MANILA, Philippines — Ever since Swarthmore College student Justin Hall began his web-based diary called “Justin's Links from the Underground” back in 1994, the process of putting down the thoughts and the nitty-gritty of one's daily life has changed dramatically.

From being called a "zine" and dismissed as just another feature of a standard website, the online diary has been renamed twice – as a “weblog” in 1997, and as a “blog” in 1999. It has also grown in its scope and reach.

No longer just another website feature, blogs are now an internet presence in their own right, with several platforms available to those interested in starting one. And there are certainly a lot of people interested. According to a report by The Nielsen Company in February of this year, there are more than 156 million public blogs in existence.

But with so many blogs vying for attention on the World Wide Web, how does one get eyeballs onto one's digital domain?

And even more importantly, how does one earn from one's blog once it has got the attention of online denizens?

These and several other concerns about blogging and publishing on the Web was the topic for discussion at the forum entitled “Publishing on the Web”, part of the talks at the UP-Ayala Technohub sponsored by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) as well as the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), in celebration of World Book and Copyright Day.

Delivering the talk were bloggers Tweet Sering and Tarie Sabido.

Sering maintains the blog “i just wanna be an *astigirl” (astigirl.blogspot.com) since 2007, while Sabido maintains “Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind” (asiaintheheart. blogspot.com) since 2005.

Both Sabido and Sering did not start blogging out of a desire to be read or even make money. They said they didn't even know what a blog was when they started maintaining one of their own.

“In 2005, my best friend suggested that I start a blog. I really had no idea what a blog is. I then started a personal blog,” recalls Sabido. “I have always been a bookworm so my blog started out as something personal and it ended out a book blog.”

Sering first tried to write long essays and needed a place to fit them. “I wrote everything that was cramming in my head. I created, expressed my thoughts on my page and I tried to do it regularly.

They were much too personal at that time,” Sering recalls.

INDIRECT BENEFITS

What started out as personal blogs for both Sabido and Sering would soon attract attention not only from online denizens but from much more traditional publishing outlets. Sabido's interest in books and her book reviews would catch the eye of traditional printed publications.

“I didn't really think anyone would read my blog. I would write book reviews that I did really enjoy. After many years, I received emails from editors, publishers, publicists, authors, illustrators asking if I could review their books,” says Sabido.

“I was overwhelmed. I was thinking who are these people, how did they know I had a blog because all of the authors, writers contacting me are not from the Philippines.”

Sering's personal essays, on the other hand, would find themselves published in actual book form upon the urging of a friend.

“In 2010, I felt that blogging was not enough. A friend came to me and said that it should be a book, and I wanted to do it my own way so I self-published it,” explains Sering. “Now I make money through the book, and the book came about because of the blog.”

Sabido says that this has been the common experience among the two of them – making money out of their blogs not so much from online advertising, but through indirect means such as being published as a book or being asked to contribute to a print publication.

“I made some money through my blog indirectly, not because of ads but because I got so many opportunities. If you are putting a quality review, you could be hired by a broadsheet. They will approach you if you write really good reviews, ” Sabido says.

Aside from having her reviews reprinted on broadsheets, Sabido has also been a judge for the 2009 Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (CYBILS) and the 2010 Philippine National Children's Book Awards.

BE PROFESSIONAL

Sabido says that aspiring bloggers who want to become noticed by publications have to treat their blogging as seriously as they would a real job.

“Be honest. Bloggers have to be earn the trust of your readers. That is number one. Don’t blog with bad words, sarcasm, just be professional about what you think,” she says. “If you build it, they will come. Produce quality content and act as if you are being paid.”

Sabido also advices aspiring bloggers to come up with their own policy with regards to working with corporations and sponsors – and have the guts to stick to those policies when push comes to shove.

“One should have a review policy. Whoever approaches you, they have no choice but to follow your policy. If you can’t work together because of the policy, don’t work with them and keep your space,” she ends. “This is a way to control because once you lose control in allowing who is in your blog, you lose control. As a blogger, you don’t want to lose your freedom and independence.”