Pinay Problogger: Stef Patag

Stef is a mom of 4 and a prolific writer. She is still actually doing her book on cooking entitled “Beyond Adobo“.

Her personal food blog is Stefoodie.net.

• How would you define problogging?

  Strictly speaking, I would define problogging to mean blogging as a primary means of income. IOW, I don’t consider myself a “problogger”.

  My primary income source is still my hubby LOL.

• When did you start blogging? When did you get into problogging and how did you realize that there’s some money to be had from it?

  I started blogging in 2001, but only as a private thing on livejournal which was introduced to me by my brother. My first venture into problogging was when I applied to Shai’s aboutweblogs.com. I had always believed in “do what you love, the money will follow”. In blogging about food and cooking I am combining both passions: food and writing. If I can make an income out of it, awesome. If not, I still got to do what I love doing.

• Which blogs are you writing for and which blog networks are you affiliated with?

  I am writing for b5media right now, though I have my personal blogs, a couple of which I may monetize soon.

• Are you problogging part time or full time? Do you see this career as a part time gig or you are looking into going fulltime problogging?

  Depends on how you define part time or full time. Full time for me would be something like what the founders of b5media are doing. *But* a major part of my day is blogging-focused, though I don’t blog all day. IOW I plan menus, I cook, I grocery shop, everytime I think of food the blogging part comes automatically — the difficulty is in finding the time to actually write everything down. But with 4 kids and homeschooling I don’t really expect to be blogging full time anytime soon.

• How do you monetize your blog? Which ones bring in the most revenues?

  Right now with b5media, I really don’t do a lot of that, since the network worries about those things for us. I do on occasion add Amazon ads, and I have affiliate accounts all over the place which I add into my posts when I remember LOL. The thing is that to set up those accounts and actually use them take time, and right now it’s not a priority for me. But yes, the smart thing to do would be to utilize as much of these as possible.

• What are the requirements to go into problogging for a network? Flat fee or profit sharing? How much is the salary range?

  That really depends on the network. With b5media we do have a contract as to what is expected of us and what they can give us as a blogger. And to be honest,

  I really should pay more attention to the money portion, but I don’t actually *know* yet how the money is made LOL. I just blog. Can’t really give you a salary range yet, either, I just completed my first month at b5media and haven’t gotten paid. Can’t count my About Weblogs experience either, though I did make a bit of money there, because I wasn’t blogging as often as I should have been — travel for hubby’s work, moving, etc. got in the way. I’ve only begun my “problogging” career, if you could call it that, last month. And they’ve (the probloggers) always said it will take about 6 months to get established and make some good money.

• How much time do you spend on problogging?

  The blogging itself, depends. I have posts that I need to work on for several days because of research, etc. The others are just news items that caught my eye, so I’m basically posting some links. If it’s a recipe, it may take longer or shorter depending on what it is. Most of the time I modify or rewrite recipes, but if I find the exact recipe posted somewhere on the ‘net, then I just link to that. Of course the actual cooking may take hours. The photography too takes time. I try not to edit my photos though, because the perfectionist in me is never satisfied, and I’d be spending all my time doing that if I got started.

• What other benefits do you get from problogging?

  My main motivation for problogging really is/was exposure, networking and the experience of writing sorta under pressure. Good training for someone wanting to become a professional writer. I started blogging because of the cookbook I’m writing, and everything else is secondary,
  but necessary. Problogging helps me get my name out there, meet people who can coach me and mentor me, and hone my skills as a writer (my prose needs lots of work!).

• What’s the most significant event/moment you had in your entire problogging career?

  Nothing yet that I can think of. Ask me again in 6 months or a year:)

• What personal tips can you share with bloggers who want to try out problogging?

  You need to know WHY you’re doing it. You’ve got to have an end goal. I wouldn’t recommend doing it if you’re going to JUST for the money. For instance, I hear there’s a lot of money right now in blogging about technology stuff, etc., but that’s just not my cup of tea. Even if you paid me $500PHP 29,343INR 42,375EUR 476CNY 3,639 a day to write about that, there’s not enough passion in me to sustain that kind of writing. I may write a few pieces to make the bucks but to do that long term, yikes, that would be drudgery. I’ve just never believed that people can produce the best kind of work they can produce if it’s only money-motivated. If you’re going to make money problogging, you’ve got to write about something you’re already passionate about, because problogging, like any income-producing activity, takes time and effort. It’s not an instant thing.

  You’re not going to blog today and suddenly be making $500PHP 29,343INR 42,375EUR 476CNY 3,639 tomorrow. There has to be something that fuels that fire even when the money isn’t there (yet). In my case, even if I don’t make a single cent problogging, I’ve gained some valuable experience, I’ve gotten to know my market a bit, and I’ve gotten to know some fun people. That to me makes the effort worthwhile.

More Filipino Probloggers:

Melissa Atienza-Petri
Joachim Guanzon
Ruth Schaffer
J Angelo Racoma
Markku Seguerra
Gloria Gamat
Paulo Ordoveza
Jayvee Fernandez