New Zealand's biggest
newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, has run an article about me in Monday morning's paper.
It's on the back page of the Business section and is entitled
Kiwi blogger logs on to make a living. This is the first time I've had any mainstream
media coverage, so I admit it is quite a thrill. The article notes that Read/WriteWeb is
currently ranked the 51st biggest blog in the world, according to Technorati, and that around half our
readers are from the US (less than 1% are from my home country). There's also some advice
from me about how to earn a living from blogging. Nothing too profound: find a niche
topic that you're passionate about, then work hard and be very patient.
Thanks Simon Hendry and Alan Perrott from the Herald for the great story, and photographer Mark Mitchell (who took the above photo for the Herald). And regular readers may be wondering... I actually use a Windows machine for work, the beautiful Apple PC shown there is my wife's!
As for NZ Herald readers who have clicked through or typed in the readwriteweb.com URL via the newspaper, welcome! Our About page gives more information about this blog and its writers. If you're interested in Web technology, then feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to a daily email digest (see email subscription form in top right). We're currently working on a 'Best Of' section for R/WW, but in the meantime you may want to check out the Top 10 Read/WriteWeb Posts for 2006 and also these two popular posts: 2006 Web Technology Trends and 2007 Web Predictions. Those posts should give you a feel for the kind of writing we do here. Also feel free to email me for more information at: readwriteweb@gmail.com.
Comments
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Just saw this - congratulations!
Darren
Posted by: ProBlogger | February 18, 2007 1:30 PMCongrats Richard...you deserve the recognition.
Posted by: Rafat | February 18, 2007 1:40 PMCongrats Richard! That is very cool and well deserved. Read/Write Web is a great blog. Keep living the dream. ;)
Posted by: Frank Gruber | February 18, 2007 1:47 PMGood work Richard, a great article.
Looking at your Alexa graph It looks like mid 2006 there was a great acceleration in traffic. Was there anything specific that made it take off?
http://www.alexaholic.com/readwriteweb.com?y=p&r=3y&z=2
Posted by: Tim | February 18, 2007 2:05 PMNice work! Keep it up :)
Posted by: Peter Cooper | February 18, 2007 2:12 PMThanks for the nice comments :-) Tim, you're right that things started to take off mid-06. Not sure exactly why, but during 2006 I began to increase the time I spent on the blog (previously I'd been doing a lot of consultancy / freelance work). As of now, a large majority of my time is spent on writing for, editing and managing R/WW (with a few other projects making up the rest of my time).
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 18, 2007 2:19 PMRichard,
Posted by: Andrew | February 18, 2007 2:28 PMCongratulations on the coverage, and on all that you've achieved with RWW.
Congrats Richard, you definitely deserve this. Keep on writing ;)
Posted by: Kris Hoet | February 18, 2007 2:33 PMHey, that's very cool, Richard, congratulations!
Posted by: NitinK | February 18, 2007 2:36 PMWahoo! Congrats Richard!
Posted by: steve | February 18, 2007 2:38 PMA decent, if slightly breathless article, but nothing unusual there when it comes to print media.
As someone who "logs on" from the middle of nowhere (aka Launceston, Tasmania) to make a living as a freelance developer, I *did* cringe at the headline. I'm looking forward to the day where web working is no longer the exception, if not the rule...
Posted by: warren | February 18, 2007 2:52 PMCongrats! Keep it up!
Posted by: Michael Vu | February 18, 2007 3:40 PMThe headline is most likely concocted by Auntie Hairoiled's subs who like to stick to a few simple things when it comes to tech. Like logging on, or logging off. Shivers your timbers, it does.
Congrats Richard :)
Posted by: Juha | February 18, 2007 3:45 PMCongrats Richard! I totally understand where you are coming from! My blog (albeit 1/50th the size of this one) would rank in the top 20 websites (not just blogs) in South Africa according to our OPA stats, but my readership is about 5% from SA and 50% from the USA.
Posted by: Vinny Lingham | February 18, 2007 3:47 PMcongrats!! first time commenting, but I do enjoy your blog.. and from Canada even! :)
Posted by: shaz | February 18, 2007 5:05 PMI read a lot of blogs, though only subscribe to a few (about 20), but I never hesitate to tell people that RW/W is my favorite--I mean it too, of course. Nice work, Richard! Keep it up.
Posted by: Josh | February 18, 2007 5:41 PMCongrats Richard, this is well deserved! I look forward to doing more work with you.
Alex
Posted by: Alex Iskold | February 18, 2007 6:21 PMAnd well deserved!
Posted by: Well done! | February 18, 2007 6:30 PMCongrats Richard. You deserve it for sure.
Posted by: Sameer | February 18, 2007 6:35 PMJust read the Herald Article and have viewed your blog.
Well done. Congratulations. You'll soon be able to pay for another house.
Geoff, UAE
Posted by: Geoff Pound | February 18, 2007 7:18 PMKudos! Well deserved indeed.
Posted by: Erik | February 18, 2007 7:20 PMhi there! i guess this is my first time leaving a comment on your blog. anyway, congrats!
blog on!
Posted by: jared l. | February 18, 2007 7:44 PMit's nice when NZ finally catches up :) good stuff!
Posted by: Michelle | February 18, 2007 7:51 PMcongrats
Posted by: Dino | February 18, 2007 8:00 PMWell done!
I don't know if you know but not only are you "living the dream" but are showing the way for a lot of others - keep up the inspirational behaviour!
(BTW: I agree with Josh , this blog is definitely one of the few I actively tell people about and it's because the content is so consistently well thought out, written and timely.
