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Thursday, July 31, 2008

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Introducing Gambit guest bloggers

Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 8:08 PM

As the Blog of New Orleans (aka "Gambit Daily") expands, we'll be bringing in other voices and other writers on a regular basis: Gambit's new guest bloggers. I'm excited.

There are a lot of good writers in the New Orleans blogosphere. Some of them are actually great. (There are a few clunkers, too, of course -- but newspapers and magazines also have their share of those.) Meanwhile, newspapers don't have room to print the thoughts of all the good writers in the community...and as you probably know, most daily papers are shrinking by the day.

Our solution: guest bloggers -- people with whom we'll contract for a limited number of posts on any topic of their choosing. They will have to conform to Gambit's rules about slander/libel and obscenity/profanity, just like any other writer on this site. Beyond that, we won't be telling them what to write, and we won't be editing them. We will be printing their thoughts, linking back to their pages, and hoping that you'll engage them in dialogue both here and on their home turf. And when their contracts are up and we've moved on to the next guest blogger, we hope you'll continue reading our bloggers emeritus on their own Web sites.

To anticipate your next question: yes, the guest bloggers will be paid like any other writer for Gambit. There are a lot of Web sites out there (some of them mighty mighty) that entice writers to write for free with the dubious promise of "valuable exposure." (I've made my living writing for 20 years and have yet to have "valuable exposure" pay my rent or wash my socks.) The money is not much, but it's enough for a few lunches (or Abitas). More than that, it's a sign of respect for the writers you'll read here...and for aspiring writers and bloggers everywhere: your words are valuable.

This guest-blogger thing is still evolving. I'm sure there are other issues, and we'll deal with them as they arise. But for right now, this is all I can think of. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll see if I can get answers for you.

Later today you'll meet our first guest blogger: Clifton Harris of Cliff's Crib. Cliff lives in New Orleans East, and he's been blogging since 2004.

We passed around Cliff's first piece at the lunch table today, and it engendered a lot of discussion. I hope you'll like reading what Cliff has to say, and I hope you'll talk to him...and us. --Kevin

Tags: Blog Watch, Coming up in the Gambit

        
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Woohoo! Mazel tov to Cliff!

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Posted by liprap on July 31, 2008 at 4:37 PM

Oh yeah. This is going to be great! Cliff is an excellent start, takes it right to heart. Blogaroma! Thanks Kevin, and thank you for joining the media panel at this year's Rising Tide III conference! Editilla

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Posted by New Orleans Ladder on August 1, 2008 at 2:32 AM

Kudos to Gambit for actually being willing to pay for content instead of attempting to piggyback the ad revenue they generate on top of free writing. This should help break the barrier a bit, as most bloggers tend to be rightfully offended when asked to provide content. If it is worth reading it is worth paying for. I salute Gambit for understanding what NOLA.com does not seem to. Welcome to the 21st Century guys 'n gals! Cliff is a fantastic way to kick off!

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Posted by Loki on August 1, 2008 at 8:42 AM

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