Thursday, April 03, 2008

Will Blog for a Book Deal

Just a couple of years ago, near the beginning of the blog craze, people were getting book deals based on their blogs. Some agents trolled blogs looking for new ideas and interesting writers to represent. And bloggers made book deals.

Some of that is still going on. But recently another blogger made a book deal. Nothing new. Except ... his deal was reportedly about $300,000. And before the deal he was an unpublished writer. The blogger? Christian Lander. The blog? Stuff White People Like.

In The New York Times, Sara Nelson, editor of Publishers Weekly, figured:
Random House would have to sell about 75,000 copies, a total that would likely land the book on best-seller lists, to earn back its $300,000 advance.

The blog runs into a bit of controversy, since some consider the content racist. Others consider it satirical. Some just call it funny.

As to the book deal ... Lander calls it a surprise, as you’ll see by his 92nd entry on Stuff White People Like.

2 comments:

  1. I started blogging to try and get my book out there - hoping that someone would pick it up.

    To date no bites - but it has taken me to places I thought I'd never go and now enjoy running my blog which has turned into more of a liteary magazine.

    I wonder how Christian Lander got noticed? and Helen you say "Some of that is still going on." I wonder how much these days - any idea?

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  2. No stats Mike. But I do read things about agents trolling blogs or someone getting noticed because of a blog. And there are more sites now that cater to hooking up writers with agents. I don't in any way think this is THE way to get an agent. Blogging to get an agent in a lot of ways is like querying to get an agent -- you have something new, different, salable and catches an agent's eye.

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