Typepad has been inundated with submissions to join its journalist bailout program:
During a time when so many great journalists are worried about losing their jobs, we want to do what we can to help. So we’ve put together a program to put you on your first steps towards independence.
We’re offering a platform to publish your work and profit from it. A platform that gives you complete control, with no dependence on the whims of a publisher, and no interference from an outside editor.
Basically, it’s a cost-free way of journalists to get into blogging and keep a hundred percent of the revenue they generate through display ads.
Naturally, it’s a great deal for typepad as well:
This is a brilliant way to buy talent on the cheap for them, and possibly reap rewards for years to come. And yet, also a good deal for the journalist–one of those win-win voluntary exchanges that free market types are always nattering on about.
Whether many people can actually make much more than minimum wages over a sustained period out of doing serious journalism on a blog is a moot point. The typepad offer probably best suits freelancers and journalists ‘between jobs’.
