Well, for the most part it's true. Very few of us actually do what we love because it pays well. Sure, some have ad revenue, and some get sent samples... but really very little of the compensation in wine blogging is of the monetary sort. Many of us have regular jobs (in technology, marketing, healthcare, consulting, etc.) that pay our regular bills.
With those bills and such, I can tell you there isn't always a lot left over to go towards our hobby and passion, wine. Just last year I found myself in this very situation after learning about the
2nd Annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, and knowing that it would be a great event for me to attend to network, meet other wine bloggers, and to learn. Then, as if the clouds parted and a shining bottle of Pinot Noir (likely held out by friend and chairperson,
Thea Dwelle) descended towards me, I found out that there was a special fund for bloggers just like me! A
bloggership if you will aimed at helping Citizen Bloggers get to attend WBC.
I applied, telling the panel why they should choose me to get a little slice of the funding and just several weeks later I was
getting information about my reservation and flight from Cleveland to San Francisco! Attending WBC09 was definitely a fantastic opportunity, and would be hugely beneficial to many wine bloggers in the community. I would encourage all of them to attend.
So here it is 2010, and now I'm part of that panel of folks that is raising money for this year's conference scholarship. The
2010 Wine Bloggers Conference is being held June 25-27 in Walla Walla, Washington at the
Marcus Whitman hotel. We're working hard to raise enough money so that we can get as many Citizen Bloggers in need some fundage to get to the conference. Last year we raised near $4,000 and are hoping to beat that in 2010. We're already up to $2,250! I hope you'll take some time to read more about the conference, and if you find yourself able, to donate some amount towards our bloggership fund. We really appreciate donations of any amount, thought would love to get contributions of $95, which would cover one blogger's conference fees. What will you get in return?? Blurbs on our blogs, thank you's from winners, and of course undying gratitude. We'll happily list you on our
scholarship site as well!
Learn more about the WBC Scholarship Fund and donate!
Thank you!
Ryan
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