When bloggers storm the ramparts of fortress mainstream media, it's not always with sword in hand and righteous indignation in their hearts. Sometimes they're just looking for book deals.
Indeed, a quick perusal of book publishing deals reported at Publisher's Marketplace (whose founder Michael Cader I interviewed for my own book, blog!), shows that publishers have been very eager to capitalize on the blogging phenomenon. And hardly reluctant maidens, bloggers have been happy to help them do so (yours truly included).
Herewith, a small sampling of book ideas snapped up recently by blog-obsessed publishers:
*** Peter Kuhns and Adrienne Crew's BLOGOSPHERE: Best of Blogs, a book for people too busy to read blogs who want to know what's out there, to Michelle Newcomb at Que.
*** Nadine Haobsh's untitled memoir, in which the Ladies Home Journal associate beauty editor recently fired for her blog, "Jolie in NYC," dishes about the beauty industry, to Carrie Feron at Morrow, in a two-book deal.
*** Creator of teen media and marketing trend blog pulse.com Anastasia Goodstein's MEET JUDY JETSON: Decoding the 21st Century Teen, a parent's guide to better understanding the technology children are using today, to Becki Heller at St. Martin's, by Kate Lee at ICM. [Kate Lee is a very smart agent ... I interviewed her for blog!]
*** Former Houston Chronicle blogger Rachel Spencer's AU PARIS, about a young woman who gives up life in the corporate world and travels to Paris to be a nanny for a well-to-do family, to Danielle Chiotti at Citadel, in a nice deal. [A "nice deal" means an advance somewhere between $1 - $50,000.]
*** Rob the Bouncer's CLUBLIFE: Behind the Velvet Rope, based on the blog that has been featured in Gawker and Newsweek, exploring the nightclub subculture from the point of view of a New York City bouncer, to Harper.
*** Blogger Anna Broadway's sexLESS IN THE CITY, about her exploits as a half-hearted virgin struggling to reconcile the deeply held faith of an evangelical upbringing and life as a Brooklyn denizen and chaste party girl, to Broadway.
*** Electrolicious.com blogger Ariel Meadow Stallings's AND THE BRIDE WORE A HULA HOOP, helping brides-to-be buck tradition and create a unique wedding, to Brooke Warner at Seal Press, in a nice deal.
*** Author of GAY HAIKU and blogger Joel Derfner's SWISH: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever, exploring the more flamboyant facets of modern living, to Andrew Corbin at Broadway.
*** Corporate blog coach, Fortune 500 speaker, and consultant Debbie Weil's BLOG, making a case for corporate blogging by revealing how your business can benefit -- and profit -- from this cultural and technological phenomenon, to Megan Casey at Portfolio. [Oh-oh, maybe this is a competitor to my next book.]
*** Consultant and seminar leader Andy Wibbels' EASY BAKE BLOGS, a 'business blogging cookbook' on how to leverage blogs to build and market your business, to Megan Casey at Portfolio, in a pre-empt.
*** Air America radio pundit and Liberaloasis.com blogger Bill Scher's WAIT! DON'T MOVE TO CANADA, commentary and strategic advice for frustrated liberals and Democrats, to Chris Potash at Rodale.
*** Lawyer by day and Snarkywood.com blogger by night Martha Kimes' IVY BRIEFS: A Privileged and Confidential Law School Story, relating her humorous adventures as a Midwestern girl struggling to survive at Columbia Law School, to Suzanne O'Neill at Atria, in a pre-empt.
*** New York Times writer and occasional blogger known as D-Nasty Dana Vachon's MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS: A Romance, to Cindy Spiegel at Riverhead, reportedly in a major deal for $650,000, for two books.
*** Paul Davidson's BLOGOSPHERE, a collection of blogs "written" by historical figures and celebrities such as Elvis, JFK, Confucious, and John Lennon (upon meeting a young woman named Yoko Ono who seems very interested in how The Beatles deal with the publishing rights to their song library) to Warner. [Now this sounds like an interesting book!]
*** Creator of the "Bullsfreak" basketball blog and author of Hard Bop Academy: The Sidemen of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Alan Goldsher's BLEEDING BLACK 'N' BLUE: A Smashmouth History of the NFL's Toughest Division, to Jack Heffron at Emmis Books.
*** 26-year-old blogger and role-playing game Freelancer Scott Lynch's four books, beginning with THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORE, to Simon Spanton at Gollancz (world). They've sold rights to Bantam, reportedly for six figures for three books.
*** Blogger and writer Jami Attenberg's INSTANT LOVE, a collection of linked short stories, pitched as a worthy of comparison to David Schickler's KISSING IN MANHATTAN and Melissa Bank's A GIRL'S GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING -- exploring what it means to be in love and what it means to be lonely, and particularly what it means to be both at the same time, to Sally Kim at Shaye Areheart Books, at auction.
*** Blogger and photographer Stephanie Klein's STRAIGHT UP AND DIRTY: The Life of a Young New York Divorcee, a humorous tell-all tracing the author's return to single life as a "firm, fashionable, and let's face it - fetching" twenty-something, plus a memoir based on the author's childhood experience at Fat Camp, to Judith Regan at Regan Books, in a major deal (including film rights). [A "major deal" means more than $500,000 -- how's that for "fetching?"]
