I read an article in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, about a blog that’s now a book. It’s a book with no page numbers. It’s a book of text messages. Texts taken from the over 3 million Lauren and Ben Bator posted on their blog. Texts about “unforgettable nights most would rather not remember.”
They apparently get about 15,000 texts every day. They only put up about 40 to 50 of them. They’ve gone back and deleted some of their own more embarrassing ones. It’s isn’t clear that they’ve done that for others.
I need to think of something really, really stupid…I’m too old, though. Things this stupid just don’t come into my head.
Do you have ideas crazy enough to be a quick book that will probably make big bucks but have no lasting value? Better jump on it.
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[For those of you who read yesterday's post and wanted to know how good of a liar I am (the assignment was to tell 6 outrageous lies about myself and one outrageous truth), the answer is that I reversed it and told 6 truths and one lie. The lie was #5: "I don’t remember the name of my fifth step-father." The others were truths.]
Alan W. Davidson pointed me towards a blog called Sleep Talkin' Man where the wife posts things her husband says in his sleep and it is going to become a book.
ReplyDeleteQuite how that news story knows it's going to be a best-selling book is a mystery to me. They have nearly nine THOUSAND followers on Blogger so they could well be right.
There was also the blog of "Belle Du Jour" a high fee hooker that became not only a book but a TV show.
My favourite photo-blog that got it's own book is This is Why You're Fat.
Wow. Well, you learn something new every blogging day :) Apparently you don't need a plot, just a husband who speaks in his sleep... and whamo- book contract.
ReplyDeleteAll well and good if your only point to writing is to sell and make money. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still think most of us are trying to write a good story and we just hope that maybe we might be able to see it someday.
ReplyDeleteI hope their phones are on silent because that would be really annoying hearing the message tone 15000 times a day.
I'm still brainstormiing Helen - I'll let you know if I come up with something that stupid!
ReplyDeleteI see gimmicky things pretty regularly...and think, "Why didn't *I* think of that!?" :)
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
I imagine some of the things from my younger days could be *flash in the pan* bookworthy. I'm too old to remember them though. :)
ReplyDelete"I reversed it and told 6 truths and one lie."
ReplyDeleteSee? I KNEW there was even something more to like about you. You broke the rules on a tag game! YOU GO GIRL!!
Fooled me too.
So anyway, I DID do a post today thanking you and linking to your blog, and broke a few rules myself with this bloggy awardy thingy. Cuz I don't DO blog awards, right? (wink)
The Old Silly
b.s. - the futhark word is pretty cool. Read the blog.
oh - quick money dreams! How about all the blog writer pals write a book called A Year of Living off the Avails of Our Art. It could be a story of passion, starvation, pissed-off spouses (get a job! my partner just yelled up the stairs)and of course REJECTION. In it we would talk about the garrets we write in and how cold it is when the oil runs out and how our landlords refuse to speak French to us and let us call them concierges because we don't live in Paris - we live in Dubuque and Hamilton and Wichita Falls. We would talk of the trysts we have with our lovers who whine -'when are you going to pickup the tab' at McDonalds and other very romantic eating spots. Yep.
ReplyDeleteJan, I do believe I would buy your book. I like it already.
ReplyDeleteAnton, I heard about that book on the national news on several stations. It actually sounded funny. The book's not out and they're already selling tons of t-shirts with quotes from him on them.
Just goes to show that people still want to read everything they can about other people. And some people, as the old saying goes, could sell ice to the Eskimos. :)
ReplyDeleteSo what was the name of your fifth step-father?
ReplyDeleteWonders never cease.... chance at quick money and a new word 'futhark'...
ReplyDelete:)
BM
I love learning new words and laughed reading the blog about futhark.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed at the number of totally stupid books I see when I wander through a book store. I can’t help but wonder how they found a publisher and made their way into a bookstore. Most of all, I wonder how many copies are sold. Like you, I don’t have the imagination to come up with those bizarre ideas.
Those were all interesting facts about you. I can see #6 being turned into a novel.
I had you pegged, Helen ;) Did you say there was an award for the winners?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, about the books, I just don't get it. Who really wants to read a book of that stuff? What publisher says Yes, this is an amazing concept? Clue me in, please ...
I second what Elizabeth said "Why didn't I think of that?"
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen the site
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/
I used to read it a couple years ago, and now I also see it was made into a book...
Another missed opportunity for me.
15,000 texts a month? I don't think I've had that many in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteNo novel, but I did write a screenplay based on #6, Jane.
ReplyDeleteI agree with y'all. I am amazed sometimes at the books that make it into publication.
Bermudaonion, you and me both. I get maybe one text a month. Okay, maybe three.
Carolyn, I've never seen that site. I'll check it out.
Mark, I did not have a fifth step-father, so no name.
These non books are like non talents becoming celebrities. There must be something weird in the air.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there might be a story in your number six lie/truth. Never would have guessed.
Don't these type of books fall under the heading of "There's a sucker born every minute?" I guess I'm getting old. And cranky.
ReplyDeleteAnyone old enough here to remember "Pet Rocks?" Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYa'll wanna come over to my blog and tell me the most unique place you've been naked, I'll put it in a book.
ReplyDelete*nods*
Bet it will sell, too.
What baffles me is these books really SELL. I'm not sure who wants to pay money for content you can find online for free, and I'm not sure who cares about this nonsense (though I confess to chuckling from time to time when someone ELSE reads me content from F*#@ My life--never go there myself, but I really do laugh when someone else weeds the content for me)
www.waterytart23.blogspot.com
Yeah! I was right about #5 being the only fib! Haven't thought of a really hair-brained way to put together a book that'll fade in popularity a month after it's debut. Hmmmmm?
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in the bookstore and see something that stops me in my tracks I take a photo of it. The most recent title was "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"....and I'm sad to say that I'm not kidding.
ReplyDelete:0)
Wow! Why would anyone read a novel, oops, book like that? Who has the time to read someone else's texts? Weird.
ReplyDeleteI guess if money is what you're after and nothing else, then this might be the way to go.
ReplyDeleteYikes. Can't even imagine reading the first page of a book like that!
ReplyDeleteYou're sneaky! I'm going to have to go back and check your truths now :)
I'm baffled by some of the things that end up on the shelf of the local book seller. Madonna's children's books, for example.
ReplyDeleteEvery book not actually written by the named person on the cover should have a disclaimer. That'd take care of a lot of celebrity books.
ReplyDeleteArghghg!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to my blog, Helen. Those who read 'The Lost Symbol' should have spotted Robert Langdon reference to the rune language of Futhark when he was trying to decipher one of the million things he had to figure out.
ReplyDeleteAnd all those text messages made into a book? Is it any wonder it's impossible to know what publishers are looking for in a book?
Sheila, you summed it all up in one word.
ReplyDeleteI am old too. And I just read your truths and lies. Wow. Colorful. You do have stuff to write about, obviously.
ReplyDelete