First, the good news: I am happy and well and life is going just fine. Better than fine, actually. I’m in the spot that I have been aiming at for the last couple of years, even though it didn’t come about quite how I expected. I can’t quite get into the details yet, but within a couple of months I should be able to talk about the projects I’m working on now. For now, suffice it to say that I’m excited about them, which is rare, but good.
Yet, Dethroner. Here are the options:
• Shutter it completely.
• Leave it up, but update it infrequently.
• Sell it to someone else interested in maintaining it.
The middle option is the least appealing to me. Even having given myself room to ignore Dethroner completely when I’ve needed to, it still gnaws quietly in the back of my mind. I need to be able to focus completely on my new projects, because Dethroner as it stands is a wash. I’ve gotten myself out of the debt I fell into trying to get it started, but I’m not interested in putting more money into myself until I am back into a comfortable financial state. That means no new writers paid out of pocket, which means no new writers.
There are a couple of deals on the table to purchase Dethroner, believe it or not. I’ve been very clear in my discussions with any suitors that I wanted to stay involved in an editorial capacity, because if my name is going to remain affiliated with the brand I want to make sure it’s something I can remain proud of. Those deals may or may not happen—I’d bet on “not happening”—but there is apparently more value to the brand, domain, past content, and modest daily traffic than I had at first suspected. Which, hey, awesome.
If one of those deals don’t happen, though, I think I’d rather just close up shop for a while, if only for my mental peace of mind. I’d leave up the old content, just because there’s no reason not to, but would put up a floating post that says we aren’t doing daily updates.
Why Dethroner Failed
There were two mistakes made, both mine. First, I hired an employee too early, which put too much of a strain on my savings when the site (and thus advertising revenue) didn’t grow at the rate I’d hoped. That was simply a lack of foresight on my part. I tried to work around that as long as I could, but eventually I just ran out of money, even when trying to do more freelance work on the side.
The second mistake was a product of the first. Once I realized what dire straights I was in, I pretty much gave up. I’m not proud to say it nor is there any excuse for it, but once I could see things were going to be a hard slog for the foreseeable future, my will to work was crushed. I’m really ashamed of that, but there it is. I’m not sure buckling down and writing a ton of content over the last few months would have been enough to save Dethroner’s bacon, but it probably would have been more productive than sitting around the house playing WoW, doing the occasional freelance piece, or anything else I could manage to do instead of opening up my text editor and start working. Ugh.
Anyway, I’m back in a good mental space again, thank fuck, and this is far from a plaintive cry for sympathy. I screwed up—end of story. But I’ve tried to be open with you guys about where things are at, and as much as it makes me cringe to say that I’ve bungled something, the mild success Dethroner has had is because of the great group of people who have stuck around and participated, so my apologies to you guys for my mistakes.
It’s not like I’m disappearing off the internet or anything, though, so if you’ve enjoyed my writing in the past, you’ll certainly be able to enjoy it in the near future. This was a fun attempt at running my own business and I definitely learned a lot about what not to do and where my own weak spots are.
Anyway, how about bacon? Isn’t that shit delicious?
Chin up, little buckaroo - there’s no shame in educational failure. And hey - if you do sell, it wasn’t really a failure at all. An unintended result isn’t a failure if it’s beneficial.
I would miss Dethroner if it were gone, but I’m sure there’s something else out there on the interweb somewhere that can entertain and inform me.
Oh, and congrats on the new projects (whatever they are), working a billion hours on a job you love beats the crap out of working 40 hours on a job you hate or that bores you to death (at least in my mind.)
Yea hiring an employee was kinda pointless too other than just having posts to fill the page, because I’d imagine like myself alot of people just come here for your writing. Seriously I think you write the funniest commentary on all of the intarwebs. Get a book deal Joel Johnson, and for gods sake stop suggesting people should drink budweiser and rape dogs! If someone bought this shit out and made it what it could have been with you still at the helm that’d be great. I’m looking at you Gawker Media.
in the words of H. Simpson - “Trying is the first step towards failing”…
but on a more uplifting note, I have personally followed you from Gizmodo to here, and will follow you to your next project (as long as it’s in a witty, easily digestable, bite size format) and I’m sure there are many like me out there. Please keep us posted to to your progress, and we’ll make the advertisers happy with our traffic.
best
Haha, Shane, I seriously doubt Gawker Media is going to buy it, for reasons I won’t go into here. And yeah, I ain’t upset, really. I’m actually happy!
