Blogger Stories: Jane Genova

Jane Genova's story is as raw and intellegent as her blog writing. Jane is the president of Genova Writing Services which specializes in marketing and executive communications. To say blogs changed Jane's life is .. well .. read her story ...

Blogger Story Teller: Jane Genova, Jane Genova Speech Writer-Ghost Writer

Maybe I’m the Oldest Blogger on Record

At 59 years of age, I took the plunge and started a blog.  What made me go where few my age venture was the gift of desperation.  My former cash cow of speechwriting had been badly wounded by the technology of PowerPoint.  To get back to making good money, I was forced to adapt to the technology of blogging. From my reading and my membership in the American Marketing Association (I met Toby Bloomberg on an AMA Internet bulletin board), I recognized that social media such as blogging was where I had to be.

Okay, I’m a drama queen.  So I have no idea if the adjustment to the blogosphere was as frightening as it was but it was, yeah, scary.  I might have abandoned the blog w/o the ongoing help of blogging guardian angels like Toby Bloomberg and Paul Chaney.  They not only drove traffic to my blog.  They wrote praise about its voice and content on their blogs. 

As Yochai Benkler insists in his new book “The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom,” results in the current economy can only come from cooperation.  For the first time since I had become a business writer in 1979, peers were helping me.  They still are.  The generosity of spirit continues even though I’m now a “regular” in the blogosphere.

Gradually I got a hang of what tone and subject matter would attract more readers.  As the numbers grew (I learned how Typepad’s Control Panel worked), I began to take risks.  I offered to promote a client’s book free on my blog.  That succeeded so well that he had me handle social media assignments for his clients. 

What I found is that the fear of social media is so profound in large organizations that they will usually only purchase services from a big brandname such as my client’s.  Advice to other bloggers: Align yourself with bigger fish. Solo entrepreneurs are having a rough time, and not only in social media.

Borrowing a tactic from VANITY FAIR’s Dominick Dunne, I then decided to cover a major event such as a high-profile trial. Only, unlike Dunne, I did that not through print but with my blog.  The event that was taking place near me was the Rhode Island lead paint trial.  The rest is history.  As I suspected, it brought in new business, enhanced my brandname, and created a whole new network for me.  Advice to bloggers: Stick with what’s major. 

Currently, about 80 percent of my income for my communications boutique Genova Writing Services comes from social media.  How I keep in a position to keep learning is to not max my revenues.  I will often charge middle-of-the-road fees to get access to a certain client.  My experience is that you learn most and most efficiently from your clients.

My dream? That, like Ana Marie Cox, I will be discovered and invited to join the Literary Establishment.  But that dream never gets in the way of using my blog to make a good living.  For me, the blog is a business tool. End of story.

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