One of the reasons I’ve been reminiscing on my publishing career over the past two days is because I’m now faced with a very big decision concerning Syntagma Media.

It revolves around a proposed major offshoot business : Syntagma Retail, which would publish two giant online network magazines — ShopShape UK and Retailz USA.

The problem is scalability. “blog networks” are essentially small-scale things, whatever the evangelists may say. In comparison with the GigaCos offline they are peanuts — to use a retail analogy.

Scaling up to the point where you can offer advertising space to the likes of Marks and Spencer, Tesco or Ikea is a quantum leap resting on a quantum leap.

When I asked about the likely investment needed, my friends in retail consultancy suggested a ballpark figure that matched Wembley Stadium in dimensions. My blood still runs cold when I think of it.

The question that intrigues me, though, is not the standard business approach but the mechanics of the operation. Could such a leap be built over time without opening an office in Mayfair? Would I want an office in Mayfair? — lunch at the Cafe Royal would be nice.

Should a publishing man even consider jumping into an industry about which he knows zilch+, or marginally less?

On the other hand, such thoughts haven’t stopped me in the past. Rags-to-riches is my middle name — usually in the reverse direction.

It all comes down to the complexity of the operation and the amount of work and expertise required. At present, I’m running Syntagma Media at the outer edge of my own capabilities and availability.

But the opportunity is there. There has never been a better time to do it, given that I have contacts who know what to do and the clout to make it happen. Not forgetting the vast and growing markets that adventurous retailing now commands, with the likes of China, India and Brazil the new frontiers waiting to be “conquered”.

So, what do Syntagma readers think? Let me have your views, please. I’ll take silence as a yes, obscenity as a no.

The news of Duncan Riley’s departure from b5media has been broken on b5’s external blog. No details are given and the post is couched in minimalist terms for such a loss : thanks and all the best.

It’s hard to guess from what we know, but Duncan posted on his perblog yesterday to the effect that he was “shocked by Toronto” (b5’s new base) and had left for New York tight-lipped and promising to write about it when he returned to Western Australia.

Darren Rowse remarked “meeting Jeremy for the first time was surreal”. That’s about as ambiguous as it comes, especially from a practiced writer like Darren.

Martin Neumann at The Blog Herald is puzzled why he left when the company had received VC finance. I’d say that was the moment when they could afford to buy him out. This has probably been going on for a while and when the VCs came in, his 25pc shareholding would have been diluted. He may have been happy to walk with a decent payoff.

At the back of it all, though, my guess is that there’s been a long-running personality clash between CEO Jeremy Wright and Duncan over many aspects of the business.

Clashes sap the strength of any enterprise and maybe it’s for the best in the long run.

On a personal note : I started blogging professionally on Duncan’s Weblog Empire, which became part of b5 at its inception. I left for personal reasons, but mainly because, as a long-term freelance, I found the b5 experience a bit confining. If Duncan feels the same way, I can understand that.

Syntagma wishes Duncan great success in his new career whatever that may be. I’ve a feeling it won’t be long before we know all about it.

When I started Syntagma Media one year ago, I thought we would probably still be in business after 12 months, but that there was a 49pc chance we might not be.

It’s now one day after our first birthday and we’re still here — bloodied but not bowed.

When I say bloodied, I mean it. Running a “blog network” is heavy going in terms of admin, maintenance, expansion, blogging, accounts, staying up-to-date, staying on your feet, and generally avoiding being dragged under by the currents that swirl all around you. The blog network business is not quite like Dick Whittington’s London Town — whose streets were supposedly “paved with gold”.

Our modest target for Y1 was to reach 50 sites and break even. We’ve comfortably achieved that and even exceeded it. I also wanted to have some solid ideas of what Y2 would be about, beyond increasing our content and making incremental improvements. More on that later.

The most important aspect of any publishing business, though, is the quality of the writers who build up the inventory and the list day after day. We now have 14 authors on our sites with varying degrees of experience in the blogging arts, but who are all excellent writers.

