The San Jose Mercury News’ Dean Takahashi devotes a column to The New Influencers today. Takahashi, who’s reported for The Wall Street Journal among other journals, touches on several key points from the book and notes that a former colleague of his, Peter Rojas, went on to become a millionaire and a poster child of blogging success. He asks playfully (and a bit ruefully) if there’s still time for him to become a new influencer with his popular gaming blog.
Dean took the time to speak to me at some length on Monday evening. He also read the entire book, a fact that is both flattering and impressive in this continuously distracted world. It’s a thrill to be cited in such an important newspaper and by a reporter whose work I respect so much.
It’ll be hard for any of us ex-Herringites to match Pete’s success. He basically became a wildly successful online self-publisher, giving him control over his content in a way that print writers (and online writers at big sites) could only imagine.
That said, Dean is tailor-made for blogging. My experience with him at Red Herring was that he writes quickly and clearly, keys to successful blogging. He also has a well-defined topic that he’s passionate about. Dean might make your second edition.