Fashion Bloggers Work 100 Hours a Week

So you’ve decided to start your own fashion blog as a full-time career. According to a recent article in The Atlantic, you may want to reevaluate your path in life; research has shown that bloggers put in 100-hour workweeks, almost 2.5 times the standard amount of 40 hours a week. Assistant professor at Temple University Brooke Erin Duffy and Emily Hund, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, furthermore have revealed that blogging requires a certain set of demands of themselves; “they have to appear authentic but also remain on brand, stay creative while tracking metrics, and satisfy both their readers and the retail brands that bankroll them,” says Duffy. “Many work up to 100 hours a week, and the flood of new bloggers means companies increasingly expect to not have to pay for partnerships. Meanwhile, the nature of the job requires obscuring the hard work and discipline that goes into crafting the perfect persona online.”

Another anonymous blogger told Hund that a con of being a pro-blogger is that you always have to be ‘on,’ whereas “you are your brand, so you have to market yourself and be professional at any time [be]cause you don’t know who’s sitting next to you.” This ‘emotional labor’ is one that is rarely quantifiable and often overlooked when taking on a career that revolves around a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week work schedule of a blog present on the Internet.

While many have professed that the job is one of passion, and that it affords opportunities like fashion shows, events, traveling and for some even a seven-figure annual salary, professional fashion blogging may actually be more than one can chew. Read the full article here.