Just a quick thought - Maybe there are four options…
I really don’t know that much about you or the history of this site - (I only discovered your site a few months ago) but what about the idea of adding unpaid editors who could add content? This would relieve you of the responsibility for being the primary writer while still allowing you to maintain control over the site? From what I have been able to see, you have a half decent amount of traffic and I can only assume that several of your regulars would be willing to help with providing content. (Heck, I might even be able to contribute a little.)
Thoughts?
Honestly, it’s not Dethroner I’ll miss. It’s the rugged sensousness…err…pimped out verbosity of Joel Johnson. So count me in for whatever project you have in the wings, and if that happens to be a book? Well I’m a preorderin’ it.
I think Burbatronik is correct. You’ve got a following independent of whatever brand you’re working for.
Hey man, this was a great project–not a failure in my mind. Your writing was great, and the subject/theme of this blog was great, and the theme weeks were amazing.
Why not get some volunteers to help out in various means, just to keep this alive at some level. outsource! :)
dethroner has always been a little glimpse of hope that my oddities, varied interests, and sick sense of humor are not only my own. for that, i thank you. (i started wearing polish on my toes for fuck’s sake) for me it has been the combo of joel’s commentary, alex’s off-center perspective, and the forums. though dead recently, i’ve gone to them many times as a reference for all things man as i talk with people, have passing thoughts, etc.
yes, it’s your site ..but i think the visitors have a certain sense of ownership as well. do what you will with it, but don’t tank the spirit of dethroner entirely. hell, waferbaby.com has shutdown and re-opened many times …subject to a code perfectionist’s OCD whims. the people follow.
in the words of a fake jim morrison and his side-kick weird naked indian, “if you book them, they will come”
best of luck in the new projects!
Aw man… I hate change. First, the hotwife blog I frequented crapped out and now this! I swear, you can’t count on jack-shit anymore. How am I supposed to spend my company time farting around on the internet if I have to keep searching for palatable content?
Pox on you…. and good luck.
Rock on man. You’re a talented writer with a great sense of audience. I appreciate your style and tone…even if you go off on Giz readers. I will really miss the man’s guide to life that seems non-existent elsewhere. Your candid, off-the-cuff, conversational approach allowed for a much deeper connection than crap like GQ.
I sure do love bacon, and I’ll miss Dethroner when it’s gone.
I think everyone is missing the real point here:
That shit IS delicious. :) God I love bacon.
In all seriousness though, I’ve really come to respect and love your writing Joel. I agree with Shane though, I’m sure there’s more than a couple people (me included) that wouldn’t mind volunteering to help keep the site going.
Whatever happens, you better tell us where and what you’ll be doing next - otherwise we’ll form an angry mob and hunt you down, until you tell us where you’re hiding your delicious bacon.
*sniff* our little blog’s all grown up.
Joel, thank you very much. I have learned an amazing amount from this blog and enjoyed every second of it (even sausage week).
This was a place where cool, weird guys (and girl) could get together, swap stories, tell jokes and make references to great Youtube clips.
Please keep us posted on what your next plans are.
Also, consider selling it. I can imagine there must be some long-time readers interested in giving it a shot.
If I was going to open it up to reader contributions, how would be the best way to do it? Auditions? An open access account? Per-piece submissions?
I guess I’m the classic case of why for-profit blogging is tough. Read via RSS, block the adds…sorry, that’s how I roll. Anyway, I enjoyed the hell out of Dethroner. Thanks, and good luck!
I would say auditions would be the best way. Could be also that people could audition for a daily/weekly/choose-your-incremently piece and they could be restricted to that for a while. For example a weekly beer piece or a every other day fashion thing. Then, if those people prove to be popular/effective, they could be given more free reign to write about what they want.
i would be really disappointed to see dethroner go and would probably set about trying to find a replacement. so why not see if you can get in house (ie we the reader) to support. if that goes, then you are made (in more ways than one.)
if it fails then you shut it and we’re still in the same place.
if you can sell it, then all power to you for getting out what you do and we’ll hope that whoever takes over would do so in your mould because, after all, WE don’t pay to come here; we come because you of you and your approach.
kudos 2u!
