Blog Awards…

Posted by Lipglossiping On January - 10 - 2012

…Well, what a can of worms.  If you follow the beauty/fashion blog stuffs on twitter, you’ll know that so much has already been said and I’m not sure what value I really have to add to the debate.  I haven’t got my soapbox out for a year or two but I felt like airing my feelings about being nominated for the Marie Claire blog awards

It’s flattering to be hoicked up there on a little blogging pedestal among the other nominees but recent Twitter events have revealed what everyone knew all along: that bloggers are generally not welcome in established journalist/beauty circles. We’re putting noses out of joint left, right and centre and it’s getting ugly.

Insincerity is my biggest bug bear within the beauty scene, and nothing displays that notion more proudly than when a magazine strikes up a round of blog awards.  To be nominated or awarded for being a blogger by an established print magazine has the shine stripped from the accomplishment somewhat when you’re ultimately realistic about the motivations behind the accolade.

Having said that… do I really have anything against these obvious SEO building exercises?  Not really, links make the internet go round.  My blog would be nothing without people linking to me.  It’s this free flow of information that has allowed blogging to become so mainstream but links are a two-way mutual appreciation thing and any brand, magazine or company that doesn’t acknowledge this simple truth is on a hiding to nothing.

Would I like to win the opportunity to write unpaid for Marie Claire? Well, I’ve got bills to pay like everyone else and writing is my full-time job.  If someone asks me to write for them, nine times out of ten, I want to see some benefit to my bank account as-well as my ego but ultimately, how much of a massive ego would I need to dismiss the opportunity to write a post for Marie Claire’s blog?  Surely it’s a great prize to be featured (even once) under the umbrella of a household name magazine – it seems that in established blogging circles however, it’s heinously uncool to express this opinion.  But this is where it gets contradictory…

The fact is that I’ve had 4x the number of referrals to my site today from this month-old post on Beaut.ie than I have from the freshly published Marie Claire blog award announcement so I wouldn’t consider any potential traffic surges as hugely incentive.  Nothing gets my blood pumping more than discovering one of my blogging peers or a brand I admire has linked to something I’ve written, most bloggers will recognise that feeling of pride, and it feels less hollow than an impersonal email from Marie Claire that essentially says: “Hai, You’ve been longlisted, congrats – here’s a badge to stick on your blog… nag your readers to visit our site will you? You could even tile OUR logo as your Twitter background…”

However, I’d be willing to wager that most of our mothers couldn’t give a shit that our blogs were read by over xxxxxxx amount of people in December but if we told them that we’d written something in X magazine (ok, we wouldn’t tell them it was on their blog), she’d be ringing all her bingo mates with the news faster than you could shout “full house”.  BUT if we hold our own blogs in such high regard… why are we being sniffy about the opportunity to write for theirs?  Maybe because we’re generally HUGELY passionate about blogging and magazines still mostly do the blogging thing like it’s an afterthought to their print publication. Magazines and blogs still feel like such completely different entities to me, which I suppose, goes some way to explaining why I can’t shrug off the old “can’t we all just rub along together nicely?” feeling.

It simply boils down to the uneasy feeling that by participating I’m…

a). being played like a fiddle in a greater SEO plan
b). betraying “my kind” by being flattered at an opportunity to play on the otherside of the fence
c). being occasionally ridiculed (on both sides of the fence) for even momentarily contemplating that my blog is genuinely admired

As a nominee, I should be sitting on the fence but my motivation to write this stems from the growing feeling amongst newer bloggers that established bloggers consider themselves above the whole “blog awards” thing and I just don’t think that’s true. I think many established bloggers feel that they’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t.  Despite popular opinion, most of us aren’t about to disappear up our own arses anytime soon but increasingly, we are resisting attempts at mining blogs for linkbacks without any personalised interaction with either us or our readers.  Most of us just want to protect what we’ve worked hard to build over many years and trust me, the longer you do it for – the more protective you feel about what you’ve built.

What do you think about Blog Awards? (as given by magazines etc…)


46 Responses to “Blog Awards…”

  1. Suzanne says:

    Did you end up paying any attention to the Nuffnang awards fallout? That in itself proved to me that the benefits or honour of any kind of blogging award are a bit – iffy.

