To Publish or not to Publish, That is the Question

How do I decide where to publish my blog articles?

Most of you have read about the recent gathering with InSpir3d and that culminated to the article "Behind the Intelligent Singaporean" co-authored by Hui Chieh and myself. While the main issues discussed during our gathering involve our criteria in selection and editorial policies on different blog articles in both Singapore Angle (SA) and Intelligent Singaporean, an interesting question is posed to me by InSpir3d (paraphrasing him), "Some of your articles in your personal blog may possibly qualify for Singapore Angle, why do you choose to place it here and not there?" The intention of the question is to work out what criteria I use to decide where I should publish my blog entry.

While Hui Chieh will soon write an article in SA to describe how the referees and editors in Singapore Angle make decisions in the review process of guest contributions from other bloggers, I will discuss in an anecdotal view about my experience as a resident contributor in SA, and explain how I decide which blog entries goes to either SG Entrepreneurs (SGE), Singapore Angle (SA) and here.

In the case of SGE, the answer is pretty clear cut. It is the first blog that I started with two other friends (Gwen and Weichang) and it is meant to target a niche group of people, namely the entrepreneurs and the people revolving around their ecosystem. In SGE (where my role is similar to Hui Chieh and The Void Deck in SA), the articles revolve mainly around in the area of entrepreneurship (mainly youth entrepreneurship which I also research on as an academic), the practitioner's and investor's viewpoint to startups. Sometimes, we do commentaries about issues which are related to Singapore, for example, an analysis on who will win the bid of Sentosa Integrated Resorts bid, discussions about new and emergent industries (for e.g. Web 2.0) and career development of students. It's more a specialist blog. Another interesting fact is that the team in SG Entrepreneurs (with our resident contributors) are apolitical. We tend to focus more on business and economy. Occasionally, we will talk about effects of government policy on entrepreneurs, but it remains rare because the Singapore economy is generally viewed as pro-business.

Now, the interesting question, what about the distinction of a entry publish in my personal blog and in SA? After all, some topics do coincide in both blogs.

The easiest way to answer this is to describe what goes through in my thought processes every time when I write a blog entry in Singapore Angle. The first I do is to ask myself the following question, "If I submit this article to the Singapore Angle review group, is it possible to be accepted based on the criteria which we choose to decide whether an article is worth publishing?" Let me start from the position as a reviewer. Oftentimes, we impose high standards from reference citations to checking the logic of the writer's arguments when we referee other articles, and offering suggestions and comments to the writer in the situation that the submitted article fail to get accepted for publication in Singapore Angle. If the collective group has decided to impose certain standards of publication for the guest contributions, then it is fair that we also exercise the same kind of standards among ourselves. That comes to my next perspective as a resident contributor.

As a resident contributor like my other colleagues, I am given the power to publish any article we write. However, with power comes responsibility, the individual has to make the call himself whether their articles can make the mark. This often led to Singapore Angle being viewed as too academic and not appealing to the layman because I have the tendency to pick articles peppered with strong logical analysis, moderate writing style and a good list of references. Of course, my colleagues may or may not adopt the same criteria in their decision process but we balance it with our different perspectives on the subject. Sometimes, it can be difficult for me to consider one article for publication. One good case is the article "Two Singapores". I was reluctant to publish it on Singapore Angle in the view that it may be seen by readers to be an article in the polemic and rhetorical genre exhibited by some bloggers. It was only with endorsing remarks that I took the plunge and published it there. Interesting, it invited criticism (which I feel valid) from some readers (which I predicted), but nevertheless I appreciated the feedback.

The second criterion I apply whether to publish my article on SA and my personal blog is whether the article is well-researched. Normally, an article published here has the potential to go on Singapore Angle if I just spend more time to find some facts and figures to justify some of my arguments. However, since I need to earn a living, I decide to write the draft here within an hour and publish it, and then if the possibility arises, I might do a future article on the SA blog. Let me give you an example of an article that was originally drafted in my personal blog, and was eventually submitted to Singapore Angle as an entry. The article "Non-Sequitur economics" was first written in a response to Chua Mui Hoong's article. Subsequent discussion with Hui Chieh led us to extend the analysis deeper by digging up historical data on the consumer price index, inflation rates and unemployment rates and review some economic literature to discuss the implications on how economic indicators can be presented out of context.

I suppose that it is interesting to write a short note on the question posed by IS, because it allows me to take a step back and review my thought processes. If you have realized by now, that is the reason why this blog entry is placed here rather than in SA.

Acknowledgments: The author thanks Hui Chieh and InSpir3d for the inspiration behind this article.

 

Comments

[longtimer]

Howdy

Just passing by very interesting article, just to add on.

I think another criteria to consider is your readership.

I am starting to realize many successful blogs or personalities in our sg blogosphere eg brown, miyagi, xenoboy, brothers, xiahue, talking cock, yawning bread etc all have one thing in common, they all focus on one area and they are very good in that one area and for some reason that area they focus on also mean their readers are from one section of the crowd.

So the moral of the story is dont be a jack of all trades, target on area and be very good at it, it doesnt matter what it is, can be politics like xenoboy or story telling like brothers or even talking cock like talking cock or telling jokes like brown.