories need work. Of those, only three need to have their artwork scanned in. May is still a feasible deadline, although June is looking more likely.
This weekend will be one of the freer weekends I've had in a while, and things should start moving forward then.
Incidentally, the ending of The Shattered Clocks is on page 640. The next story, Dead Ringers ends on page 671. And we still have Greg Gick's epic Crescent, Cross, Star and Pentagram to lay out (the longest story in the Trenchcoat canon, at 66000 words). Yes, indeed, the Trenchcoat Farewell Project will be the world's first coffee-table fanzine...
Actually, my weekend will not be quite as free as all that. This Sunday is my condominium association's Garage Sale Day. This is the only day in the year where tenants and homeowners within the condominium complex are allowed to have garage sales. It's restrictive, but it channels the chaos associated with garage sales into a single day, and the condo association sweetens the deal by providing free advertising.
So, if anybody locally wants to purchase a battered and cat-scratched sofa (with slip covers), it will be on sale on our driveway. Come and give it a good home.