    I do a fair bit of writing for other blogs – lifestyle, content donation type things, really, and it’s all unpaid. It’s something I do because it requires me to use a different voice to my blog voice, and I find that a useful exercise. I like to write, ultimately, and I suspect my view would be different if I was doing it as my only means of income.

    • I’ve never heard of them, I’m gonna have to go on a google rampage!

      Writing is my job now (though, more through other non-beauty sources than this here blog) but I’m still so new to it and come from such a different background originally that I do get excited at the thought of writing stuff for anyone that holds a new or different audience.

  2. A great and well-written post, Charlotte. I think all this negativity is such a shame. I’ve only been blogging, what, 4 months now and I kind of thought the point of it was that you could do whatever you wanted and everyone seemed all girly-friends and supportive. Then suddenly all this negativity has come about.
    I certainly agree with what you are saying, and hope you know full well that your blog IS admired. 🙂 xx

    • I think a lot of the negativity toward these awards stems from over-zealous self defence and the simple fact that bloggers ARE taken advantage of all the time, so in many cases it’s justified really.

      On the whole, the community is one of the most supportive I’ve ever come across online (and I did my dissertation 10 years ago on online communities!) but as with anything so tight-knit, there will always be passionate voices! x

  3. Charlie says:

    Thank god. A post that makes me want to say YES! there are negative things. YES! we should value ourselves. YES! I appreciate the other side of the argument and think there are valid points but I have several problems with the wave of dissent at the moment.

    One – whatever the intentions, it inevitably makes those who are proud of being nominated feel a bit crap about themselves and unable to be publically chuffed. not me, I’ve not been nominated, I just see people feeling crappy about it and it makes me sad.

    Two – Re your opinion on writing for free, I expressed similar re writing for Grazia, something I’m still happy to do. It’s Grazia! Of course I’m bloody chuffed. It’s good for me, its good for my writing, it’s good for my profile and like you say, it’s made my Mum proud (I should add that my article hasn’t gone up yet). It wasn’t a popular opinion. I don’t care. I remain pleased to be asked. And it makes me happy that Mum is chuffed. My ties with Grazia haven’t bought me tonnes of traffic, being on blog rolls and google bring me the most traffic, but you know, every reader counts and it’s not a miniscule amount that come to me via Grazia… but this is relative, the bigger your blog, the more that will be relevant.

    Three – bloggers don’t have the best reputation. I would rather, to be honest, that people as a rule just ignored the things they don’t like. Every time the body of bloggers starts getting noisy about something I want to run and hide and shout, we’re not all like this! Some of us are indifferent, some of us like to talk about things by email to the organisers and not publically moan on twitter, some of us do care, and some of us are so unmoved we don’t feel compelled to make any comment. I want to disassociate myself with the “blogger collective” that seem to thrive on making a huge fuss about things publically, adding to the negativity surrounding us. It’s not that I don’t care about things, but I care about where blogging is going… and right at the moment… it looks like its going down the pan frankly. For all of us.

    It’s not that I don’t care or understand the points that people have been making, I do, I really do, and I think there are some very valid points, its just for me, those are not my opinions, those don’t affect me and no one speaks FOR me thankyouverymuch. It’s incredibly difficult and I understand the need to protect your blog and I AM uncomfortable with the doing something for nothing mentality of some publications, but at the end of the day, people should be free to do whatever they please and if they are delighted to be nominated, don’t care about not being linked back, don’t mind advertising a massive publication for free, well then thats up to them and they should be free to do so without being made to feel like utter shite by their peers.

    Definitely, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

    • Your #1 point is the saddest thing about the collateral damage from what is ultimately, well-intentioned dissent. No one sets out to make individual bloggers feel shit about their achievements (well, of course there are some) but on the whole I like to believe the community is ‘good’ but it does make us look a bit overly ‘precious’ when it happens en masse.

      Good on you with the Grazia gig, when we’re all done with our FOTDs, swatches and the immense amount of fun we’re currently having – we’ll look back on those things as highlights, just as I’ll always smirk at the thought of me flashing the Naked2 palette infront of Stonehenge like a twat. In the grand scheme of things… we’re all doing what we do until we stop enjoying it and you can’t

      #3 – It’s the pack mentality that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like being spoken for, I guess that’s always been my beef with blogging collectives and networks in general.