I’d like to pay tribute to their efforts over the past year. They are our Pioneer Authors to whom we will always have a deep debt of gratitude for sticking with us through the laborious early stages of building a publishing business.

I’d especially like to thank Lizzie Hamilton for toiling over various arcane aspects of this craft, especially the accounts, despite a recent illness. She is truly indispensable.

And Clive Allen, who designs our newer mastheads among other things, and also “tinkers” in the works like the motor racing buff he is. He’s currently writing our Guide for New Authors, which speaks for itself.

Also Adelle Tilton, who is no longer with us, but who provided a lot of forward momentum in the early days. Thanks to her.

They are all great troopers.

I had hoped to have our print publishing arm, Dial Publishing, up and sprinting by now, but somehow Steve Newman’s Humdrumming appeared on the scene and ran with many of our print projects, including Naked Tales: Stories By Writers Who Blog (due out in May), which originated with the Writers’ Blog Alliance, currently undergoing a much-delayed refurbishment.

Y2 and the Future

In any business, Y2 has to have a stronger “personality” than Y1 because it can no longer plead ignorance and inexperience to cover problem areas. More of the same won’t do. It has to have a genuinely innovative feel about it.

Our “big idea” is not just to pile on more and more websites, but to arrange them by broad subject area into groups with similar readership, encouraging traffic to surf between sites and offering solid categories for advertisers. We call these groupings Network Magazines because they perform the same functions as their print equivalents.

It is the beginning of a native, online, distributed, network magazine industry that will in time match and, I believe, exceed the glossy world of paper mainstream mags.

These magazines are subtly different, being distributed across many domains, and providing search engine advantages plus the atomizing effect which only the internet offers. The brand resides with the magazine, the niches with the websites, and the synergies with the topic similarities.

We’re still working on the idea with a number of organizations way outside the blogosphere and intend to launch Allusionz (Arts, Philosophy & Literature), LifeTimes (Lifestyles and Celebrities), and Phi (Science & Technologies), giving us three network magazines as the starting point of our rejoinder to the likes of Conde Nast and Time Inc.

We’ve avoided the venture capital route followed by other networks of the same vintage, like b5media and Sugar Publishing, because we want to be different. In any case, we simply can’t spare the 4-5 months’ work it takes to raise a modest amount that would do little to improve the quality of the product.

Instead we’re looking at creative partnerships for the future, and will take our time rather than rush into a botched liaison with the wrong people. But we are always open to ideas from our fellow network entrepreneurs and never close the portcullis of Syntagma Towers on enterprising suggestions.

Here’s to Y2.

The following story is not for the squeamish or anyone shy of opening their mouth in these politically-correct times.

Today’s UK Daily Mail reports : “The inquiry has lasted more than a year and cost a great deal of money… Witness statements have been taken and a 300-page report compiled. And the alleged crime being investigated? A group of councillors are said to have made baa-ing noises during a debate on sheep.”

Er … baa-ing noises?

“Havering District Council is treating the case with the utmost seriousness. The list of suspects has been narrowed down to four and a hearing will be held next month at which they could face suspension for bringing the council into disrepute.”

You know, whenever Americans say to me, “Your Tony Blair is wonderful”, I’ll be tempted to reply, “You don’t have to live here. You can’t even say baa to a sheep.”

It was good to see Duncan Riley back at the Blog Herald, if only as the guest on Matt Craven’s podcast, which has become something of a “must-hear” item lately.

Naturally, the main topic of conversation was the recent VC funding and what b5 intends to spend it on. What emerged was very much in line with what we expected.

Essentially, the drive will be on pro-ing up every aspect of the enterprise, converting a small “family” firm into a real, meat-red business. The emphasis is on bringing in expertise across areas unrepresented in the starting lineup.

In terms of the product itself, though, it seemed a little hazy. Maybe Duncan was being cagey and not letting on, or there are some decisions which await agreement with the new corporate johnnies joining the board.

The nub was that they’d get through Christmas, concentrating on boiler room stuff, like project management systems and new designs, especially a fresh front page for the b5 blog, which will serve as a portal to the network. All very sensible stuff.