Posted by: Mike Riversdale | February 18, 2007 10:03 PM(and you're a 'Canes fan ;-)
Well-deserved kudos. Congratulations!
Gen Kanai
Posted by: Gen Kanai | February 18, 2007 10:24 PMTokyo, Japan
Congratulations Richard - that's a great plug. I hadn't visited your site before, but since I had the honour of being mentioned on the same page (Celsias) I thought I'd drop by and say "hi". :)
While I'm here, I'll try to glean a few ideas to help me get us into the top 100 too!
I hope the Herald article helps raise your profile even more - if it were possible!
Best.
Posted by: Craig Mackintosh | February 18, 2007 11:10 PMCongrats Richard.
Posted by: Pramit | February 19, 2007 12:41 AMÁ•?Ë¥∫‰Ω†„ÄÇ
Posted by: Huanmin | February 19, 2007 1:25 AMyou got some fans in China.keep writing, Richard,(Á?ÜÊü•ÂæóÔºâ
Cool.
Posted by: Mikael Bergkvist | February 19, 2007 4:47 AMCongratulations! I have only been a subscriber of your blog for a couple of months, but I love it. I have a long-time reader of TechCrunch but I like your writing better as it focuses more on trends rather than specific entities and the analysis is pretty outstanding. Thanks for your in-depth posts that keep me in the loop and help advance my career in the web space!
Posted by: webonics | February 19, 2007 6:49 AMThe king is not recognised in his own country...how sad?
I all seriousness, congratulations! I am sure more of your countrymen will logon when they discover the excellent work.
All the best!!
Posted by: Adrian keys | February 19, 2007 6:59 AMThey're obviously a little slow if they're only featuring you now Richard. Congrats :)
Posted by: Paul Walsh | February 19, 2007 7:38 AMIs this reason why I got my RSS 6 hours late today? :)
Congratulations! Finally, Middle Earth is waking up.
Posted by: ipanema | February 19, 2007 8:15 AMI've been a fan, advocate and avid reader for months now, all the way over here in Vancouver, Canada. Thanks for all of it. You are one lucky bastard!
Posted by: Megan Cole | February 19, 2007 8:22 AMGood for you Richard.
For us, bloggers in Spanish, it's a bit more difficult still. But will keep working, or better, focus more in our other projects, like http://eyeOS.org.
Posted by: hombrelobo | February 19, 2007 8:36 AMCongrats Richard.
I like the Mac even though it's not yours.
Posted by: Ali | February 19, 2007 9:03 AMJust got here on a LexBlog referral and loving it. You have maybe the best looking site I've ever seen. But I will be back for the content. Keep up the good work and congrats on the media coverage.
Posted by: China Law Blog | February 19, 2007 9:53 AMCongratulations, Richard! Your blog is really one of my favorites and I'm subscribed to more than 120 blogs. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Dejan Bizinger | February 19, 2007 10:25 AMWow, congrats. But the picture isn't very well choosen me thinks ;-).
Posted by: Timo Heuer | February 19, 2007 10:36 AMHey Richard - that's great news and I have to say I'm not exactly surprised....reading your blog is part of my morning ritual :)
BTW, I found this article this morning about the life of a blogger....I think we all can identify -- http://vashistvishal.blogspot.com/2006/09/top-10-activties-of-blogger.html
See you soon....we really look forward to it.
Posted by: Christen O'Brien | February 19, 2007 11:49 AMThanks all for your kind comments. I was also pleased that the article showed that blogging is not just a 'what I had for breakfast' diary style of writing, which is often how it's portrayed in mainstream media. (he writes, while wolfing down his breakfast of vogal toast and coffee)
Right, I better get back to work now...
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 19, 2007 12:23 PMCongratulations Richard.
Posted by: Parag Mathur | February 19, 2007 3:03 PMI truly enjoy the analysis in your blog posts.
Wishing you continued success in the future.
kick ass. after i become rich, i'm moving to new zealand.
Posted by: lemon obrien | February 19, 2007 4:08 PMThis is the best blog coming out of New Zealand.
Posted by: Cristian | February 19, 2007 5:01 PMI check your RSS feeds on a regular basis.
keep up the good work.
It's about time that New Zealand wakes up to the blogsphere. Articles such as in the NZ Herald and another recent article in the Next magazine about bloggers will open up another new world to the average New Zealander. Keep up the good works....
Posted by: Liz | February 19, 2007 9:01 PMCongratulations. Always great to hear about online success stories.
Posted by: Doug | February 20, 2007 7:32 AMCon'grats !! is great to see you gaining MSM traction !!
oh well as for blogsphere, you already have my vote of confidence for a long time :)-
Posted by: /pd | February 20, 2007 3:35 PMHi Richard, Great article and nice blog, subscribed!
I'm an amateur Kiwi blogger who posts mainly about CAD software. There was a post about the viability of professional blogging for the CAD/Design audience which created a bit of traffic/comment on my blog back in January so have referred my readers to your article & own post about it. (see the link on this comment)
Posted by: Robin Capper | February 21, 2007 12:51 AMGreat work such as your blog deserves more awards.
Posted by: Honor Gunday | February 21, 2007 2:31 AMThis is way more well-deserved than many other blogs out there.
Well done Richard, and richly deserved.
I've been following your writing from pretty much the very start.
Perhaps I keep coming back here not just for the great content but because we're both from the Upside Down part of the world - Australia, in my case :)
- Alister
Posted by: Alister Cameron, Blog Coach | February 21, 2007 4:15 PM