  4. cassoulet lover says:

    ‘being occasionally ridiculed (on both sides of the fence) for even momentarily contemplating that my blog is genuinely admired ‘ –> I think that is the worst: making you believe that they really really admire your blog so much that they wanted to award you and shout over the rooftops about it.

    I was ok about blog awards awarded by magazines before, until the last cosmo awards came along and seeing some people having posted altogether 4 times in their entire blog history and swooping a nomination. Such a crual thing to do, to give someone like that, the feeling that they really caught the eye with their writing. As someone said on twitter, until the said blog awards appear in the actual paper magazine and feature the bloggers in question, then I am going to think it’s utter rubbish.

    Magazines make your mind up: do you like blogs or don’t you like them? Make your point clear and stick to it, and don’t give us a fake feeling of admiration cos we’re not buying it.

    • The world is rife with insincerity Liloo and we’d probably HATE it if everyone was brutally honest! Some of us need thicker skins and big girl’s knickers! (that’s ME and you haha) x

  5. Charlie says:

    And you know what, now I’m feeling totally stressed out and wondering if I should actually just delete that comment for stepping out of line.

  6. You speak the truth Charlotte. Let’s hope that the magazines will one day (soon) see the true value of beauty bloggers and pay respect where respect is due rather than trying to scam them whilst thinking of them as the lowest of the low. (which is what a lot of them do quite openly…)

  7. Kathrine says:

    I think most bloggers like to think they’re above these awards (insofar as they’re successful in their own right so they don’t need the ‘leg up’ from a magazine) but ultimately it comes down to good old fashioned flattery, right?

    It’s not compulsory to be involved, it’s not compulsory to promote it, but at the end of the day when you’ve got a big, recognised publication telling its readers (no matter what the motive) that you’re a brilliant blogger, your (and I don’t mean you, Charlotte, when I say your) ego gets massaged and you go along with it.

    Your point about your traffic sources is really interesting, though. Just goes to show how influential magazine sites are compared to blogs 🙂

    Great post, as usual. x

    • Yes, yes… definitely – I don’t get out of bed in the morning until Paul has baked me a cake in the shape of a love heart and etched YOU ARE MY LIFE into his arm with a biro.

      GIVE ME FLATTERY. LOVE ME. PLEASE LOVE ME.

  8. I think if the awards in question had been properly thought through and better executed, there wouldn’t be nearly as many questions raised. If there had been links (there are now, but it took Twitter to nudge them to do it) to the nominated blogs from the get-go and a bit more of a personalised touch to the email that let bloggers know they’d been nominated I think this may have been viewed differently. It’s really hard when you have a significant amount of readers to know that some blog awards are simply just stats harvesting exercises and once you know that, you can’t help but view them cynically. It is an achievement to have your blog acknowledged, and I’m the last to judge anyone on wanting to go for the ultimate goal of writing for a magazine, but in this case my feeling still is that a more blogger-focussed approach initially could have swayed opinion. I think the wider view of course is that bloggers/vloggers such as Pixiwoo have such huge readerships (mine is a drop in the ocean in comparison!) that it is very much a one-way street in the magazine’s favour, and there is nothing wrong in questioning that. For smaller blogs, and certainly for the huge number of highly ambitious bloggers, any recognition is good and you are right, they shouldn’t be made to feel that they can’t take part in the opportunity because of the opinion of others. It’s okay to do what you feel is best for your blog and your aspirations. While writing this, I realise I don’t actually know where the long-list came from? But there are some big hitters on it and therefore bigger click throughs. As you also mention, the biggest blogging thrill for me is to get a link through from other bloggers or a shout out on Twitter.

    I genuinely feel that beauty bloggers are held in contempt by some magazine editors (I think recent Twitter events will back this up) although by no means all and those who are genuinely supportive do see the true nature and value of bloggers. It’s just hard, sometimes, to tell who they are. Blogs and magazines are different and they’re always going to be but it’s not an oil and water thing. It’s only by trying and testing that we can find out what works.. just like beauty products.

    • Yes, the email was pretty impersonal, though admittedly, I don’t usually get my knickers in a twist when I receive a “dear blogger” cpmmunication, it was definitely an oversight on MC’s part not to make it a little more ‘friendly’.

      “It’s just hard, sometimes, to tell who they are” is probably the saddest thing for me when so many bloggers (as massive beauty fans) look up to and admire figures in the industry who (it turns out) have nothing but contempt in return.

