BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Blogs and books

13 comments on Blogs and books

Blogs and books

: I’m giving a talk at Book Expo, the big publishing convention, this week on how all the constituencies of the word biz can use citizens’ media. I want to brainstorm about the ways that blogs can help authors, agents, publishers/editors, marketers, and retailers — from finding new talent to writing books online with your audience to building a direct relationship with your readers to creating communities.

I’m eager to get any of your ideas for how blogs and books should interact. Please comment away. Thanks.

13 responses to “Blogs and books”

  1. Joe Territo Avatar
    Joe Territo

    I think you may find this interesting/relevant: Listen to the “Young Werther” item here http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/show040205.html and check out the related links.

  2. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    Also, check out Philip Treacher Knoist’s children’s book, King Spot, which he released online, in installments, under a Creative Commons license.

  3. Rafael Sidi Avatar
    Rafael Sidi

    How about using the blogs in opening editorial and peer review process in publishing. Editors and reviewers should have the final saying, but their comments should be open to public (authors, researchers etc), and public also should be able to comment and challenge the reviewers opinions. People who are commenting on the book, would be able to connect to others in their subject matter therefore building a closenet community for collaboration.

  4. pieman Avatar
    pieman

    Some content from travel, city blogs could be adapted or syndicated for travel guidebooks. The bloggers could even be employed by the book publisher to act as a point of contact on the ground to answer questions for readers.
    24 food bloggers contributed to the recently released Digital Dish book:
    http://ilforno.typepad.com/il_forno/2005/05/digital_dish_re.html
    There’s tonnes of scope for publishers to link up with food bloggers. I know of four food bloggers who have landed book deals.

  5. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    I have created a blog called Indiescribe where it is my goal (I am just starting) to host other writers work. For larger works I will be encouraging readers to download e-books, read them, and come back to comment on what they have read.
    I think there is a lot of potential in the blogosphere for authors to get more exposure for their work, and to get feedback from their peers.

  6. Thomas Collins Avatar
    Thomas Collins

    Jeff: Since 1998, I’ve been operating a print on demand book operation (with wholesaler Ingram Book Company, and its digital printing facility Lightning Source Inc.) that takes its retail orders on line via amazon,barnes & noble, and directly from the publisher’s site at http://www.ravensyard.com. We have produced 24 books from 10 authors and sell daily automatically on line one book at a time.
    My blog http://www.quillnews.com is about many things, but I have used the blog as a way to discuss some of the Ravensyard titles and encourage sales of the books — again also on line and with a no-hands-Ma automatic business operating system.
    We are small, have modest goals (for now), but we are operating, selling books and generating revenue. Kind regards, Thomas Collins

  7. Max Avatar
    Max

    You may have seen the Lit Blog Co-op, a site where some prominent Lit Bloggers are getting together four times a year to select a deserving but underappreciated book to recommend to the public. The 21 bloggers involved use their blogs to get the word out about the book that’s been chosen (our first choice was Case Histories by Kate Atkinson). It’s the blogging world’s version of the Oprah Book Club.

  8. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    Jeff, you might find this post by John Scalzi (and the associated comments) of interest: Writing in the Age of Piracy. BTW, Scalzi sold his latest book by accepting an offer he received after publishing chapters on his site.
    And apropos of that, some publisher should turn this guy’s archives into a London guidebook. Fascinating and quirky.

  9. Brian H Avatar
    Brian H

    Speaking of grammar, Tom, that would be “followers of the herd”, not “heard”.
    It seems to me that if/when e-paper ever gets going, it could turn books into a live, while-reading, 2/n-way conversation. I read books on-screen sometimes, but find the process just barely tolerable; it’s not “comfortable”. I want something in my hand, not on a monitor demanding clicks and scrolling and so on.

  10. Ralph Daugherty Avatar
    Ralph Daugherty

    Brian, “followers of the heard” is at least a punful or freudian grammatical error, the less embarrassed may even argue intentional. I just hope I’m not in a position to have to try to justify it. :)
    On the feel of reading books on a computer screen, I agree. I’m here to post details of my online book, Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy, but I can tell you that as I have posted on my site http://www.justiceforchandra.com, web pages just don’t have that page turning feel experience like reading the real thing. Still, it’s the next best thing and I can insert color maps, pictures, and links I can’t in the POD (Print on Demand) book I’ve had out for the last year.
    Saw BuzzMachine.com in Howard Kurtz’s column and coming here to take a look, saw this topic on books and bloggers. I just published Murder on a Horse Trail at
    http://www.justiceforchandra.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=32&sid=61a9d4189a0031596527bd212c6f1e03
    I would like to think there’s some power of blogging in that effort. The book has several illuminating posts from interested people who posted their insights on Chandra’s case on the web, information covered in much better detail than the press is able to do.
    And in the end, my book on a noted true crime case couldn’t get published as a paperback because of publishers’ policy against publishing on true crime cases, or at least I didn’t have the name power to hurdle that barrier. So while incorporating populist offerings to the analysis of this case, it then itself is made a populist offering.
    Does this have any lessons to offer? Just that Jeff’s basic contention is right. The web blog does offer a power to get around institutional blockades to be heard that didn’t exist before outside of handing out local flyers.
    People will vote with a click to or fro as to what is worthy, what is responsible, what is interesting, and surely new more dynamic layers will spring forth to cull the best from bloggers that institutions will likely tap into, but no longer control.
    rd

  11. michael reynolds Avatar
    michael reynolds

    I hate to bring up an unseemly topic, but what about getting paid? I do political blogging for free. I write fiction for money. The only reason I can afford to blog for free is that I’ve been well-compensated for writing fiction.
    So, I see blogging as a hobby, but I don’t quite get it as a job. As of now the two worlds seem pretty distant. Am I missing something?

  12. Ralph Daugherty Avatar
    Ralph Daugherty

    How many are putting a significant enough effort into it to get paid? I think most that do have their own sites and advertising. Like with other writers though, that may not quite cut it for quitting the day job. :)
    rd

  13. button Avatar
    button

    Jeff: It looks like they pretty much cover the waterfront– kudos for covering a broad spectrum of issues. But I think they’ve left out one issue: in recent years we’ve experienced a huge influx of foreign immigrants into the U.S.. They didn’t have a tradition of Free Press where most of them came from, which may account for some of the fall off in newspaper readership in the U.S. But it may also influence literary book readership. I’m not sure there is a quick fix or easy solution to this problem.
    In a country of 250 million, many literary book publishers expect to print a first edition of only 4 or 5 thousand books and are happy to sell that. Proportionately, that’s a very small sale. It means that most Americans are only literate in a utilitarian context. With the recent huge influx of foreigners who don’t speak much English to begin with, this prospect will only get worse.