Faced with loss of column inches (and sometimes even columns), many of my winewriting peers are now looking to see how they can make money on the internet.<\/p>\n
Of course, this is how I (and a few others) started out in winewriting. But for many of the newcomers, they are used to being paid to write articles in newspapers and magazines. They value their work, and don’t like the idea of giving it away.<\/p>\n
I value my work too. Sometimes I think it’s actually quite good. But my policy has been to give my writing away. I don’t expect ever to charge for access to wineanorak. Even bits of it. Now this has worked for Jancis Robinson, but she’s a legend, and came to the internet already a wine celebrity. Me? I’m just some guy who was drinking a lot of wine and who started a hobby website. I’m delighted and surprised to be actually doing this for a living. It would be madness for me to think that – faced with so much good free content on the web – that I could ever get people to pay to access my website.<\/p>\n
My philosophy? Gather as large an audience as possible. Let people see my work – see what I am capable of – and, hopefully, then pick up work on the back of this recognition. I also make money from advertising on wineanorak, and that has been growing of late. But that is not the main reason that I put up content (if it were, it might make me too beholden to advertisers and reduce my independence).<\/p>\n