  9. *Stands up and claps like a loon* Bravo, bravo!! You talk a lot of sense Charlotte. It’s tough out there on Twitter at the moment and I definitely get the sense of ‘can’t do right for doing wrong’. I know it must have taken the shine off for those that had been nominated but a shadow has been cast over the real purpose of these awards. Marie Claire made matters worse yesterday by publishing the list of nominees minus any links. An uneasy feeling sums up exactly how I feel about it all. I hope we all return to rubbing along nicely soon and maybe a break in wave of blog awards might be a good thing….

  10. Julia says:

    Hmm, to be honest, I’d be proud if I found out you were writing for Marie Claire. I think it all boils down to what you think is fair for you as a blogger. Writing for them will take time, and time is gold, and that time ought to be compensated somehow, some way.

    If I won for instance (I’m not on the list just dreaming for the sake of example)my mom would scream and she’d be Tweeting her arse off with pride, that can’t be a bad thing.

    One thing though about us bloggers is we’re nitpicky, it’s what we’re good at, it’s why brands make us part of the “lab”. For reasons well-intended we also want to nitpick how magazines go about doing blog awards or why they do it and we’re at liberty to do so because hey, it’s about us However I do care about how they present the blogs they nominated. I think rather than a compressed list in a teeny tiny typeface, there ought to be a more supportive vibe if they think a certain blog is award worthy, with a tinge of admiration and a one-liner to define each nominee and what they love bout that blog. There should be something more personal in the pointing out of the nominees, be it a thumbnail from a post a link back to help the blog on (I believe they’ve updated with this). Most importantly *LOVE* for the sites should be evident and not just like *splat* “There, we like them. They’re pretty good.”

    I wouldn’t mind if I found out you won, Charlotte, I’d be thrilled and I’d buy whatever issue they slap you in on. All opinions here are quite interesting and I do love a good discussion thread as long as my leg before bed. Night y’all…with love from Laguna, Philippines.

    • Hi Julia,

      The prize (for the eventual winner) I believe, is a single blog post on their blog? I may be wrong… actually, I don’t think it’s that clear – perhaps another MC oversight :/

      You’re right about us over-analysing everything to the nth degree. It’s just aswell we’ve got our blogs to channel this into – we’d be raving lunatics otherwise! x

  11. Firstly, well said on all points Lady.

    Sometimes I think we bloggers are own worst enemy. We’re never happy. Especially on twitter. I was nominated in the twitter category – and honestly – was (and am) thrilled. Especially seeing as I’m a piddler compared to most of the others. The fact that someone at MC had to even type my name and that enough people nominated me freaking astounds me. Trust me. I am typing this in an astounded state. (You don’t have to agree with me thanks)

    Yes, it could have been executed better from launch but credit where its due – at least Marie Claire rectified the link situation the same day – unlike other publications who seem intent on shooting themselves in both feet where blogs and twitter are concerned.

    We’re all grown-ups. We KNOW that if Pixiwoo/Gems/Fleur/Ruthie/You mention any blog awards/mags on their blog – that magazine’s site will see an increase in hits. It’s not rocket science.

    Of course it would be a compliment to be asked to write for a magazine – paid or unpaid – and plenty of established journos do it for a pittance – trust me.

    I think it’s sad that some don’t feel able to say ‘I’m chuffed – AND – it would be nice to win’ without fear of intimidation or even worse, exclusion from the blogging ‘gang’ on twitter. I mean Jesus WEPT it’s a blog awards – we’re not saving lives here are we?!

    Now, having said THAT: I do feel a change in the breeze and I do think that some – SOME – savvy people on the other side of the fence – as you so cleverly put it Char – ARE waking up to the fact that whether they like it or not, blogs are going nowhere. And they are trying to engage us by thinking we would jump at the bit to work for them/write for them.
    If you want to because it would genuinely look good on your CV/blog home page, then BLOODY WELL DO IT.
    It’s your blog. Your decision.
    If on the other hand, you think that they are TAKING THE LIVING PISS and you wouldn’t do it for free, then DON’T do it.
    It’s your blog. Your decision.

    And if people on twitter insist on voicing their unsolicited opinion/disapproval on your choice – please tell them exactly where they can stick it.