Re: reader contributions
Maybe you could try something similar to the format Burt Reynolds’ Mustache (http://burtsstache.blogspot.com/) uses - get a writing sample, decide what you like, and designate days for each contributer to publish either pre-determined topics or just whatever. You could require whatever frequency would keep us in new content, and still maintain editorial control.
My offer of an ask-a-lesbian (dyke oracle? carpet-muncher counseling? lessons from a lezbo?) column is still good. ;)
I’ll miss dethroner. I think the idea of reader contributions is the best, even if we’re only looking at 3-5/week. Also, “Dapper or Crapper” could be pushed a little bit more, allowing us to ridicule each other.
what ever happened to ryan? did he make his weight goal???
Yeah bro, followed you here too because of your great writing. Let us know what’s next down your alley.
you have done a fantastic job here that could never be viewed as a failure (not in my mind at least). I have enjoyed reading your work & learning about cool new stuff virtually everyday since I was turned on to this site about six months ago. good luck with all of your ventures and I truly hope that you will find a way to keep dethroner alive. long live bacon!
I got lucky and just stumbled into Dethroner from somewhere, might have been boingboing. (shrug) who knows.
I didn’t know Joel from a random forum troll, but it sure didn’t take long to see I was gonna like just about anything he did.
Good luck on your new stuff mate.
I hope there is a way to keep the place up and running, but if it won’t be viable for you, well then let the lady go with a bang and we’ll be there where ever you turn up.
I can’t write myself out of a bad synonym, but if I could I’d be all about the contributing stuff. I would think you would need something that keeps you from having to 100% editorialize every article though.
As others have mentioned, I would certainly be up for contributing to this site. I think you should seriously consider accepting some submissions from readers and see if this can take off with you as an editor and a handful of us faithful contributing content. I actually have a couple ideas on how it could be done if you were willing to entertain the idea. I mean, I am kind of a nobody, and what the fuck would somebody with your experience care what I think, but I have liked the site since day 1, and your writing since Gizmodo and would love to help keep this site, and more importantly the community that it has spawned, alive.
Hey Joel, whatever you decide, thanks for all the Dethroner so far.
I love everything you…always have. If you take this site down, you have to lead me to one where you still write about your own life and feelings as well as objects and products…because I’m not that into gadgets and things…I like the integration of the touchy feely snarkily philosophical insights that give me a glimpse of the personality I love and a giggle at the ever present human absurdity you so aptly extract from…well, just everywhere. I also love the comments everyone else contributes which kind of make the whole thing a great package. Who’d have thought I’d be a Dethroner fan??? I’m with you whatever. Glad to hear you’re in a good mental space. (Disclaimer: This doesn’t mean I condone everything I’ve read here - I am still old and mostly conservative -but where else could I have learned the word snarkily?)
Under the sale option, im super curious:
What are the actual assets? Where would negotiations start?
-bp
i’ve been visiting since day one. i remember being linked from the consumerist. it’s been a great “check every couple days” kind of blog. the theme weeks were cool, but frankly, i kind of dig just the random content that’s been going up here since the theme weeks ended. this place is always good for a nice laugh, and has been really informative too. it’d be too bad to see dethroner go away, but i’m sure whatever you do next, joel, will also be awesome, if not better.
cheers!
One more that followed you from Giz and will follow you to whatever you do (as long as it doesn’t involve lovely kittens… can’t stand kittens). So yeah, you have a pretty solid fanboy base here ;)
About the site, I am not really sure on what would be the best way to manage it. I’d love to have the old content around (now that I’m moving out, I remember there were some educational posts about bachelor cooking that I should review).
Anyway, good luck. And I promise that next time I go to NYC I’ll buy you a beer (and will not chicken out like I did a couple months ago! :P)
Oh yeah, I think Alex did a good job too.