*** Blogger and third-year Harvard Law student Jeremy Blachman's ANONYMOUS LAWYER, a novel based on the now infamous blog of the same name (his fan's thought he was a middle-aged partner in an LA firm until a recent NYT article), about a partner in a big LA firm who commits a seemingly minor ethical infraction he could probably get away with until he is found out by his nemesis at the firm, a fellow hiring partner known simply as The Jerk, to John Sterling at Holt, in a pre-empt.
*** Twenty-eight-year-old Army soldier and blogger Colby Buzzell's MY WAR, depicting his experiences as a soldier in the line of fire and presenting uncensored stories that bring home the realities of war, expanding on material first filed on his blog of the same name, to David Highfill at Putnam. [We also interviewed Colby Buzzel in blog!]
*** Blogger Jen Lancaster's (jennsylvania.com) memoir, BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office, in which the author, a former sorority girl and self-described pain-in-the-ass who defined herself by the trappings of success in the heady days of the dot-com era, explores what it's like to go from having a household income of almost a quarter million dollars to being evicted from a slum apartment in less than two years and ultimately discovering that money has nothing to do with happiness, to Kara Cesare at NAL, at auction.
*** Lit blogger "Moorishgirl" Laila Lalami's THE THINGS THAT DEATH WILL BUY, a collection of linked stories, about four Moroccans who illegally cross the Straights of Gibraltar on a lifeboat destined for Spain and how their lives are irrevocably changed, and A PLACE TO CALL HOME, a novel about a man and a woman from Casablanca, who, unbeknownst to each other, are siblings and whose lives unexpectedly come together under extraordinary circumstances, to Antonia Fusco at Algonquin.
*** Microsoft employee Rebecca Agiewich's BREAK UP BABE, a memoir based on her blog, about the quirky phenomenon of computers and relationships, showing how the Internet is changing the way we meet, communicate, and fall in love, to Allison Dickens at Ballantine.
*** Blogger and Spin magazine writer John Sellers's GOLD SOUNDZ: One Man's Journey Into Indie-Rock Idiocy, a humorous first person account of the Guided By Voices farewell tour, and a look back at the influence that the band and other stalwarts of the indie genre have had on the author's life, to Geoff Kloske at Simon & Schuster.
*** Essayist and blogger Marrit Ingman's INCONSOLABLE: DISPATCHES FROM A POSTPARTUM LIFE, a stylish memoir about the forbidden truths of postpartum depression, from the fallacies of Dr. Sears and the "designer parenting" movement to the difficulty of arranging childcare for one's suicide, to Leslie Miller at Seal Press.
*** Andy Greenwald's MISS MISERY, the story of a young aspiring writer and his virtual, alter-ego self, unfolding his struggle with identity and his attempts to connect with the world around him through the world of blogging, featuring first-person narrative and a variety of secondary media sources, such as diary excerpts, records of voice mails, e-mails, and IM conversation, to Simon Spotlight Entertainment Entertainment.
*** The former Senate aide, who serviced inside-the-Beltway players and blogged about it Jessica Cutler's THE WASHINGTONIENNE, to Kelly Notaras at Hyperion, in a significant deal, for publication in summer 2005. [A "significant deal" is between $251,000-$500,000.]
*** BELLE DE JOUR, the diary of a Ph.D.-turned-high priced call girl made famous on the blog of the same name, building up to her decision to leave her night job behind and return to academia this fall, to Amy Einhorn at Warner, in a good deal. [A "good deal" is between $101,000-$200,000.]
*** Mu Zimei's ASHES OF LOVE: THE DIARY OF LI LI, the sexual-revolutionary "blog" diary of 25-year-old columnist from Canton, who received millions of hits a day and but when the book was published in China, the book was banned, her website shut down, and she was fired from her magazine job, to Prometheus Publishers in Holland in a pre-empt, in a nice deal.
*** Blogger, geek, and the actor who portrayed Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Wil Wheaton's three books, two of them originally self-published, DANCING BAREFOOT and JUST A GEEK, almost unbearably honest tales of life, love, and the rigors of being an ensign on the Starship Enterprise, and WIL WHEATON'S WEBSITE DESIGN, to O'Reilly & Associates. [See my interview with the terrific Wil here .]
And then there's the blogger who may have started the whole blog-to-book trend:
*** Julie Powell's THE JULIE/JULIA PROJECT, a year in the life of Julie Powell, a 30-year old secretary living in Queens, who decided to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which drew a following (and press) through her Salon.com blog, to Judy Clain at Little, Brown, for six figures, at auction.
Finally, I suppose I should include the notice of my own next book deal:
*** Former war correspondent David Kline's THE HUMAN ELEMENT: Blogs and the Transformation of Business, blending a "big picture" view of the transformative impact of blogging on corporate America with a practical guide for using blogs to competitive advantage in every functional unit of the enterprise, to John Mahaney at Crown Business, at auction.
So there you have it -- proof that blogging and traditional media can co-exist peacefully, if not even profitably.
Who says bloggers don't like "dead tree" media?