Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

As many of you are aware, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo, went into retirement from blogging on July 11th. Claiming he needed to find his new voice, he set out on a quest to build an ‘intimate mailing list’ to host discussions on.

In a recent blog post, an update on his retirement, Jason says he is having a wonderful time writing his emails to his ‘intimate email group” (since when is 3000+ considered intimate?)…he continues: “I’ve been writing 2-5k word thought pieces on the email list, and I’ve found it to be very rewarding in a way that the mud pit of blogging isn’t.”

My thoughts are:

1. How is blogging a mudpit, and does that make us bloggers pigs? If so I feel a bit insulted.

2. Isn’t writing 2k+ ‘thought pieces’ the same as blogging just in a different format? I mean blog comes from the word weblog, which is a log of information on the web, a journal so to speak of one’s thoughts and opinions, whether it’s posted to a website or sent over email, in my opinion he’s still blogging.

3. It appears to me that this is somewhat of a scam like his twitter follower campaign, and other such to build a bigger audience for himself and mahalo. Everyone knows that the money is in your ‘list’. I’m not saying building a newsletter is bad, but if you want people to subscribe to your newsletter, don’t do it by trickery, just come out and say it.

Darren Rowse from Problogger says that before you do anything you need to build a list, and should start a newsletter on day one of your blog’s launch. There are just so many people who still don’t use feed readers that can benefit from your blog, and you can benefit from their visiting your site it’s a win-win.

Jason Calacanis continues his blog post : “Now I still love blogs: still read them, still comment on them…. but I’m trying to find my voice again–my true voice. There is something about the acoustic, intimate nature of email that is impacting how I write. I’m writing every sentence as if I’m looking someone in the eye and speaking directly to them. I’m thinking about the economy of words again. I’m trying to say things in as few words as possible, and I’m cutting sentences, paragraphs and pages more than I’m publishing them. I’m proof reading again, and C.K. Sample is proofing for me. It’s a new, slower and more considered process and I’m loving it. I’ve published ten emails or so and I’ve thrown away at least 30. Somethings happening, but I don’t know what it is.”

My thoughts:

When he says “I’m writing every sentence as if I’m looking someone in the eye and speaking directly to them.” I’m thinking, isn’t that how blogs are? That’s at least how I’ve always wrote my blog, as if I’m writing an intimate letter to a long lost friend…

He also says “I’m thinking about the economy of words again. I’m trying to say things in as few words as possible, and I’m cutting sentences, paragraphs and pages more than I’m publishing them. I’m proof reading again,” and I’m thinking economy of words?

Didn’t you say your ‘emaillog’(not to be confused with a weblog of course) are 2k-5k word thought pieces? How is that economical at all?

He continues:

“Over 100 folks respond to every email and I try to respond to every single person. Some of these emails are five pages and I read every single word. No one else sees these words–they are between me and the reader and that is also wonderful and true. Posting to the comment section of a blog is meaningless when compared to sending an email containing your thoughts inteneded for the author. Folks say very, very deep, true and honest things in one to one communications that they can’t say in a blog comment. I love that.”

Call my cynical, but the tone is that of perhaps a hippie(and I’m a very liberal person, hell I voted for Dennis Kucinich), or someone in a midlife crisis, or perhaps someone post stroke, maybe he’s been playing with model kits in a non-ventilated room, your guess is as good as mine. No offense but it’s like he’s living in a dream land. If he were writing blog pieces people could still email him from the blog if he so choosed to put up a contact form right at the bottom of each post or such.

Bottom line: Jason Calacanis if you’re really retired from blogging, more power to you, but why not stop blogging about being retired from blogging, seriously. I know blogging is addictive, and there are places that can help you with your addiction. (that last line was sarcasm, in case you weren’t paying attention…)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Do Blogs/Bloggers Have Expiry Dates?
• It’s the end…
• Jason Nation leads to resignation [Jason Calacanis]

More from Theresabloginmysoup

• 8 Reasons why MyWorldPlus is the perfect business in a down economy..
• Set Goals or DIE! Part 2: Traffic Goals
• The Top 3 Laws of Professional Blogging.

• Calacanis Quits...Nobody likes a quitter Jason... Jason Calacanis, one of the most influential bloggers on the scene right now, founder of Mahalo, exploiter of twitter and facebook, has announced he is going to quit blogging. What has the world come to? Eh, maybe it's for the better. I'm waiting to see a social network popup just......
• Using RSS Feeds to Blow up the (Writers) Block! How to use RSS Feeds to break up Writers Topic... I've written a lot lately about rss feeds, however this topic is more about getting over writer's block, & speed blogging. It's a fact that more content = more search engine rankings / directory listings, and more visitors. Of course......
• Are you in? Announcing: Inter-National Pillar Article Week - November 24-28th. Pillar Article Writing Week + Contest + 7 tips to Perfect Pillar Articles. We all sometimes get stuck in the mode of just writing our thoughts, or small news articles, or informative but small articles daily. This week I submit a challenge = Write 1 Pillar Article for each weekday......
• Vic the Jackass, and the BANS(Build a Niche Store) SCAM. Get a FREE Niche Store NOW! First off I call BANS a scam because it's easy for just about anybody to do this for FREE, if you know how. Stay tuned and I will show you how.. But first... Have you heard of this guy(Dumbass) Vic over at Blogger Unleashed? (Apparently GarryConn isn't too fond of......
• Back to my roots... Social Media, Blogging, Making Money [/caption] The past few months I've been doing some big experimenting with bringing in new people to this blog. I've been focused big on writing for google trends, over writing real deep informative articles on social media, marketing, and making money. I'm planning on making some changes to that......

• interview with no debt plan No Debt Plan is about getting and staying out of debt with a plan. Kevin, the author, is passionate about budgeting, saving for the future, and using goals to reach financial freedom. You can subscribe to his blog by RSS or email. This interview is part of a new......
• Last Edition of WL's Roundup Welcome to the last edition of Weight Ladder's weekly roundup, at least for a while. Who knows I might have time to start it up again, but for now my time is better spent getting healthy and fit. Take care! Fitness Health Network: NCN is Trying A New Elliptical Routine.......
• Make Money Blogging Online. If you are a writer, this is really the best time for you to earn. The text and information – these are actually the most popular things people search on the web. The Internet is also the great stage for those who want to publish their works and make them......
• Sunday Money Madness - Blog Action Day Edition Rich Credit Debt Loan is starting off the roundup by presenting the wonderful finance bloggers that have participated in Blog Action Day on October 15th, 2008. It's great to see so many out there contributing funds and writing towards the issue of poverty and increasing global awareness. Did you do......
• Blogs, Email Lists, and Floating Buttons... Using your blogs to build an email list is very powerful strategy. But are you using your blog to it's full potential?   Most people just add their opt-in form at the top of their blog's sidebar and never pay attention to it again - sure it will catch the odd......