    There. Not sure if that makes any sense AT ALL.
    But I basically am agreeing with you. 🙂

  12. Jools says:

    I never buy beauty magazines as I don’t trust them one iota. You however, even if you received the item for review purposes, I do trust. As for the awards I reckon it is just a way for them to get your followers over to their blog.

  13. Rashidah says:

    I love your site. I visit daily and appreciate this bloy post.

  14. Trisha says:

    Reading this made me feel a little weird. I’ll explain…

    While I’m a beauty blogger and my blog has been around for nearly 4 years, I’m not as inside the blogging community as others. I had no idea that these conversations and hate about blog awards was even going on. Last year I was nominated for 3 separate beauty blog awards (the last one from SHAPE Magazine) and was thrilled at each one. I posted about them a lot on my blog and was openly excited about it.

    Now I feel silly. Were people reading those posts of mine and thinking “she’s so naive?” “Wow, she doesn’t even know that these blog awards are bunk?”

    I feel dumb. I had no idea.

    Even so…if I get nominated for more, I’m still going to be excited. I don’t think I can help it.

    Though, if Shape Magazine would have given unpaid work to the winner (the videos they offered were paid) I would have laughed at them. I mean…how rude of Marie Claire to ask you to work for free. Lame.

    • Hi Trisha,

      I think the turnaround in opinion is a relatively new thing and in response to recent events that involve those dishing out the awards simultaneously letting their true feelings about the blogging community be known. Albeit, more in a venting of frustration kinda way (in my opinion) than purely to be unkind (or maybe I’m being naive).

      Regardless, it’s a weird situation in general and I wouldn’t stop feeling delighted if I were you – but maybe it doesn’t hurt to keep in mind what the award givers motivations are. Mostly they’re reasonable enough but unlikely to be completely altruistic!

  15. Shelley says:

    I agree completely. Keep your independence, it’s why people trust you and not Marie Claire. Years ago I worked for some really big name international beauty brands. The wheeling and dealing that goes on regarding spend and editorial coverage is a joke. Spend £X and get a good review – it’s all about making money. Which is why they are asking you to contribute free of charge. They want to ride on your success which has only been achieved because you aren’t in the pocket of the big cosmetics giants. They are trying to use you to get to your audience. Which is really stupid because MC have been around a lot longer, it doesn’t take a link to you to buy their magazine (which I read by the way).

    Making money is an absolute necessity but keeping your independence is difficult when you come to rely on advertising income. It’s a difficult choice, but probably more people will read MC than read you now and you’ll probably get more readers because you write so well, honestly and make us smile.

    Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You can keep your integrity even if you do make an association with them. It’s how you think and feel, and your principles that will keep your readers.

    Not an easy decision, so try it – you wouldn’t be contracted to a specified amount would you? So, if you didn’t like it, and it didn’t bring you any advantages, you could stop it.

    xxxShells

    • Hi Shelley,

      As I said in my comment to Julia, I’m not completely 100% sure what the prize for the eventual winner is but from what I can make out, I think it’s a blog post on the MC website.

      Do you know, keeping independence when you rely on advertising income really isn’t that hard (for a blogger at least) so long as you keep relatively schtum about the advertisers!

      I generally keep my advertising on the OUTSIDE of my content but when I do take on a sponsored post (because frankly, they pay well and brands prefer them to banner ads) – I turn down all that ask me to ‘review’. If a brand is holding an event or a campaign that they want getting ‘out there’, those are the ones that I like to do – I feel like I’m getting paid to write a PSA about something I’d probably write about anyway if I saw it in a press release (but don’t tell them that!)

      Thanks for your comment, it was really interesting to hear about your past experiences in the industry!

  16. Tali says:

    Firstly I think the whole blog award thing is irritating as hell. I keep being emailed that I am nominated and that I require posting this or that to get to the finals.. blah blah. It’s all a tool to get more advertising for the brand hosting the ‘awards’.. nothing to do with my blog or my writing. In the last week alone I have had 3 ‘nominations’ and I think all the companies/online magazines that nominated me are nothing special. I now realize (after initially being flattered when I started blogging 3 years ago) that they really just want the publicity and tweets.

