The Book Blog: Tango: Psst… wanna work for Bill James?

They STILL haven’t filled that Stokely Van Camp Counselor job?

Are you interested in writing for Bill James Online? Here’s the deal.  At this point, we can’t afford to pay you.  We have xxxx subscribers as of now and expenses averaging about $y,yyy a month, so. . .do the math; we’re losing money.

(Bill James posts the numbers, but it’s behind the wall.  I don’t know if I should post it or not.)

...Fangraphs has to buy data from BIS, and I presume BJ is getting a freebie there.  Fangraphs only has Google Ads, which, if they are as successful as mine, means he has not even earned 100$ from them yet, while BJ has subscribers.  Fangraphs invests alot more in technology than does BJ’s site.  Or at least, the output of their investment is greater.

It seems to me that Fangraphs, Hardball Times, and Bill James ought to merge.  They are all using the same data source.  They have two sources of revenue (ads for THT and subscribers for BJ).  They have two outlets for paying their writers (Fangraphs on their blog, and THT in their annual).

I might even be assimilated by this collective.  And all together, we’ll be half as successful as Sean Forman.