Bloggers are often described as people who receive “free items.”
But once you calculate the actual money, time and work behind blogging, the word free starts to look a little different.
My Monthly Blogging Costs
- Flickr Pro: approx. €6
- Image editing software: approx. €30
- Clothing, poses, props, backgrounds, windlights/EEP, scene-building items and other blogging-related purchases: approx. €40
- Blogotex portfolio posting fees: additional cost depending on the number of posts
Fixed monthly costs:
Approx. €76 + Blogotex fees
And this is already a conservative calculation.
It does not include:
- Computer hardware
- Electricity
- Internet
- Equipment upgrades
- Optional land or studio rent
Land and Photography Locations
I have not included land or studio rent in the monthly total because owning land is not strictly necessary for blogging.
Public sims and free photo studios can be used instead.
But that does not mean the alternative is completely free.
Without your own photography space, time may be spent:
- Searching for suitable locations
- Teleporting between sims
- Checking whether the environment fits the product
- Testing lighting and EEP settings
- Checking rez permissions
- Dealing with other visitors
- Finding suitable camera angles
- Sometimes abandoning a location and beginning the search again
So the cost is often either money for a private space or additional time spent finding one.
Time Per Blog Image
For me, one finished blog image could easily take around:
4 hours
That time can include:
- Styling
- Choosing hair, shoes and accessories
- Choosing poses
- Scene building
- Location scouting
- Lighting and EEP setup
- Camera setup and composition
- Taking multiple photographs
- Selecting the final image
- Image editing and post-processing
- Writing credits
- Finding product links
- Uploading to Flickr
- Posting through Blogotex
- Tagging and linking
- Maintaining Flickr albums and groups
- Tracking creator requirements and deadlines
- Updating blog pages and creator lists
- Fixing outdated or broken links
- General blog maintenance and administration
- Communication related to blogging
Time Per Creator
I produced around:
4 blog images per creator, per month
At approximately 4 hours per image:
4 images × 4 hours = 16 hours of work per creator, per month
Using a very modest value of only:
€15 per hour
the calculation becomes:
16 hours × €15 = €240 worth of labour per creator, per month
That is the value of the time alone.
It does not include the monthly expenses listed above.
And it certainly does not include the years spent developing photography, styling, composition and editing skills.
What Does the Blogger Receive?
Depending on the creator and the product, the retail value of an item may be somewhere between approximately:
L$60 and L$1,000
And yes, receiving the product is part of the exchange.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with creators expecting good-quality work, deadlines or reasonable requirements.
But perhaps “free item” is not the best way to describe the relationship.
A blogger provides:
- Photography
- Styling
- Scene design
- Location scouting
- Lighting
- Composition
- Image editing
- Credits
- Product links
- Flickr visibility
- Blogotex visibility
- Blog maintenance
- Administration
- Audience
- Creativity
- Time
And those things have value too.
Appreciation Matters
There is another part of blogging that cannot really be calculated in euros or Linden Dollars.
Respect.
To the creators who expect bloggers to invest hours of work, meet deadlines, follow requirements and provide quality images, credits, links and exposure — but cannot even manage a simple “thank you” or a little feedback:
That silence says more than you may think.
Nobody is asking for endless praise.
Basic acknowledgement is enough.
A simple thank you, a reaction or a few words of feedback can mean a lot when someone has spent hours creating something for your brand.
Creators deserve reliable and professional bloggers.
Bloggers deserve appreciation and respect in return.
Third-Party Platforms and Boundaries
I also believe bloggers should be allowed to have boundaries regarding third-party platforms.
Requiring bloggers to join Discord or other external services means asking them to create additional accounts, accept additional terms and privacy policies, and use platforms they may otherwise choose not to use.
Communication is necessary.
Mandatory participation on every additional platform is not.
Professionalism should include respect for personal boundaries as well.
In the End
Creators provide the product.
Bloggers provide the photography, presentation, promotion, visibility, creativity and labour.
It is an exchange.
It is not an act of charity from either side.
Neither side should have to behave as though they should simply be grateful for being allowed to participate.
The best creator-blogger relationships are built on mutual respect, communication and appreciation.
We create together.
And respect should go both ways.
Because sometimes the most expensive part of a “free” item is the work that goes into presenting it.
Free should describe the item — not the value of the work behind it.
I no longer blog for creators myself, but this is still something I wanted to say.
I spent enough time on this side of the relationship to know how much work, care and commitment can exist behind a single image. So this is not about me asking for anything now — it is about speaking up for the bloggers who are still doing that work every day.
I hope creators remember that behind every post is a person giving their time, creativity and effort to help present someone else’s work.
Bloggers deserve standards and expectations, but they also deserve appreciation, communication and respect.
I may no longer be a blogger, but I still believe the people who are deserve to be treated as collaborators — not simply as recipients of “free items.”
I haven’t always had positive experiences within the blogging community either, but that doesn’t change what I believe is fair.