Lenn Thompson of LENNDEVOURS on Wine Blogging

Lenn ThompsonWe asked some winebloggers last week to answer some questions about wine blogging. Our first answer is here, and we hope to hear from more of you very soon. If you want to participate, just answer the questions listed in this post and we’ll get your response up on the site right away!

Cheers,

Ryan

1. Why do you feel wine blogging is not a fad? or is it?
By definition, a fad is temporary. I don’t think anyone with half a brain thinks wine blogs are temporary. There are too many people with too much passion for them to be temporary. They aren’t going away. My blog isn’t going anywhere.

2. What message do you have for wine PR companies as far as interacting with blogs?

Treat us just like you would any other media outlet — except be smarter. For most of us, blogs are a side project, so be more targeted so that you don’t waste our time and yours. Do your research. Understand our blogs before pitching us. And don’t have any more expectation for publication than you do with any other media outlet.

3.What is one thing wine blogs get right?

Individual, passionate voices that are similar to our readers’ voices.

4.What is one thing that wine blogs get wrong or need to improve?

Bloggers need to do a better job understanding their entire audience and writing for that readership, instead of writing just for one another. The wine blogging community is amazing, but too many blogs forget that there is a bigger wine world out there.

Oh, and don’t only write about the best wines that you’re tasting. We all know that there is a lot of bad wine in the world. To ignore that erodes the credibility of blogs in my opinion. You owe it to your readers to give them the full picture. To warn them.

5.What do you want wineries and MainStreamMedia to know about your blog?

I’m not sure that I feel the need to tell them anything. The wineries that I’ve written about know me as a straight shooter who tells it like it is without being beholden to advertisers, friendships, etc. They respect me for that (at least I think they do). As for MSM, rather than tell them something, I’d rather make a request: If you’re going to jump into the blog world with your big name publication and big name writers, do it right. Commit to it and don’t half-ass it. It seems like traditional publications sometimes do it because they “have to” but it hurts everyone when it’s done poorly.

Lenn, a proud Pittsburgh, PA native, moved to Long Island nearly a decade ago and promptly fell in love with the region’s dynamic and emerging wine industry. An Internet marketing guru by profession, he founded LENNDEVOURS.com in early 2004 to share his passion for the wines of New York with his friends, family and readers.

It has since grown into the premier source for New York wine commentary, tasting notes and news.

Formerly the editor of the Long Island Wine Gazette and a contributor to Edible Brooklyn, he now contributes to Edible East End, and is the wine columnist for Hamptons.com and Dan’s Papers in the Hamptons. He is also a regional editor for Appellation America covering the Long Island and Hudson River Valley regions. He lives in Sound Beach, NY with his wife Nena, son Jackson and trusty beagle, Ben Roethlisbeagle.

Follow him on twitter: http://twitter.com/lenndevours

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]