Blogs to Books — a Fad? Not Likely But a Challenge to Book Publishers
The Message to Publishers from Grand Master Flash
Just yesterday, the first blog to book (blook) startup — the Friday Project — was officially liquidated. That demonstrates to me, not a failure in the idea, but merely the “well duh” factor of using the blogosphere as a feeder mechanism for publishers. It was silly of them to try to corner the market. On the other hand, the tone of the New York Times coverage of the recent deals for Stuff White People Like and I Can Has Cheezburger is more dumb than duh. The Times is calling the blogs to books thing a fad. It is no fad although overpaying for these projects may be.
Frank Warren, compiler at Post Secret was on The 404 podcast this week. Frank is on book number four, but still thinks publishers undervalue bloggers — the blogosphere as ghetto. One of the hosts on the 404 synthesized what Frank was saying using the analogy of ’70s hip-hop. In the beginning the practitioners of the form were solo street acts until hip-hop was commercialized through the ’80s and ’90s. Post Secret is a pioneer in this comparison. Blogging is at its purest now. Things are only going to get muddy from here.
The problem is the interests of bloggers, book publishers, and readers don’t align most of the time.
Three categories of B(l)ook Projects:
- Incubators — Everyone would win if book publishers simply used the blogosphere to spot talent for linear works. The value is in the blogger not the blog. Mieko Kawakami, Diablo Cody, and Julie Powell come to mind. Their talent + publisher’s product = popularity explosion. This idea serves the publishers’ existing business model (book-as-highest-form-of-art-controlled-by-us), not the blogosphere, but it works.
- Then there are what I call distillation projects. A blogger has ideas. He exchanges those ideas on the web. The book version is a linear representation of the blogger’s thesis. I think of the Presentation Zen book and The Long Tail as two examples where the book version has value precisely because it is linear and condensed. The problem is this model is only attractive for arguments that sprawl otherwise.
- Lastly there are what I call memento projects — a.k.a. a blog’s greatest hits in book form. Post Secret, What White People Like, I Can Has Cheezburger, Bent Objects, and even the Lifehacker books are in this category. This is where things get messy.
- The content creator comes out ahead. They get paid. The books are logical platform extensions. Browsers at bookstores — who one assumes would never have otherwise heard of it — are introduced to the site.
- Readers get recycled content. That is not the worst thing in the world but I wouldn’t count on a fan buying every updated edition. The more value in the blog (comments, corrections, bulletin boards, tags, immediacy) the less value in the book, so readers have less incentive to buy.
- Publishers are just along for the ride. They offer manufacturing (at a reduced risk) and access to retailers.
The Challenge to Book Publishers
- Publishers need to take the long view on memento projects or stop getting involved with them altogether. Publish the content not the book. Buy the blog. Hire the blogger. Spin-off a book yes, but own the property not the paper. Otherwise where are you going to be as publisher once manufacturing becomes a boutique industry and retailers don’t have wholesalers? Your digital rights to stale content won’t be worth much.
- On distillation projects, publishers need to throw their marketing machine into high gear. Putting up a mini-site for the book is just laughable. Leverage your size or stay away.
- And don’t let the agents find the talent before you do, otherwise you are just an editorial service. If you want to mind the gate, don’t simply hold the key, at least help people pass through.
Partner with bloggers. Pay bloggers. Buy blogs. Be relevant to the process but don’t throw money around trying to buy friends.
image credit: http://hitparade.ch
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