What I was waiting to hear, though, was whether they would separate the operator (b5media) from the product (the network) by bringing in a new name for their distributed publication : the 150 blogs. In my view that needs a strong identity, a brand, if you’d prefer. You can’t call any publication, even an online one, “b5media”. The Weblogs Inc model is not going to work here because they haven’t got an Engadget.

I was also looking for something on how the network will be developed as a publishing product. Is it just another dreary old blog network? Will young kids be asking their mothers : “Mommy, what’s a b5media?”

They need a strong ID for their product, because apart from Problogger.net which covers areas they are leaving behind, there is no single dominating entity that holds the whole together at the public coal-face.

I suppose what I’m saying is that they need to appoint someone to lick the product into shape. And by “product” I mean the publication and its content, not the back-end stuff.

The tech and business sides are well served in the new setup. They also have Mark Evans onboard, a journalist, but also with a strong technology bent.

If I were them I would bring in a top-flight editor from the world of print magazines. Not another of the tech-squad, but someone experienced in general serial publishing of mainstream magazines. There are many out there, and I’m sure they could find one of those brilliant New York types who would spend one day a week for them at a price they could afford.

If they go for the best, the jigsaw will be complete, and I might well want to invest some of my own dosh in their inevitable IPO.

We’ve had a day now to digest the news that a couple of venture capitialists have put $2m into a content company, b5media. Apart from the congratulatory posts and comments climbing up the ladder of Techmeme, there have also been some very negative ones.

On reflection, my own views have firmed-up a little since yesterday when the sheer audacity of the move left the jaw hanging lower than is comfortable for any extended period. The jawline is now back in shape and the move looks a little different today.

It’s always important to see the counter-arguments in these cases because that opens your eyes to other possibilities. So lets look at a couple of them :

Nick Douglas at Valleywag (a Gawker product and rival to b5):

“The whole point of blogging is that it hardly costs anything, so it’s easy to pull a profit within a few months. Why would these two take funding that beholds them to investors? [...] But hey, if someone wants to throw $2 million at the most overhyped of the dozens of small-time blog networks, at least it’ll make it more fun when the company implodes.”

Mike Rundle, of 9rules, and another rival in the space, comments on the same post :

“These investors must be living in a timewarp, one where arts and crafts blogs written by stay at home moms and 20 blogs on crappy TV sitcoms can return on an investment. Gawker has various uber-successful blogs, WIN has Engadget and Autoblog, what does b5media have? … I’ll tell ya. Sacred Dolls and Bears.”

Syntagma Media’s point of view on VC funding has been expressed in this publication many times, but in the past month here and here. A quick glance tells you we are very sceptical about taking on so much funding and obligation while expanding fixed-costs so fast. But that was written before the news broke so can’t be seen as a criticism of the b5 position.

One of the reasons I’ve billed Syntagma as a magazine rather than a “global media network” is that the latter makes it sound like NewsCorp, the megabillion-dollar property of the Murdoch empire. Mike Rundle’s rather sharp critique above shouldn’t detract from the accuracy of his point. There is a weakness in the new b5media Inc and it’s summed up in one word : gigantism.

From the word go they set out to be the biggest “blog network” out there, without questioning the nature of the product itself. Jason Calacanis’s Weblogs Inc. cast a smokescreen around networks of this type because Engadget and Autoblog (the hard core of the business) appeal to readers way outside the blogosphere and merit the mainstream label by their reach alone.

As Mike says, Sacred Bears and Dolls is not in that league, so needs a more modest environment to thrive in — a magazine, perhaps.

Magazines are small, familiar objects. They are also a massive mainstream business, with a proven track record. But no-one would talk in megaspherical terms about them. Magazines online have a global reach and can be packaged as distributed websites, or even blogs. Quality of content is the main reckoner here. Mags have to deliver the goods, as all content-rich businesses have to.

To compare blog networks with print publications therefore is about the right scale to my mind. To lift Sacred Bears and Dolls and a rash of derivative celeb blogs into a “global media network” is a giant step too far.

