As all regular readers and contributors know, we've had a roller coaster ride here at Blogcritics over the last few weeks: we had to pick up and change hosting companies precipitously with the cost in that area rising dramatically, the move also generating all kinds of technical issues that have had to be resolved. And we had to put up a donations button for the first time, but we've also had some very exciting and hopeful things happen as well - I am extremely optimistic about our future and our prospects for economic viability.

We were fortunate enough to be featured prominently in an excellent article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer by Chris Seper, a mainstream journalist (and blogger) who really gets it when it comes to the theory and reality of blogging:

The past week in Eric Olsen's life shows just how precarious the business of blogging can be.

Olsen's well-known pop culture Web site, Blogcritics.org, suffered a minicrisis when its expenses spiked. He scrambled, put out a call for donations from readers and covered the costs.

What triggered the financial crunch? A $200-a-month expense.

"That's a lot of money when it's coming out of my pocket," said Olsen, 45, working out of two rooms he has commandeered in his parents' Aurora home. Blogcritics averages only about $500 a month in revenue.

Online publications known as blogs are slowly moving from amateurish soapboxes to money-making enterprises. Most blogs, or Web logs, are nothing more than teenagers' online diaries or daily political newsletters with audiences of 30.

Blogcritics, which features entertainment commentary from hundreds of authors, moved out of the amateurish category soon after it started two years ago. But it hasn't yet hit the list of elite blogs that sell ads for $1,000 a week and annually get five-figure commissions by selling lots of books and CDs.