“My name is Susie and I am a full-time blogger”
This
is how Susie Lau of “Style Bubble” introduced herself at a presentation today
in Melbourne, at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).
I guess
I attended today’s presentation and Q&A with Susie because I recognized the
influence blogs can potentially have on one’s writing career and I wanted to
know how she established such a name for herself in the ever changing and
competitive online community. It turned
out to be a very engaging and eloquent presentation by a woman that understands
her influence on the fashion industry (yet doesn’t take it too seriously) and is
passionate about what she does.
As
stated by Susie, she is passionate about creativity and about people that have
a lot of love for their craft. She channels this into her blog by often featuring largely unknown, yet talented designers and creative people that inspire
her. Whilst many people in the media realm and fashion industry value her
contribution today, she doesn’t take this too seriously and understands that it
may dissolve at any moment – she understands that it is important to enjoy what
she has achieved thus far and I was taken aback by how humble and down to earth
she was.
As
someone who dabbles in the blogosphere and wants to pursue a career in writing,
I found it invaluable listening to someone that has used her blog to both
support herself financially and to nourish her creative soul.
In
the beginnings of Style Bubble, Susie was working in a job that she found to be
uninspiring and tiresome. She had previously studied history at university, but
was unsure of her desired career path and so, like me, started her blog as a
hobby and used it as a way of keeping her creative mind active. I was relieved
to hear this, as it reminded me so much of myself, and I came home feeling that
there was still hope for me yet!
Susie
highlighted how she enjoys the freedom of writing for a personal blog, as
opposed to an established publication, and I found this to be a point of great
interest. Working for publications indeed comes with certain expectations and
restrictions and so with this in mind, I understood Susie’s fondness towards being
able to express herself freely and have creative license on Style Bubble. With
around 40,000 views a day, Susie is the sole contributor of Style Bubble, as
she does not take on any employees or interns, and this gives her the ability
to take charge of content and the general tone of her blog.
What
resonated with me the most were her views on the importance of establishing
your own voice and taking pride in your blog’s content. During the Q&A,
Susie was asked the following question:
In an online world filled with fashion / style / creative blogs, how do you rise above the clutter?
She responded by saying that bloggers need to know what their blog stands for and what their motivations are for blogging. Successful bloggers have established points of view and a real focus, and whilst they keep their readers in mind when posting, they don’t let the audience dictate their blog’s content. Susie also acknowledged that uniqueness is key and it is vital to take into account what is already out there. She reinforced what I already suspected, being that it was much easier creating something unique back in 2006 (when she started Style Bubble) as opposed to 2012, because blogs weren’t such a popular tool back then.
In an online world filled with fashion / style / creative blogs, how do you rise above the clutter?
She responded by saying that bloggers need to know what their blog stands for and what their motivations are for blogging. Successful bloggers have established points of view and a real focus, and whilst they keep their readers in mind when posting, they don’t let the audience dictate their blog’s content. Susie also acknowledged that uniqueness is key and it is vital to take into account what is already out there. She reinforced what I already suspected, being that it was much easier creating something unique back in 2006 (when she started Style Bubble) as opposed to 2012, because blogs weren’t such a popular tool back then.
Since the birth of Style Bubble, Susie has not only been given access to endless coveted runway shows, but has had the opportunity to be
involved in an array of side projects, including guest styling, guest editing,
guest curating and guest writing.
During her presentation, she spoke of there being many cases of bloggers crossing into print media after establishing a name for themselves via their blog. Whilst encouraging this transition, Susie did make the point of separating the term journalist from the term blogger and believes we should embrace bloggers as ‘creatives’, not journalists. Blogs are a platform for people to share what they know and what they are inspired by. They are not a trend - they are redefining the ways in which information is circulated and are giving people an outlet otherwise not offered to the everyday restless / creative mind.
During her presentation, she spoke of there being many cases of bloggers crossing into print media after establishing a name for themselves via their blog. Whilst encouraging this transition, Susie did make the point of separating the term journalist from the term blogger and believes we should embrace bloggers as ‘creatives’, not journalists. Blogs are a platform for people to share what they know and what they are inspired by. They are not a trend - they are redefining the ways in which information is circulated and are giving people an outlet otherwise not offered to the everyday restless / creative mind.
I am
really pleased that I had an opportunity to hear Susie speak tonight, as she
had some really thought-provoking ideas and I recommend that you go and hear
her talk if you ever have the opportunity.