Our aim has always been to reach for professional standards in content provision and allow the result to grow organically along its natural pathways, while thinking through the next step to spot the pitfalls, especially bubblemania.

Driving a simple blog network, without a distinctive brand, into the highly sophisticated world of big mainstream media is asking for trouble.

Forced plants in a glasshouse lack all scent and flavour. What is the flavour of b5?

Update: Mike Rundle has just written a more considered piece on b5 funding over at BusinessLogs. There’s also a clarifying comment by the VC concerned, Rick Segal.

It’s been announced today that b5media has secured US$2m from Toronto VC Rick Segal and Brightspark Ventures.

Well, they were never going to fail, were they? They had too much talent at the top and too much energy to sink slowly into the quicksands of the blogosphere.

Although I must say, when I read this on the b5 blog, my first thoughts were : two mill will quickly be spent, especially if salaries are to be paid for the first time and new high-powered staff taken on.

We hear that Rick will become Chairman, Brightspark will have a member on the board, a new Head of Sales will be taken on, and that Shel Israel has been advising them since the beginning of the funding project. He will join the business in an advisory capacity. Aaron and few other b5 stalwarts are going fulltime in the business. Darren is to be VP for Training and Development, eventually in a fulltime capacity.

According to the press release, b5 has now badged itself as a “new media network” targeting the mainstream via vertical-specific content. So they too are dropping the “blog network” tag and looking beyond the blogosphere to mainstream commercial publishing in sector-specific areas. If the endgame is creating a serious business, this is the first step to make. Well done them.

I would personally like to congratulate Jeremy on his coup, and wish the other three founders — Darren Rowse, Duncan Riley and Shai Coggins — a fair wind on their new ocean voyage of discovery.

I was writing about venture capital the other day and how it compares with creative partnerships, which I personally favour as a business option.

Today, I’ve just finished watching Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO and Apple board member, addressing the British Conservative Party Conference at Bournemouth. I was interested to see the admiration on the face of his host, George Osborne, a future UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury Secretary). Make no mistake, Schmidt is a very smart observer. He partly addressed the question, or necessity, of partnerships.

By another coincidence, Eric Schmidt has been interviewed for Time Magazine and goes into some detail on partnerships, particularly for Google, which has a very narrow base of operation for such a large company. “… we tried to pick partners that represented different initiatives that we wanted to work with for a long time.”

It’s in the secondary growth period that the need for new talent becomes irresistible :

“I think that to some degree when you’re a small company you sort of have to do everything yourself, and as you get more established you begin to realize you’ll never get everything done by yourself. You’re fundamentally going to be a better player, a better solution, if you can share in the success, and get the benefit of the hard work these other people have done.”

Essentially, Schmidt recognizes that it’s a matter of distribution, of reach towards new customers. “In most cases what I’m describing is distribution: they have a way of reaching customers that we do not on our own. And also the combination solves a new problem.”

Finance is not the central issue here, as it is with venture capitalists : “So it wasn’t particularly financial, although the financials are all good in these deals, it was really more reach; distribution. It was really strategic. My point is you don’t just do partnerships to do partnerships. You do partnerships for a reason.”

There’s also much more variation in the type of deal on the table. You can work loosely with the people or company concerned beforehand to assess compatibility and synergy issues. You can simply swap shares, or one side buys a stake in the other for cash. A simple joint venture deal is also possible. It’s a far more creative and flexible arrangement than the VCs offer.

You will be taking in people with expertise you don’t have in specific technical or business areas. Growth often comes in torrents under such conditions.

Creative partnerships are the best way forward. And if Google agrees, the rest follows.

Syntagma Media is delighted to announce our newest site, Horses and Events, especially as it has a sporting flavour seen through the eyes of a trainer and judge rather than a participant or spectator.

Our author, Jane Phillipps, is right in the thick of things at the major championships, like the Royal London Show and The Horse of the Year, while preparing her own horses for these events.

If you like horses and enjoy reading the views and advice of experience, Horses and Events is the one for you.