    Secondly when it comes to magazines (online & paper) I don’t trust their beauty sections anyway as they always say that shit Maybelline mascara (pink tube green lid) is the best mascara invented. We all know it’s utter crap. It leads me to think that any magazine giving its 2 cents on beauty products has had their opinions bought. So the idea of being nominated by many of them means f*ck all.
    As for the few that ARE reputable and do not just give in to PR pressure.. I’m sorry but they should pay you for your contribution. It’s just cheap not to. If they can afford to buy rights to images, interviews & pay their staff..they can pay you for your writing.

    I think one of the biggest problems is not that beauty bloggers are hated by journalists, have hairy arms in photos (still can’t believe that article) or that they are not taken seriously.. I think the biggest problem is the amount of liars out there who just want free products. I am so sick to death of seeing someone pretend to like a product because they got it as a sample. The integrity of all of us is tainted by those few idiots. I am always astounded at the use of colorful, nonsensical language that gets thrown about to disguise the fact that a product is total shit.
    The reason I never attend events any more is because I am also sick of seeing people with no interest in make-up turn up for free canapes, drinks and goody bags. I started noticing that about 2 years ago when I saw how people who had never previously attended any events before, turned up at the Illamasqua event.. spoke over the presentation, spoke over Alex Box, spoke about the goodie bag not being generous enough, compared their travel compensation money and then stole the testers display. ((((I think I was sitting next to you actually!))))

    I don’t think the negativity and snobbery towards us came out of nowhere. I do think it is well founded. I know we all have disclaimers but I wish reviews were moderated a bit more and those people who advertise instead of review products were highlighted as ‘advertisers’. I think then people would feel better about beauty bloggers in general and we would get a bit more credit and praise where it is due!

    Excuse my spelling/grammar I haven’t spoken in English for days and its starting to show!!

    • Hahhaa, you rant? As IF Tali!

      I’m killing myself laughing at the Maybelline (notso) Great Lash – reminds me of this post: http://www.lipglossiping.com/2010/01/why-i-dont-read-beauty-magazines/

      I guess it’s a media culture… if they don’t pay their interns… etc. etc. And I still don’t think of us as ‘media’ btw… we’re just beauty addicts that have thrust ourselves (without really knowing what we’re doing) into a ‘new media’ that (some of us) aren’t savvy enough to deal with.

      Do you think the bullshitters are becoming a majority in the blogging world? I think this is the crux of the established/new blogger divide. It’s completely true that there is a clique amongst established bloggers, brought about in part because of the number of requests we see for PR details, ad network details etc.

      I know I’m really protective about it. Not because I don’t want to share information but because I don’t want to share information with the wrong people with the wrong motivations. I don’t know who died and made me gatekeeper but I’m just so sad to see such a brilliant ‘thing’ diluted by people who don’t care what they write so long as they get given shit for free.

      TALI! You’ve turned me into a ranter!

      And yes, you were sat next to me (that was getting on for 3 years ago btw!) we were giving each other disapproving looks at the noisy ones!

  17. Alexandra says:

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
    Your sincere attitude is reflected in your blog, and this innocence is what I appreciate most in your posts (but they are all well written of course and your reviews so helpful). Ethics is the biggest challenge in this world, but it’s always worth keeping our standards as this is the best beauty secret!
    Your daughter is adorable and really lucky and proud of her brave mum!

    • Blimey Alexandra, you’ve not only just given me something to smile about but I wanna print out your line about the best beauty secret fo’ sho’!

      Thanks for your support, it’s really appreciated x

  18. Natalie says:

    Interesting article, and interesting comments. I think my opinion would be different, but I don’t blog for a living – blogging is my hobby and even a chance to write unpaid for a major magazine’s blog would be awesome to me, but I totally understand how if this is your livelihood that that would be completely insulting.

    I don’t much like awards like that in general because to me it often feels like a popularity contest – again, something because of my profession I am all too understanding of!

    The point about advertisers vs reviewers is a good one – and is not just limited to the beauty sphere. There are a couple of fashion blogs I read that are guilty of not being absolutely clear when a post is sponsored or not and it drives me mad!

    • Hi Natalie,

      I don’t find it insulting – that’s what I’m saying, I’m completely torn on a personal level but it’s a bit sad that some bloggers are feeling embarrassed or ashamed to being pleased to receive a nomination like this.

      Oooh I wanna know what your profession is now! Are you a judge on the X-Factor 😉

      I’m number one advocate of disclosing anything and everything when it comes to blogging, so am in total agreement with you. Why the hell not disclose? Transparency can only increase trust between a blog and its audience and if the lovely people reading don’t trust what you’ve got to say – what pleasure can you attain from writing it?

