Blog publishing goldrush is on

The latest is Mink Media, a new privately funded company from serial entrepreneur Azeem Azhar, which has launched two blogs designed to garner advertising revenues and, well, a kind of hip cache.

The "Honourable Fiend":http://www.honourablefiend.com styles itself as an insidery take on UK politics. The strapline says "The Honourable Fiend keeps his ear to the ground in Westminster and, rest assured, he knows where the bodies are buried."

Honourable Fiend claims to be the first professional British politics blog, and is written by the blogger behind the "race4cityhall":http://www.race4cityhall.blogspot.com blog, which covered the 2004 London Mayoral elections.

The second site from Mink Media to formally launch this week is "Wanda Lust":http://www.wandalust.com, which is "for people who love to travel." Its target audience is highly mobile and wealthy, able to "just hop on a plane for the weekend" says Azhar.

Wanda Lust is written by Sabrina Dent, a travel writer who has blogged at her own site, "Darling Bri":http://www.darlingbri.co.uk/.

Azhar believes that the UK new media scene has, until Mink Media at least, failed to capitalise on the boom in the blogging form which started in the US over two years ago.

"Both [our sites] fill an obvious gap in the market. The UK blogging scene hasn't yet developed the credibility the US blogging scene has but we think it's starting to and that 2005 will be a good year for it," says Azhar.

Mink Media is planning more blog sites, many of which bear an uncanny resemblance to those launched in the last year by "Gawker Media":http://www.Gawker.com, the US blog publishing company founded by Brit ex-patriot Nick Denton.

Denton, like Azhar is a former high-flying business journalist who launched businesses in the early days of the internet goldrush. After exiting his successful news syndication company, "Moreover.com":http://www.Moreover.com, Denton launched "Gawker.com":http://ww.Gawker.com aimed at hip Manhattanites, "Gizmodo":http://www.Gizmodo.com, and a tranche of others.

Asked is he thought Azhar had a chance of making blog publishing in the UK work, Denton said: "I can't think of anyone better suited to the job. It's easy to publish a blog, but harder to develop an audience. Azeem's got a much better chance than most: he understands media, the format, and marketing."

Like Gawker's portfolio, Mink Media plans to launch "Sqreech":http://www.Sqreech.com (an entertainment news and events site for Londoners), Gadgette a gadgets blog, and "GrokSpin":http://www.GrokSpin.com, a blog designed to fact-check the media.

Azhar says "They all have a UK/Euro-focus but, as with these things they'll probably appeal to a global readership. We've got some interesting writers working with us and we'll be looking for more."

Azhar has a long history of new media projects. Most recently, he launched 20six Weblog services, quickly becoming one of Europe’s leading Weblog providers. Prior to that he ran an Internet investment fund (which helped launch Netimperative) and he also helped launch BBC Online. He started his career as a staff writer on The Guardian and then The Economist.

Mink Media's editorial director is Shehnaz Suterwalla, who has worked on staff at The Economist and Newsweek, where she covered British politics.

But Mink Media is not the only new kid on the blog block.

"Creative Weblogging":http://www.creative-weblogging.com/ in Birmingham styles itself as a "micro publishing company" which works like a book publisher, distributing and monetising the contents of its bloggers. In a statement on their site, the firm says they "carry the initial investment and we return to our authors payments/royalties once we make some."

Its largely business focus mirrors the direction taken by Gawker competitor "Weblogs Inc":http://www.weblogsinc.com/.

Torsten Jacobi, director, told Netimperative: "We strongly believe the market for internet publishing in niches is undervalued and offers many opportunities if done right."

Niches is exactly right. Creative Weblogging is publishing blogs in such rarefied niches as "RFIDs":http://www.rfid-weblog.com.

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