Here we are, blogging away like mad, perhaps with thoughts of something bigger in mind. “Will my blog lead to fame and fortune? Will important people read my blog? Will my blog become a bestselling book?”
It's possible. It's been done. There's even a literary prize, of sorts, devoted to books that started out as blogs. Naturally, they call them “blooks.” The Lulu Blooker Prize was first awarded in 2006.
Most books from blogs (sorry, I can't bring myself to say “blooks”) are of the self-published variety, which companies such as Lulu will gladly help you with, for a fee. These predictably sell few copies and are quickly forgotten. There are a few books from blogs that have done very well, so it might be useful to take a look at them to see what makes them successful.
Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog by Ellen Simonetti is a fictionalized version of Simonetti's life on the air, as told in her blog www.queenofsky.net.
Belle de Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl by Anonymous reveals the daily life of a London prostitute. Here's her blog. There's a TV series in the U.K. based on the blog.
My War: Killing Time in Iraq by Colby Buzzell is a diary of a U.S. soldier's year in Iraq.
I just finished Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip – Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica. Without the obnoxious in-your-face style of Anthony Bourdain, it's a behind-the-scenes look at working in a posh Manhattan restaurant. There are few celebrities or unusually traumatic events, but it's still compelling. I expected to skim through the advance copy I received, but stayed to read the entire book. Based on his blog, Waiter Rant.
The most successful of book from blog success stories is Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell. This is a memoir of a young woman who sets out to prepare every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Meanwhile, she's having a career crisis. On top of that, she stops every now and then to ponder the nature of blogging, journal writing, and Samuel Pepys. I loved it. Now they're making a movie out of it starring Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia Child(!), with screenplay by Nora Ephron. Powell's blog started on Salon's early blogs and migrated to blogspot.
You have your work cut out for you. Carry on blogging.
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FusunA
Gypsy Island Girly
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JustJuli
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Comments
Thanks in advance,
neilpaul
I'm definitely going to have to read it if cooks and book lovers are both recommending it.
Kaysong, yes, read Julie and Julia! I am not a cook, although I like to read about food. Julie Powell paved the way for turning blogs into books -- she shows that they are two very different platforms for telling a story and she does them both well.
Me too. You meet a stranger at a social gathering and it's almost inevitable that you'll be asked, within the first minute or so, "What do you do?" And if you were to give an unconventional answer like "I'm interested in film noir of the 1940s," the follow-up would be "You get paid to do that?" I think this is ironic given that so many people view their jobs as a way to make enough money to survive and do things they're really interested in.
M. Chariot, I look forward to the first blook written in quill pen. I can think of only one person qualified to write such a book.
Lonnie, good one. That was an inexcusable omission on my part, having recently read the excellent interview in Salon that Kathleen Mieszkowski did with the author of Stuff White People Like. Priceless.
Farmer, the knitting blog book sounds very timely, what with knitting having become positively hip. I checked out your blog a while back and it looks like just the sort of thing that would work as a book. Self-sufficiency, drama, overcoming the odds, cute farm animals, and great writing. It can't miss!
(sidebar: Did you know it's incredibly poor form, in France, to ask
"What do you do?" A Frenchman explained to me that it sounds as if someone is trying to discern someone's income. Frankly, at parties, networking events and the like, I often ask "Where would you like to visit?", or "What are your favorite travel destinations?" or even the cliche' "Favorite book you last read?"
The answers are infinitely more interesting than "I'm an engineer, pr.-person, waiter, actress...")
I think any Blogger that's honest--Imean, heartwrenchingly honest, and able to laugh at her/him-self , has potential book-material. Or, uh, Blook-material.
Wonder how many strips I'll need?
PaxPun -- "bog"? Yes! Much better than blook. (Love your way with words.)
I kept many of those e-mails over the years. Two years ago, I decided to compile them in the form of a manuscript. I sent off query letters and within 3 weeks we had an agent.
Ultimately a French publisher bought the rights to our book and it was published last fall in France. We became published authors who couldn't read our own book. It didn't matter. We both got checks in the 4 digits.
We haven't been so lucky with an American publisher. Our manuscript was submitted to many top publishers--all who didn't like the back and forth e-mail format.
This was surprising to us and many of our friends who granted were our friends, but because of busy lives, loved the ease of reading a few e-mails at a time. If we were men, it would make a great bathroom read.
We still haven't given up on finding a U.S. publisher.
It took a year. It took about thirty people working on it, the leader, who is retired, working full-time. We self-published, through a company called Wingspan, which was pretty good, but Lydia the leader said that if she did it again, they would be her second choice. (I think she said Lulu would be first. I can check, if anyone wants to know.)
We had to do everything: design a cover, design the layout and the look, create the graphics, choose the selections, edit the bloated ones down, copy-edit like crazy, design a cover, nag me to write a foreward, and then an elaborate online marketing plan. There was much more, and so many of those took months longer than anticipated.
But I honestly think it looks great, and people have reacted well, and it sold about 1,500 copies. I think we made about $5,000 (which we're donating), which felt good, but if you consider the hourly rate of everyone involved, it's meager.
But we wouldn't take it back for the world.
Some blog books have really hit it big. The Julie/Julia one from the original group of Salon blogs might be the biggest. She had a major NY publisher, and got a whole lot of attention.