Booming, Blooming Blogs!

As reported in Rugged Elegant Living on Monday, according to a recent study by Mr. Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & Family Life Project, those who went online in November for news, current events, unique stories, insight and commentary turned to web logs (aka "blogs") 58% more often than they had in February 2004.

In addition, 27% of all Internet users say they rely on this niche of writers called "bloggers", also called micropublishers, to stay on top of that which they care about or are intrigued by.

Some blogs are all about politics.

Some tap into the social conscience of society.

Some focus on technology, the media world, and the latest trends.

Some are purely philanthropic in nature.

Many are individual journals of the author's every day life.

All should and can be self-sustaining from an economic standpoint.

Instead of a large publishing organization reporting on a subject, blog pioneers -- now all 8 million of them -- represent a cottage industry of individuals who have a distinct voice.

We are a group of publishers who add personality and often a personal touch to our stories which make them different than the identical AP stories posted by traditional newspaper publishers.

The impact in the publishing world has been so great that now larger media moguls call their traditional OpEd contributors "Bloggers".

Here at Rugged Elegance, LLC we are primarily "just a couple with two computers" and a passion to inspire others.

A 45 year-old guy with an iMac and a 44 year-old gal with a PowerBook, to be specific.

The only thing better would be if the computers were Apple G5 laptops and we were currently in Cabo, or Italy, or living the Quintess life.

But that's another story!

In an effort to stay small, micropublishers like Rugged Elegance are looking for ways to define a financial means of existence.

Donations are nice but they don't pay the bills.

Having sold over $1,000,000 worth of products last quarter alone through our custom marketplace -- thanks in part to Amazon Web services -- perhaps we're onto something.

Ghurka Press Release

During the month of December, 2003, Ghurka is pleased to announce that its New York and San Francisco stores will host an exhibition of the photography of internationally renowned nature photographer Sir Frans Lanting. In addition to his work on view, Ghurka will be selling the exquisite coffee table book featuring the works of Mr. Lanting and produced with World Wildlife Fund entitled "Living Planet, Preserving Edens of the Earth."

Ghurka is proudly supporting World Wildlife Fund with a percentage of sales of a select travel related item from the Ghurka collection and from the "Living Planet, Preserving Edens of the Earth, " book during the month of December being donated to WWF.

When visiting Union Square in San Francisco, one establishment not to miss is Lanting.com. The photographs he has mastered are a sight to behold.

Better yet, I encourage you to go to his site now for it will surely serve as both a tease, and an encouragement to schedule a visit to Ghurka this December.

Enjoy the expedition!

~Jennifer

Photograph ©2003 Frans Lanting