If someone told you five or six years ago that you'd able to become a millionaire just by blogging, you'd probably ask which strain of marijuana they were smoking to even suggest such a thing. But fast forward to today and that notion isn't nearly as outrageous as it once seemed. Seismic shifts in the once-mighty publishing industry, coupled with the glaring pace of social media adoption, paved the way for a new kid on the block—the style and fashion blogger. The blogging landscape has changed dramatically within the last half decade thanks primarily to Scott Schuman—the first mainstream street style photographer and owner of The Sartorialist. As the blogging set continues to proliferate, many younger bloggers have established cult followings and as a result, are starting to become brands themselves. Racked expounds on the enormous influence these bloggers have gained in the fashion world and talks about the next radical evolution of the blog.
Not happy with simply being just a blog anymore, popular women's blogs like The Man Repeller and Into the Gloss are aiming to turn their creations into full-blown web magazines, complete with a crew of editors, staff and contributors. This just begs the question, at what point does this kind of expansion dilute the original voice of the blog that people came to know and love? "If one person's perspective or tone is what made a blog interesting, then it is extremely difficult to scale and grow the content without diluting the tone," said Michael Williams, founder of menswear site A Continuous Lean. There's no question that growth should always be a priority, but bloggers must tread very carefully in how they go about doing this so as to not alienate the very readers who brought them their success.
