What the World Does Not Need and Why I'm Doing It Anyway

As regular readers know, I am a weekly participant in blog carnivals. I've detailed both the benefits of participating in and hosting blog carnivals and have done both throughout the life of this blog. I enjoy and recommend many of the current blog carnivals and I submit something to many of them weekly. And when I'm feeling especially energetic, I agree to host one.

The problem with hosting though is that the most popular blog carnivals have 70 to 80 articles included each week (for example, see my recent hosting of the Carnival of Personal Finance), making them a bear to both host and read. While I applaud their "everyone's in" philosophy, I must admit that they've grown a bit too big for me. Sure, I could read only the three to five editor's picks each week, but that doesn't do it for me as well.

That's why I'm starting the Best of Money Carnival. Yep, that's right, I'm starting a new carnival. The world does not need a new blog carnival for the most part -- and yet it does. Maybe this one is it. We'll see.

Anyway, here's what makes the Best of Money Carnival different than the others:

It features only the ten best (in the opinion of the carnival host) money-related posts of the week -- giving readers the best of the best in personal finance.

In case you're interested, here's what a sample carnival looks like.

Furthermore, I wanted to spice things up a bit, so I added some extras for those involved. Here are the extra advantages of being a host and a participant in the carnival:

• I will be awarding $1,000 each at the end of the year to the best host and the best post (based on my opinion) payable to the winners' favorite charities.

• The top 10 posts (as selected by me) will earn automatic bids in my March Madness competition next year.

Details on both of these points can be seen here for hosts and here for participants. One key note for partipants: you MUST submit a summary with your post -- one that tells in two or three sentences what your post is about. If you do not, you will not be considered for the carnival.

In addition, hosts and participants receive the same benefits as hosting and being in any other carnival. And readers get a sifted-through list of ten great personal finance posts each week.

If you want details, visit the Best of Money Carnival site and page through the "about" section listed on the homepage.

How You Can Get Involved

There are two ways you can get involved with this carnival:

• If you're a blogger and want to host a carnival, send me an email. I already have a list of initial hosts, but we'll need more soon. Remember, there's much less heavy lifting required with hosting this carnival compared to others.

• If you want to participate in the first carnival (hosted here at Free Money Finance and posted on June 1), you can submit your post via Blog Carnival. Be sure to follow the suggestions for participants to give yourself an advantage in being selected for the top 10.

As always, I welcome your suggestions and thoughts. I suspect the carnival will be in flux for a bit as we decide what works, what doesn't, what's the best overall process, etc., so stay tuned to the carnival's site for updates if you're interested.

Comments

[Matt Jabs]

I am excited to both host and participate.

In theory this carnival addresses a lot of the reasons I shy away from hosting other carnivals...work & information overload!

I am happily hosting on June 8th and encourage other bloggers to jump on board.

Thanks to FMF for the original idea.

[Rajeev Kumar Singh]

It surely is a good idea to have carnival featuring only the best of the best.
The other ones are too long and not necessarily have the best collection of posts. This will hopefully fill up this space. Best wishes.

[Wise Money Matters]

This sounds great. The very reason I have not been involved in blog carnivals is because of the sheer quantity (rather than quality) of the posts. This style of carnival actually interests me.

[Welath Pilgrim]

Thanks for doing this. I think it's a great idea. PF BLOGGERS.....start your engines!

[Eric]

Amen!

I've been skipping over Carnival posts for months now because there are just too many entries.

[Early Retirement Extreme]

I think carnivals on the whole would be more useful if they concentrated on one subject at a time, e.g. this week the "carnival of finance" will focus on "owner financing and real estate". That would cut down on the posts.

I would also suggest getting rid of the "no older than 2 weeks" rule.

I'm not really a fan of "best" because it is very hard to differentiate "best" with "this is what I agree with the most" (cf. amazon book ratings) or "this is the most popular" (cf. hit music).

[Bible Money Matters]

Great idea for a carnival, I look forward to participating, and hosting!

[F]

Not bad. I skip Carnivals b/c of the lack of selection.