About a notebook
Moleskin is the furry skin of a mole or a thick cotton fabric with a shaved pile surface.
Moleskine is a notebook with an oilcloth cover, usually black, a ribbon bookmark, an elastic band at the back to hold the pages together, and an expandable pocket inside the back cover. It has a large and loyal cult following. Before it had a brand name, it was the plain black pocket notebook favored by Picasso, Hemingway, and the writer Bruce Chatwin.
Moleskinerie is a website in which Moleskine users can discuss their notebooks, share what they’ve written or drawn in them, and report sightings of Moleskines in movies and TV shows. It was started by Armand Frasco, a Filipino-American based in Illinois, who runs it to this day.
A website about a notebook may seem like a contradiction: if you blog, why scribble on paper, and if you prefer writing by hand, why go online? Happily, the Moleskine is an old school object that thrives in the digital age.
We asked Armand about Moleskine fandom and the life of a full-time blogger.
PHILIPPINE STAR: When did you get your first Moleskine? How did it occur to you to put up a website for Moleskine users? Did you have a business plan, or did you just go ahead and do it?
ARMAND FRASCO: I bought my first Moleskine in the fall of 2003. I started Moleskinerie on a whim on a boring winter afternoon that January. No business plans, just an idea, and I started a simple blog. That first Google search yielded about 60,000 results. That was more than four years ago.
A lot of people want to put up fan sites, but wonder about intellectual property issues. Did you ever get grief from the manufacturers of Moleskine?
Among the first things I did, right after securing the domain name, was to inform Kikkerland Design, Inc., the US Moleskine distributor at that time, that I was starting a fan blog for Moleskine. I hear a lot about trademark issues concerning bloggers nowadays, but I didn’t have that problem. The Moleskine people were cordial and supportive right from the very beginning.
How does Moleskinerie make money? Are you a full-time web-publisher, or do you have a day job?
Moleskinerie.com was acquired by Kikkerland Design in 2003. When Kikkerland stopped being the Moleskine distributor, Moleskine Srl decided to purchase moleskinerie.com in order to secure the website and ensure its creative freedom.
Moleskine acquired the site at the end of 2007. The acquisition of the blog by Moleskine was actually a relief for me since maintenance of the site had become a considerable financial burden. What started as a hobby site became a full-time project requiring all of my efforts and resources. The transfer meant I was free to focus on content and community relations.
I am in charge of Moleskinerie. I am fortunate to blog for a living.
Some bloggers fear that opening their sites to advertising would weaken their editorial integrity—advertisers would start dictating to them, etc. How do you strike a balance between making money and staying true to your objectives?
Editorial integrity and ads were important considerations and remain so. Readers seem to have accepted that bloggers need to make a living, and when they visit Moleskinerie they are aware of that fact. I believe that sincerity and being straightforward foster trust and closer ties with an audience.
More recently you started PinoyCentric.com. What are your expectations for the site? How is it doing?
PinoyCentric was started by myself, Norman Nimer, Noah Omamalin and Karla Maquiling, inspired by Sylvia Mayuga. It has gained a loyal following not only among locals but Filipino expats as well. We have extensive plans for it but have to scale down considering the current economic situation. We’re still in what we fondly call the “non-profiting for profit” phase.
How many hours a day do you, personally, spend on the Internet?
About 15 hours, to the disadvantage of my eyes and hips. I start the day at around 5 a.m. (Chicago/Central Standard Time) to check on emails from Moleskine in Milan and check on the blog. At 8, it’s time to open email from Moleskine New York and start responding to readers’ queries. Blog comments are approved manually, too. Chores and mailings are done after lunch, then it’s back on board for any late emails and reports. The day ends at around 10 p.m. with rechecking the next day’s contents just to make sure. I take a walk around the neighborhood twice a day.
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