  19. FS.Rain says:

    I hv only started beauty-blogging / sharing my views on products, food etc very recently. I can understand well what you mean, the contradiction which u felt. I would say, lets look at it positively. For magazines or publications to list you n award you, I believe they also felt compelled as their readers might have requested. Or your readers might have nominated you. In this realistic world, people/organizations will prefer to have some gains in some way, hence the awards might come with “a price in exchange.”and thus you might be judged becoz of such recognition.

    To make it simple for yourself, just accept it with an open heart n stay true to what you have commited to you readers. It is hard to not get affected by what’s coming to you, but occassionally in life we just gotta close one eye and also filter out some negativity thats just not helping you at all.

  20. Grace London says:

    If you are writing about beauty for a living now (GOOD on you!) then an article in Marie Claire (paid or not) is going to look bloody good on your CV/resume/portfolio/whatever writers call it. That may well bring you more work, or enable you to leverage your rate, so the article does have a value to you, albeit not an immediate monetary one.

    Yes, there’s a benefit to Marie Claire in traffic, but they fixed the no-back-link no-love issue pretty quickly to their credit.

    Congratulations.

    • Mostly not beauty but YEAHHHHH THANKS!

      And yes! So it *is* a good prize for anyone aspiring to be in the field (I’m not sure I want that, I just don’t want to work in McDonalds).

      xx

  21. Susana says:

    I am not a blogger so I can’t really give you my opinion on what you should do on this case, but as a customer who constantly reads blog reviews I hope that the magazines some day realize the importance of what you and other bloggers are doing.

    Within my circle of friends-coworkers-acquaintances, I find that many of them don’t trust promo pictures anymore, and the market is slowly changing: brands are on Twitter and Facebook, listening to their customers and actually taking feedback from them, so maybe in the future they will relay less in photoshopped magazine ads and more on real swatches, made by bloggers who (like you) take their task seriously and are truthful and sincere with their readers.

    Whatever you decide, I’ll keep following your blog… and if you win and decide to write for them, I hope it’s a good experience.

    Brilliant post! I enjoyed a lot reading it.

    • Do you know what, it’s really true that brands have stepped up to the plate isn’t it when it comes to Social Media? Facebook, twitter – they’re so much more accountable than they used to be. Accountable to their fans, less faceless. It’s a good time to be consumers I think.

      We are ultimately a bunch of saddos with our hairy swatching arms, taking a billion photos to get one where you can see our freshly applied mascara to it’s true potential. But, on the flipside, I really think we’re more in tune with the realities of shopping for new products than some editors. We’re not under pressure to produce snappy, pithy copy and make everyone happy in 250 words. Imagine if magazines were like blogs. Then we’d be in trouble!

      Thanks for your support xx

  22. Trimperley says:

    If you win rebel and demand a payment for your article. When deciding to follow a blog I follow links or names from other blogs I like, I don’t think I’ve ever read a blog because of a magazine article. Be proud of your hit count, I enjoy your blog.

    • The winning blogger (whoever it is) should ask MC if they’d like the opportunity to write a guest post on the winner’s blog 😉

      Haha, I’m SO blowing any chance I had of winning right now!

      Thanks ever so much x

  23. Suzanne says:

    I think what’s worth factoring in is the (justified) angst of journalists/beauty magazine editors who have found in recent times that while they took years and worked VERY hard to write about beauty in a public forum, they have been superseded by beautybloggers. And as someone who USED to read beauty magazines and never does anymore in favour of blogs, the shift away from print to internet media is very, very real.

    And then to rub salt in the wound, they’re having to try and attach themselves to the rapidly expanding giant of beautyblogging by proclaiming themselves the mothership and thus dishing out blog awards? Poor ducks must be extremely bitter.

    I think it’s worth remembering that these decisions are made my people, and someone in Marie Claire/Cosmopolitan/Grazia/Whatever looked at your blog and went “ooh! I like this!” and responded accordingly, which is only ever flattering. And if ANY format – magazine, blog, newspaper – talked to their readership about my blog it’s extremely flattering. I come over all squeaky when someone posts about my blog. It makes me happy.

    So I think writing for Marie Claire is completely flattering. I’m rather jealous, and looking forward to the article 🙂

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