Scott Adams Has a "Dilbert Moment"

I've read this post on the Dilbert blog 4 times now and I still don't get it.  Seriously.  It seems like the sort of story Scott Adams would poke fun at in the always entertaining Dilbert comic strip.

Adams is going to cut back on his blogging activity for a number of reasons.  Let's look at them one at a time.  First, he's not making much money from advertising.  For a guy that must have a pretty sizable annual income from the comic, syndication, books and everything else he's involved in, did he really think he'd get measurably richer from blog advertising?  If so, that was a bad assumption.

Second, he says that some readers of his blog are sabotaging his latest book's Amazon reviews because they're afraid Adams will stop giving away future book content on his blog.  Is this really an issue given that his daily comic strip is also accessible for free from the Dilbert website?  I looked at sales trends for his latest book and they're solid so far.  The book also continues to have a very respectable ranking on Amazon, despite these reviews (which still average almost 4 stars overall).

He then talks about his desire to grow his audience via the blog but that one disgruntled reader could post a negative comment and cause others to abandon him.  Hey, even if his blog goes away tomorrow that scenario can still play out from his comic strip.  One angry reader can comment on any number of blogs, websites or Amazon itself to voice their negativity.  I firmly believe the positives of him blogging far, far outweigh any potential negatives, including this one.

It's good to see that he's still adding new pieces about once a day since this post was made.  Maybe he'll rethink this and stick with it and remain as active as he's ever been.  I've always enjoyed the Dilbert strip and I think it makes tons of sense for him to have a strong, active blogging presence as well.

Comments

[Lori Cates Hand]

Hi Joe,

I read an article in the 11/11 NY Times that Scott is taking over the day-to-day management of one of the restaurants he owns. Maybe he's just too busy to blog as much now?

Lori

[Joe Wikert]

Ah, *that* could be what's really driving this decision...

[CJ Millisock]

I unsubscribed from the Dilbert Blog recently because he moved to partial feeds (RSS).

BOOOH! :-)