The 3-minute interview: Dan Silverman
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
September 15, 2009
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Silverman, 34, recently quit his day job to blog full time as the Prince of Petworth, the Northwest Washington neighborhood where he's lived for six-plus years.
What is the technical definition of Petworth?
That's a loaded question. It's basically from the crossroad of Georgia Avenue and New Hampshire bordered by Georgia to the west, and bordered by North Capitol [Street] to the east and Kennedy [Street] to the north.
What do you do for a living?
As of yesterday, I was full time. But what I did before that was a homeland security analyst.
What do you love about it?
When I moved to Petworth there was so much development on the horizon. The neighbors were so nice. It was a new community experience that I had not really been a part of the previous six years. It was almost like moving to a new city.
What kind of Web traffic does Prince of Petworth get?
It's about 6,000 to 7,000 hits a day. I would say it's popular because it has one voice, it's just one person. And I'm completely obsessed and dedicated to it. Whenever I get a tip I follow up.
How can you afford to blog full time?
I have a very dedicated following of readers that is crying for advertisers. They're in the 20-40 age range and these are the people that are buying houses, buying condos, going to restaurants, using the services my advertisers provide. Believe me; I'm taking a serious pay cut. ... But the potential is there.
But how long can you afford to do this?
My plan is to reassess in November 2010 time frame.
Any plans to expand the blog?
I plan to give as much attention to almost every neighborhood in the city. I've already started focusing on neighborhoods beyond Petworth. When I first started focusing on Columbia Heights there was a bit of an outrage. Now I'm more associated with Columbia Heights than Petworth.
