There’s something in the air at the moment…
Perhaps it’s the success of the recent film Julie & Julia, or perhaps just an acknowledgement that – whoops – blogging’s not dead after all! Perhaps blogs are just really, really good at the moment. Perhaps publishers are simply panicking in the wake of the realisation that people don’t buy books anymore, because they’re all too busy reading books (which, for the record, is the exact opposite of the truth for me: my time spent reading blogs has actually lead to me purchasing more books than ever over the past five or so years – and even more importantly, branching out to buy genres that I previously wouldn’t have). Either way, it seems like more and more bloggers are quitting their day jobs to become fulltime writers. This is nothing new – Shauna of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl first had her story published in print in early 2008. Even earlier than that, Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini landed a deal and has been writing ever since (and is, thankfully, still blogging).
In the past six months alone, numerous blogs that I read regularly have been offered book deals. The latest is Jenna of Eat Live Run, whose blog I do truly enjoy (especially recently, as I’m entirely envious of her recent employment at a winery in the Sonoma Valley outside of San Francisco). Jenna has been signed to write a memoir and recipe book, drawing upon her experiences as an exchange student in France and her time at culinary school. This is totally awesome, and perhaps I’m just jealous, but… aren’t memoirs usually reserved for people a little older than the ripe old age of 24? If any ELR fans are reading this, please don’t interpret what I’m saying as criticism – I love Jenna’s blog. I’m just a little curious as to how a 24 year old lands a book deal to write a memoir. Granted, the girl has had some crazy experiences over the past couple of years, and probably has some awesome stories to tell, but will I buy her book?
I’m not sure. I like blogs because I feel (and I hope) that the authors have complete artistic control over their writing. I worry that the transition from screen to page will come with some sort of sacrifice of honesty – both for the book, and the screen. How do you exert complete artistic control when a publishing company is breathing six-figure sums down your neck? Can you retain control in this situation, or does a little bit of the honesty and the personality that drew people to your blog in the first place have to be sacrified in the name of making money? Luckily for Jenna, she’s sweet-as-pie and not prone to whinging anyway… but what if I were offered a deal (*snort*)? No one would want to read a book full of whinging and whining…
I’m probably not going to buy the book by Caitlin of Operation Beautiful (or more accurately, in my case, See Bride Run Healthy Tipping Point – I read the food blog, but the book deal came from her other blog). I might, maybe, buy Matt of Matt, Liz & Madeline‘s book – if for no other reason, than because his posting lately has been sporadic at best, and I miss his voice (and I think he’s one person who definitely would retain control of his art). Yet these, along with Jenna, are people whose blogs I read every day (well – when they actually update), and will continue to do so until a point that their writing no longer interests me.
Is this just the latest angle in my crusade against blogging-for-money-and-free-shit? Possibly. Maybe I ought to get off my “oh I’ve been blogging for so long for no reward, blah blah blah” high-horse. The truth is though, I just worry that the future of blogging is under threat when it grows increasingly common for bloggers to be rewarded for their writing. What ever happened to leaving some comments and building up a nice following? It seems these days that everyone’s striving towards using their blog as a portal to Something Bigger And Better. A search on Google for “blogger book deals” brings up more articles than I care to list (but here are a few) detailing the ins and outs and how-tos of using your blog to score a job, or a book deal, or freebies.
And the rest of us?
I’m stoked beyond belief when my visitor count stays over 50 for five days in a row (and then I immediately check what kind of weird and wacky things people have Googled to mistakenly end up here). Perhaps Australia isn’t quite at the same place at the States yet when it comes to the blogger-to-bookwriter trend, but will we ever be? And if/when that happens, who will get the deals?
Is the trend towards publishing bloggers in print, signalling the truth death of blogging? When integrity loses out to marketability, what hope do we have?
