Blooks

By Caitlin Topham, Publishing and Editing Assistant

As we’ve recommended in the past, starting your own blog is a great way to promote your book, develop your personal voice, and connect with readers. Some authors, however, may begin blogs before a manuscript has even been started. Many writers use blogs as a tool to explore new ideas and plotlines, gain a readership, and receive constructive feedback. According to blogger Jane Friedman, "Online platforms allow you to…craft a stronger premise for a print product." And for an author without connections in the publishing world, a blog can be a great way to get your name on a publisher’s radar and your material on their desk. "Most writers are not getting published in magazines or literary journals. For some more unconventional voices, for people that don’t have connections, blogs can be an entryway into the game," explains Kate Lee, a former assistant at International Creative Management who connected with many authors though their blogs before signing them on for book deals.

Blooks—books based on blogs or web sites—are a somewhat recent trend, though a few authors have already found success through this alternative publishing process. A great example of this "Stuff White People Like," a blog started in January 2008 by Christian Lander. As the title suggests, this blog is a catalog of all the things that white people like: coffee (#1), being offended (#101), and Moleskine journals (#122), for example. By March 2008, Random House announced a book deal with Lander—a $300,000 book deal, reportedly. The book was released in July 2008.

Of course, turning your blog into a book isn’t simple. When translating your text from the computer screen to the printed page, you’ll have to do more than copy and paste, especially if some of your blog postings contain your response to the results of last night’s American Idol contest or your musings on Michelle Obama’s fashion choices. According to Friedman, most bloggers either start from scratch or their blog material goes under extensive revision. Just like you probably wouldn’t publish your personal journal word for word, your blog is not finished material. The goal is to use your blog posts as starting points from which you can craft a cohesive, plot-driven story. This is where the difference between blogs and books is most noticeable. A book is a finished product that makes a point and sticks with it throughout the writing and storytelling process. A blog, on the other hand, is an ongoing project. It can mutate and change, respond to new thoughts and ideas, start in one place and end in another. As you consider creating a book from your blog material, keep in mind that the tone of your authorial voice will change, and so will the length of your story.

Though "blooks" can meet with great commercial success, some literary reviewers may not always concur with popular thought. Take for example the 2005 memoir Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell. Her blog, "The Julie/Julia Project," chronicled her year of cooking all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The book won a Blooker Prize and has been turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, which will be released this summer. But despite its wide appeal, the book was met with some doubt by reviewers. David Kamp, a reviewer for The New York Times, explains that though Powell’s prose contains passages worthy of a well-versed food-lit writer, the book "still has too much blog in its DNA: it has a messy, whatever's-on-my-mind incontinence to it, taking us places we'd rather not go."

When considering whether or not to translate your writing from the screen to the page, think about what a book could offer your readers that your blog could not. Keep in mind that blogs can remain current and up-to-the-minute, and can easily be revised and edited. And, of course, if you ever find yourself regretting what you wrote in a post, it can be deleted. The same cannot be said of a book.

Have you ever thought of turning your blog into a book? Which format do you prefer?