The USA TODAY is one mainstream media company that “gets it.” Here’s an example of why:

Back in December Blogger & Podcaster Magazine teamed up with USA TODAY to launch The Blogger & Podcaster Guide (think TV Guide for blogs/podcasts to a mainstream audience). The motivation was for us both to make some money ($49.95 per month) while helping bloggers/podcasters to build their audiences by tapping into the 10,000,000+ mainstream consumer readers of USA TODAY.

After 2 months it became clear that while we had hundreds of paying customers, our $49.95 price point (a bargain by traditional USA TODAY standards) was too high for most of our industry to be able to participate.

What happened next has truly amazed me.

USA TODAY has figuratively “torn up” our original agreement and has voluntarily agreed to do the following for us:

1) Given us permission to reduce the price of from $49.95 per month to just $5 per month. They told me that they hope that this new price point will make The Blogger & Podcaster Guide accessible for everyone, no matter how niche or new to the industry. (If you’re already a customer of the guide no worries, the new pricing will happen automatically at your next billing cycle. You don’t need to do anything.)

2) Their going to help drive even more traffic into the Blogger & Podcaster Guide (beyond the franchise spot on the home page of USA TODAY.com they’ve already given us) by giving us 2,000,000 premium placed advertisements (leader boards, skyscrapers etc.) each month. That equates to just shy of 67,000 ads per day. We’re going to be all over USATODAY.com.

3) Perhaps most significantly and selfless of all, USA TODAY has given us permission to work with other media partners beyond themselves. Our agreement was originally an exclusive arrangement for them. This generous act has allowed me to already work out partnerships with 15 additional magazines/publishers with a combined audience of many more millions of pageviews per month. So now if you get a listing in the Blogger & Podcaster Guide you get The USA TODAY and ALL of the new publications for that same $5 per month rate.

I’m having conversations many other publishers and expect to add new ones to our network every month. You’ll be able to keep tabs on the complete list to date at www.bloggerandpodcaster.com/register.

When the mainstream media does something right, I think it’s important to acknowledge. Thank you USA TODAY, you’re helping the little guys, and we appreciate it.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster

This morning TechCrunch reported our plans for the creation of The Blogger & Podcaster Media Network (BPN). I’ve been getting a bunch of questions, so let me share some of the specifics:

1) USA Today- Blogger & Podcaster Guide. There’s been a big development with USA Today. Thanks to their support of our industry we can now offer inclusion in the USA Today Blogger & Podcaster Guide (think TV Guide for blogs and podcasts to a mainstream audience) for just $5 per month…it was $49.95 monthly. In addition, beyond the position on the homepage of usatoday.com they have also committed to 2,000,000 premium placed ads each month, driving even more traffic to the guide. Perhaps most importantly, they’ve given us their permission to include other media partners in the Blogger & Podcaster Guide. Later today we’ll be announcing 15 new media partners beyond USA Today, making the $5 per month value proposition even stronger. Based on initial interest I anticipate having deals with over 100 media partners within the next few months. This will, for the first time, allow bloggers and podcasters to promote their content to a significant mainstream audience cost effectively. All current members will automatically be switched to the new pricing, you don’t need to do anything. If you are intersted in being included you can register at www.bloggerandpodcater.com/register (the page may not be live until later today, so check back if it’s not up when you go there.)

2) Eligibility. All bloggers and podcasters are eligible to join The Blogger & Podcaster Network. We make no requirements as to subscriber count, unique visitors or any other such restrictions. And, we don’t require exclusivity. You can be part of The Blogger & Podcaster Network at the same time you’re a member of another network, if that’s what makes sense for your business.

3) Healthcare. We are working hard on a group healthcare plan. We know healthcare (especially in the US) is a big issue for those looking to leave their “day jobs” and blog/podcast full time, so we are actively working on a group plan solution that will eliminate this obstacle. As you might imagine, this is a complicated endeavor, however I’m confident that we’re going to be able to work this out.

4) Earning You Money. This summer we will be rolling out the advertising portion of our program. We’ll provide members with the option of including useful content widgets (that can be simply installed on your web page) such as: polls of the day, video players (on topics of interest to your audience), news feeds, etc. The content widgets will have advertising embedded in them and we will share revenues from these ads with you. We prefer this approach, in contrast to a program like Google AdSense, where you schlock up your site by having ads stacked on each on top of each other. When all is said and done between this advertising and our affiliate program bloggers & podcasters will be able to earn a living from being a full-time blogger/podcaster.

There’s even more exciting news still to come, but I’m going to try and keep those details under wraps for now. Hopefully Scoble, Jason Kottke, Michael Arrington or some other intrepid journalist won’t scoop us when the time comes.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster

If you ever wanted to get your name on the silver screen now’s your chance. Blogger & Podcaster has partnered with actor/director/producer Bret Carr (also a B&P advertiser) to help market his fantastically inspirational movie RevoLOUtion (www.revoloutionmovie.com). Anybody who blogs or podcasts about will get a producers credit in the theatrical release. Even better, you can watch the movie online for free…and only pay what you think it’s worth after. Check out the story for complete details of the program.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster

After our 3 week technical issue “sabbatical” I’m happy to announce that we are live again and visible to the 10,400,000 daily readers on the front page of usatoday.com. (We’re in the “Marketplace” section at the bottom of the page)

To thank you all for your patience (and just in case there are any other technical glitches) I’m making this whole week free too. Your billing period won’t start until next Monday, December 17th. We’ll make sure you’re notified well in advance before each new billing cycle, just in case you want to suspend your account and avoid billing.

