Jeremy Wright, big head honcho over at blog network, b5media writes a thoughtful post discussing the business model behind b5.

It’s essentially a response to Jason “the AOL/WIN guy” Calacanis who offers some criticism - the core to it being that b5 will struggle because they have no big-name blog(s).

“community play” rather than “publishing play” is what Jeremy advocates for b5.

I’m not 100% sure on that front. I rather see b5media as a pure publishing firm (they do produce content for an audience which is supported by advertising) but a publishing firm with a heavy community aspect to it.

I like b5. I like the quality of bloggers and blogs they have been able to entice over. They are obviously going after the mainstream with many niches grouped together in channels/verticals - their business channel is growing nicely.

Can this work? No doubt … but it will take time, money and some tremendous hard work.

Like many people coming into blogging from the outside I come from a publishing background and mindset. The publishers’ mindset is to look for the “mega properties” - those one or two stand-out blogs in a network. The mega blogs are the one’s that attract the big advertisers. I’ve found that once you can snag a couple of big name advertisers and give them value for their dollar you’ll have them coming to your door in droves.

So is b5 going down the right road with niche blogs rather than a mega one or two?

With so much out there for the consumer to chose from, creating “hugely passionate micro communities” is really the only way to go today. Personally, I’ve found that in this over-saturated market seeking out a small niche and mastering it is really the only way to go.

This kind of model (going niche) will work for 95% of us because we are small, will always stay relatively small and really … are happy to be small. The difference with b5 is that they want to be big and go for the mainstream.

Anyone interested in online publishing should head on over and read Jeremy’s post. It’s a good thought-provoking piece.

John from Syntagma posts his own view - Community vs Publishing Play, which I found to be interesting reading - more so because John comes from a publishing background and really knows his stuff and speaks from experience.