DISADVANTAGES OF BEING A FOOD BLOGGER

Earlier this week I shared a blog post on ‘Advantages of being a Food Blogger’. I’m so glad that a lot of you enjoyed reading the post and found it to be useful. The idea behind sharing the positives was to encourage all aspiring food bloggers to take onto blogging. But as I said earlier, there is another side to blogging- it’s disadvantages. To paint a realistic picture and for you to make a better decision of whether blogging is your cup of tea or not, I’m listing a few disadvantages of being a food blogger.

If you’re also a food blogger and would like to add something to this list, leave them in the comments below.

1. NO INDUSTRY STANDARDS

Blogging in India is still very unorganized. There are no standard rates or practices. You’ll have to figure out things for yourself. When I started out, I had no clue how I could monetize my blog or what I should be charging for each post. 2 years back, I started by charging only one thousand for each Instagram post. As I worked with more brands and figured my way through it, I began to increase my commercials. As I write this post, I’ve hiked by price for each Instagram posts by 40 times of what I started from. You never know if you’re undercharging or quoting an unrealistic figure. For the same campaign, two bloggers with the same reach get paid drastically different figures because of what they quoted to the brand.

2. MONETARY UNCERTAINTY

I think everyone who freelances would relate to this. Initially, your income will be uncertain and irregular, depending on the number of projects you get and what you charge from them. There’ll be months when you get a lot of campaigns and make great money. There’ll also be months where you don’t get great offers and may end up making less or no money. The only way to fix that is to get into retainer arrangements with the brands you work with. Under this arrangements the brand gets you on board for a longer period and pays you a monthly salary. Over time, I’ve been able to work out a retainer arrangement with several brands that helps me get a secure income every month. It also helps me tackle the uncertainty of whether or not I’ll get new projects.

3. SELF DOUBT IS A PART OF THIS PROFESSION

This is probably an inevitable disadvantage of being a food blogger.You create new content and you share it with the world. As creative people, we try and create the best content that we can but the fact is that there are so many other bloggers out there, who’re doing their best as well. There are times when you look at your work and think you’re not doing enough. I’m sure every food blogger reading this has questioned their work and pictures at some point in their career. The only way to tackle this is to accept this as a passing phase and something we all go through.

4. YOU HAVE TO DISCIPLINE YOURSELF

This disadvantage is what I’ve been struggling with the most ever since I’ve graduated. While I was blogging in college, I was, in  away, disciplined by the tight schedule at college. Now that I’m blogging full time and since I’m at home all the time, I find it tough to discipline my self. I tend to push things and not make the most of my time. What I aim to do is to have a proper schedule in place. It is very important to divide your time cleverly between cooking, shooting, editing and writing the blog. That is not an easy arrangement to work out.

5. IT DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK

Blogging is super fun and you can make a decent amount of money through it but that works only if your blog reaches a certain level. It is very difficult to grow your blog and social media presence and also get noticed by brands. There is always a chance that your blog may not be able to garner views and readers despite you putting in all your effort. Before you get into blogging, you must accept the fact that the blog may or may not work. That uncertainty is always there when you get into blogging. What is important is to be true to yourself and try and make it work!

6. IT’S A LONELY PROFESSION

I’m not sure if I completely I agree with blogging being a lonely profession but a lot of my fellow bloggers feel so. As a food blogger, you work on your own, mostly in your kitchen. You don’t get to meet a lot of people on everyday basis, as you would if you’re working in a regular office. If you’re the kind of person who likes working with a lot of people around you, food blogging might not be the best option. What I try and do is meet my fellow food bloggers as often as I can and catch up with my other friends whenever I can.

My objective of putting down these disadvantages is to not discourage you any way. Just like any other profession, blogging as its pros and cons and it’s a good idea to evaluate both sides before you get into it. Happy Blogging!