You follow steps 1,2 and 3, buy an ebook about how to do it and then market your blog relentlessly. No, actually all of those things will have the opposite effect.
The only thing I can figure out that these people did is to write stuff that amused them and was personal to their own point of view. They didn't cater to keywords or marketing data about popular topics. I mean, Julia Child? How big a keyword could that have been?
June 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Blogging is a lot of different things to the people who blog. I saw a recent post somewhere that said you are not a blogger unless you do research before you start a blog and figure out how to bring in traffic. I wish I could remember where I saw that, but I do remember that the blog itself was crap. It was dry, boring, offered no new ideas or points of view and was heavily invested in bringing in as many people as it could. It will never be like Passive Aggressive Notes. This site is funny and interesting without demanding anything of its readers. The blogger has just been signed to a six-figure book deal based on this blog.
Postcards From Yo Momma is a site everyone can relate to. Unfortunately, not everyone can relate to the book deal that the blogger will only describe as "comfortable."
The Julie/Julia Project was one woman's attempt to cook 536 of Julia Child's recipes in one year and to blog about the experience. It not only led to a book deal, the movie starring Meryl Streep is now in production.
Stuff White People Like is a weird blog that's about just what the title suggests. It's hard to classify exactly what the point is other than just to highlight weird stuff. The blogger started the blog as a whim to amuse himself. He was recently given a $350,000 advance from Random House based on his blog.
What do these blogs have in common? They were not thoroughly researched ahead of time. They did not cajole people into reading them and they were started in the spirit of fun and self expression. Those are the best blogs and those are the ones that get books deals. So, go out and do that. The Web has enough dry blogs that are calculated toward making a profit through keywords. Seriously.
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"How to Get Your Blog a Book Deal"
2 Comments -
So (not being funny) how *do* you get your blog a book deal? I'd really like one (please)
June 10, 2008 at 3:39 PM
You follow steps 1,2 and 3, buy an ebook about how to do it and then market your blog relentlessly. No, actually all of those things will have the opposite effect.
The only thing I can figure out that these people did is to write stuff that amused them and was personal to their own point of view. They didn't cater to keywords or marketing data about popular topics. I mean, Julia Child? How big a keyword could that have been?
June 17, 2008 at 3:55 PM