January 4, 2006
Bloggers and their Books: Logical Extensions or DOA
After reading the review of Ana Marie Cox's new novel, Dog Days, in the Times yesterday (Cox got praise some of the satire, but the narrative itself was too formulaic), Gothamist wondered what about the other bloggers turned genuine, published (or about to be published) writers and their fates. Are a bunch of online fans enough to make a book successful? But what would be success? Critical praise or bestseller-dom? Link love from the blogosphere? An Oprah endorsement? A kick-ass Technorati ranking? Well, of course, all - and even critically panned books get movie deals! Gothamist has spent about ten minutes thinking about this and clearly, the way to go is to write a pseudo-memoir novel that involves raising a dead brother, Russian Jews, race relations in England, stints in drug clinics, and the Opus Dei, basically The Little Staggering Pieces Are Illuminated White Code.
Here's a list of bloggers and their books/book deals - let us know if we missed anyone:
Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette - published Dog Days, novel about the Beltway and a blogger
Dawn Eden - an upcoming book on abstinence from sex
Nadine Haobsh, aka jolienyc
Dana Vachon, aka dnasty - novel set in the world of finance
Jessica Cutler, aka Washingtonette - published The Washingtonienne, and here's the NY Times review
Elizabeth Spiers, formerly of Gawker - it's possibly something about the investment world?
Stephanie Klein, with her blog Greek Tragedy - upcoming book about fat camp?
Will Leitch of Blacktable - published Catch, aimed at teenagers
Julie Powell, of The Julie/Julia Project - published Julie & Julia, a non-fiction account (Gothamist current favorite "by a blogger" book, as it involves more thoughts about food and life rather than blogging)
Doug Gordon, of Planet Gordon (and Gothamist contributor!) - published The Engaged Groom, a how-to book for newly engaged men
Rob the Bouncer of Standing on the Box - a book about the clublife and velvet rope?
For the record, Gothamist's first foray into publishing will either be a Choose Your Own Adventure or Encylcopedia Brown-style tome, either sloppily stapled together or in convenient PDF form, complete with misspellings. And Overheard in New York has published a collection of its quotes in Overheard in New York (the book).
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how about wendy mcclure's i'm not the new me, blog, poundy.com
I've heard good things about the jake dobkin novel "nut meat" that's coming out in the spring. It's the story of a blogging team harrassed by subway masturbaters and public poopers who fight back in a final charles bronson style showdown, except with phone cameras and hot coffee instead of high caliber firearms.
How come I'm always the last to know about Jake's plans?
pugsley, i'm not sure anybody wants jake dobkin and "nut meat" so close together ever again. ok?
the correct title for my novel is "nut meat begins"-- it's a prequel to the "sweater meat trilogy" that kate lee helped me sell to random house.
The Strand's dollar bins will be a brimmin'!
Self proclaimed book deal on http://belleinthebigapple.blogspot.com
Probably needs confirmation. Anyone?
The NYT liked the Cutler book but hated on the Wonkette book??? That sucks when a dumb ho turns out to be the better novelist.
Well, there's always Tucker Max "I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell", which, sadly, will probably outsell all the rest.
Jeremy Blachman -- http://anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com. He has a book deal with Henry Holt & Co. NYT article about him at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/fashion/26BLOG.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=92a97e05adda128f&ex=1261717200&partner=rssuserland
I think this guy's got a book deal in the works.
http://standingonthebox.blogspot.com/
I think Adam of The Amateur Gourmet is working on a book: http://www.amateurgourmet.com
Dan Radosh (of, um, radosh.net) signed a deal (can't find his post -- it's a non-fiction work about the culture of the evangelicals, or something like that). Or is he a writer with a blog? And Adam Greenfield just finished his. Or were you just looking for novels?
Maybe someone could post sales data for those titles that have been released. That would be interesting along side of the advances.
I'm not sure how successful these bloggers turned novelists will be. Not infrequently, the comments section is more entertaining than the blog.
My next book will be a sizzling expose of the inner workings of the Gothamist media empire, with thinly veiled versions of Jake and Jen, and stories of free drinks at the Magician. I call it, "The Devil Wears American Apparel."
what about that red-head chick with the curly hair that writes about her exploits with men in a really lame sex in the city way? she has a book deal.
whatever happened to the london callgirl blogger who was writing a tell-all book? anyone know?
great, just what we need. more (now published) mindless drivel from hipsters...
Thanks for the mention, Jen. One correction: My book is not about abstinence. I believe that married couples should have as much sex with one another as their hearts desire, within the bounds of public decency.
"The Thrill of the Chaste," due Oct. 2006 from W Publishing Group/Thomas Nelson, is for women like myself who have experienced the dating world and discovered that the more they date, the further they are from getting married. There's something about the nature of dating that causes one to focus on the superficial, to become insecure, to settle for less than the deserve, and--this is important--to give less than they are capable of giving. I want to help women not only gain the strength to forgo dates that do nothing but fill the empty space, but also get what it takes to enter and sustain a lifetime marriage.
I think that bloggers make crummy writers, but that's just me.
oh dawn,
i may buy your book...
to nap on.
You forgot Adam from v-2's book about ubiquitous computing, "Everyware."
Elizabeth Spiers's novel is called And They All Die in the End and is supposed to be "a satire of Wall Street and the media."
Stephanie Klein has a 2-book deal with Regan Books - first one's coming out, according to Amazon, July 1st, and is called Straight Up and Dirty: A Memoir. I think the 2nd one's the fat camp book.
Jen Lancaster of Jennsylvania has a pretty funny memoir called Bitter is the New Black coming out in March.
Anna Broadway of Sexless in the City has a book deal too.
The Belle du Jour book was published in England last year, and will be out in the US later this year.
Not quite the same, but Julie Dam (full disclosure: my better half) has a book and a blog: Some Like It Haute. While the bloggers mentioned in the article above seemed to land book deals based on their blogs (or at least the relative fame acquired by blogging), Julie's blog is an extension of the book. In fact, it's not entirely accurate to call it her blog as it's written in the voice of the protagonist of the novel.