Some bloggers get all the glory. And no, I'm not talking about the "A-listers." I'm referring to the bloggers in your profession's corner of the blogosphere: lawyers, small business owners, tech gurus, and faculty of all stripes.

But what if you're a paralegal, you're the sole employee of a small business, you do graveyard shift tech support, or you're. . .gulp. . .academic support staff? Where's your audience? Who wants to hear your voice?

Laura of Geeky Mom recently raised this issue in the context of the academic blogosphere:

One of the most compelling things about reading faculty blogs is the way they provide an inside look into what faculty life is really like. I wish I could do the same here, but is it interesting enough? What would be an interesting perspective from the staff point of view? We get a good view of the administrative side--deans, provosts, etc.--from Dean Dad. I feel like those of us at a non decision-making level have little voice (and perhaps little to say). You don't see stories about secretaries or other support staff in The Chronicle or Inside Higher Ed. Why? Are we that invisible? What would make us more visible and what would be compelling to know about the how we go about our jobs, what we think of our institutions and higher education? Let me know.

An interesting discussion ensued in the comments, with Laura wondering if perhaps faculty jobs are more interesting to blog readers because they possess a mystery that staff jobs don't. Profgrrrrl responded, "I think the 9-to-5-ness of a staff job takes away some of the mystery. No one thinks you teach for 6 hours a week and then eat bonbons at home."

What Now?, who has been considering her academic career alternatives, added,

I've been thinking about the academic blogosphere and the lack of variety in it -- that most academic bloggers are junior faculty, that most women are pseudonymous, etc. And so then we often tend to blog about the same things -- grading sucks, how to fit writing into one's teaching schedule, etc. And certainly that homogeneity has great therapeutic value -- one's audience knows of what one is bitching about -- but certainly academia is wider than that.

(BTW, if you're considering a career change, you'll find many inspiring and uplifting posts from the past month or so at What Now? Go check them out.)

Definitely read the comments thread on this post--you'll see faculty and staff discussing their views of one another. Ends up both sides of the academic fence are mysterious. And considering it's the academic hiring season and there are going to be thousands of disappointed people stuck on the adjunct teaching track for at least one more year, it's good to know that there are other possibilities out there, even if they may not be glamorous enough to blog about every day.

Leslie Madsen-Brooks is an instructional technologist, recovering academic, and freelance writer who blogs at The Clutter Museum.