One challenge we still have is making sure the user experience is a good one. The key here is having enough critical mass of listings that people can find blogs/podcasts on the topics that interest them. If we accomplish this people will bookmark the site and return again and again. We’re off to a really good start, but I’d like to ask for your help. Please go to any blogger or podcaster you know and let them know that they we’ve arranged a free month in The USA TODAY Blogger & Podcaster Guide for them.

There’s no catch other than after the first month there will be a charge if they want to continue promoting to the USA TODAY’s audience. However, we’ve also arranged a 20% discount for them if they find value in the program and choose to continue on. Worst case, they’ve helped us all out and have taken advantage of the USA TODAY traffic for a month for free.

To get started, here’s all they need to do:
1. Go to http://www.bloggerandpodcaster.com/usatoday
2. Select “New User” and go through 6 Step registration process
3. Be sure to enter ‘BP’ in Coupon Code box under Option #4. Click Option #4 button.
We’ll notify them well in advance of the date they’ll be billed, so they don’t need to be worried about cancelling.

Thanks again for your patience & support. This program should be a big help in marketing our industry’s content to mainstream America. I’m excited to get this program rolling.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster Magazine

I don’t know how many of you know the amazing Glenda Watson Hyatt, but she is my personal hero and I have a holiday request on her behalf. Glenda, despite living with Cerebral Palsy, is an amazing person who completed a college degree (with a major and a minor!), wrote her auto-biography, and is a prolific blogger - all by using only her left thumb to communicate! Watch this video on YouTube, it’s unbelievable. She is, however, as she puts it, non-verbal. Her main way to communicate effectively is through typing with her left thumb on the computer. Glenda is entered in a contest called Blog For A Year. If she wins the most votes, she will be given money from a fund they are collecting so she can be “paid” to blog. What she would really like to do with the money is get a special software that will help her communicate both verbally and in writing. I would like to help her, and so I’m asking if you would like to help as well. Here’s what I’d suggest: for the next 26 days until the contest ends on 12/31/07 go to http://blogforayear.com/profiles/glenda-watson-hyatt and vote daily for Glenda (which the rules encourage) — Or make this page your homepage so you can do it without too much memory strain. If we all spread the word and vote daily then getting the EZ Keys with Voice software (which would enable her to interact more effectively when in face-to-face groups too). Let’s do a good thing and help someones life a little easier that is so deserving. Thanks in advance for your kindness.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster Magazine

Bloggers Unite is a great charitable effort. Check out this story on Digg … and help the cause by “Digg”ing it so it can get the audience it deserves. Then give a little something back by joining in on 12/17.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster Magazine

Last week was a very exciting one for us as we launched The Blogger & Podcaster Guide in USA TODAY. The guide is designed to expose our industry’s great content to mainstream America who isn’t familiar with how to easily find the kinds of blogs/podcasts that would interest them — think TV Guide for Blogs/Podcasts. Well all was peachy until the volume of traffic from usatoday.com homepage (where the guide is accessed) overwhelmed our servers. Our tech team is working with USA TODAY’s .com folks to remedy the situation.

For those of you signed up, no worries, we are not beginning your program until these bugs are worked out. All the exposure so far - and until we get this fixed - are on the house.

For those of you not signed up, who’d like to promote your blog or podcast to USA TODAY’s 10 million+ audience, the first month is on me. Here’s how you get registered:

1) Go to www.bloggerandpodcaster.com/usatoday
2) Select “New User” and go through 6 Step registration process
3) In “Step 2” be sure to enter ‘BP’ in Coupon Code box under Option #4. Then click “Option #4”. If you don’t enter this code, you’re going to be charged the regular price ($49.95 per month).

This will give you a month to test it out and see how it works for you without cost. Just remember to suspend your listing before 30 days or you’ll be billed for the next month.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster Magazine

Congratulations to Hethir Rodgriguez and Tom Kim winners of our launch issue contest sponsored by Sonic Distribution. Hethir is the winner of Electronics Class A Cardioid Condensor Microphone ($399 value), the first truly professional USB microphone. Tom is the winner of an sE Electronics Reflexion Filter ($399 value) that eliminates reflections to deliver a tighter, punchier sound to your recordings. Congratulations Hethir & Tom, enjoy your new gear!

- Larry

Congrats to Evan Williams for selling Odeo for a reported $1,000,000 and welcome to the industry in a big way SonicMountain. Launched in November 2006 this little known group is obviously filled with folks with big plans as you can see from the news on their website. I’m sure they’ll pay attention to the things not to do as refreshingly detailed by Evan and reported on GigaOM.

- Larry

I just did an interview with John Havens of About.com who expressed great interest in a pet podcast project of mine called “Random Kindness.” In the whirlwind of the Blogger & Podcaster magazine launch it made me remember why I got into this business in the first place. This is a podcast where I find deserving people in need of a helping hand and tell their stories in a podcast show. Here’s the experiment I’d like you to participate in: Go and listen to the story of Susan Benaszek & Lamonte Chenvert at www.randomkindness.net. Then give a dollar or two and then pass this along to a few friends and ask them to do the same. I think we can change the world through podcasting — $1-2 at a time. $1-2 won’t be a hardship on anyone and by working together we can turn the lives around of this family who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and is still struggling to this day. Once we get them back on their feet, we’ll take all the extra funds from this grand “experiment” and do even more for other forgotten victims of Katrina victims. C’mon let’s put podcasting on the map as a force for good — $1 at a time!

- Larry