Author blogs rarely go by the book
Like a summer vacation that ends too soon, finishing a book by a favorite author can leave you feeling refreshed but longing for more. Next time that happens with a great beach read, shake the sand from your toes and try connecting with the writer via blog.
Much has been written about folks who land publishing deals based on their blogs. Last year’s “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen” remains the best example of a blog book—or “blook,” as they’re irritatingly known. Blogger Julie Powell‘s account of whipping up every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” won the first annual Lulu Blooker Prize last month.
But we’ll wallow in blooks down the road. Today let’s explore the expanding universe of writers who publish first and blog later.
Some authors treat blogs as nothing more than a cog in the book marketing machine. But many take a comprehensive approach to the medium, interacting with fans, commenting on current events, detailing their writing process, ruminating on characters, posting tour diaries and even sharing personal anecdotes.
Crime writer Sandra Scoppettone goes into such deliciously brutal detail about the publishing business on her blog that a few weak-kneed industry types have warned her to tone it down lest she harm her career. Readers can sense the hand waves that must accompany her dismissive responses to such advice.
Fans of Scoppettone’s delightful Faye Quick series about a rookie gumshoe in World War II-era Manhattan likely will enjoy the author’s take-no-prisoners blog persona. And other readers who plug into this original online voice might just be intrigued enough to grab her mysteries. She underscores one of blogworld’s enduring lessons: There’s no substitute for authenticity.
Nonfiction authors have embraced blogging to an even greater extent than novelists. Many foster continuing conversations about a specific book. That’s the case with Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner‘s robust blog for their best-selling “Freakonomics.” Other nonfiction writers, such as “The Tipping Point” author Malcolm Gladwell and humorist Dave Barry, host wider-ranging forums.
No matter what subjects they cover, the best author blogs turn visitors on to books by other folks as well, suggests Ron Hogan, whose Beatrice.com has been “introducing readers to writers since 1995.”
“The glimpses into other writers’ personal lives are fun, but the thing I like most about my favorite authors’ blogs is their willingness to celebrate OTHER authors that they admire,” Hogan said via e-mail. “It’s not just about promoting themselves, but acknowledging that we’re all enthusiastic readers, and we’re all looking for the next awesome book to read.”
Spokane author Terry Bain (who participates in The Spokesman-Review’s News Is a Conversation blog) embraces that aesthetic by posting his latest reading picks to his Amazon.com blog. The online retailer now hosts more than 100 such author blogs under the AmazonConnect banner, but Bain also writes blogs pegged to his books “You Are a Dog” and “We Are the Cat” at Bainbooks.com.
Beatrice proprietor Hogan, who also co-edits the book-news blog Galleycat, said his current fave author blogs include “Old Man’s War” writer John Scalzi’s Whatever (“which combines his musings on science fiction with contemporary politics and lots of wacky fun with Photoshop”) and “In Her Shoes” scribe Jennifer Weiner’s Snarkspot.
As you explore these and other author blogs, please remember to leave enough time to read an actual book or two.
Guilty pleasure
Cute Overload, cuteoverload.com
Named a “People’s Voice” Webby Award winner last week, Cute Overload promises to deliver “an overwhelming amount of cuteness” to visitors in the form of heartwarming animal pictures. If you delight in snaps of hedgehogs enjoying spa treatments and bunnies with ears in mid-flop, this sugar-drenched site is for you.