THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST

Terry Whalin Makes 'A Case For Blogging Book Authors'

Terry Whalin over at The Writing Life has a great post headlined "A Case For Blogging Book Authors." He presents an excerpt from author Steve Weber's Plug Your Book!. The man is an authority on his subject, and it's reflected in the excerpt.

Technorati Tags: Terry Whalin,Steve Weber,Plug Your Book!. The Writing Life,Blogging Authors,The Blogging Journalist

What's A 'Blook'?

Nurul Halawati Mohamad Azhari over at the Malaysian National News Service's Bernama.com has an informative, December 28, 2006 post headlined "Blook: New Medium For Creative Writing."

What's a 'blook'?  According Azhari, it's "an acronym for 'blog book'. Specifically, blook is a published book whereby its content is derived from a blog," he added.

As much as I read, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of the term before today. Anyway, I learned a lot from the post.

The Australian's Genevieve Tucker: Online, Everyone's A Critic

Genevieve Tucker at The Australian has a post in the December 06, 2006, edition on literary blogging. She also offers a list of good lit blogs. To read about them, see "Online, everyone's a critic."

Najeeb Hasan's Interview With Dan Gillmor

MetroActive, a weekly newspaper "serving San Jose, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Campbell, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Fremont and nearby cities" in California, has a highly informative Q & A with Dan Gillmor, "the former [San Jose] Mercury News tech-columnist-turned-blogging-guru," and author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the people, For the people,

 

To read Najeeb Hasan's interview with Gillmor, see "From Print to Pixel." Gillmor blogs at the Center for Citizen Media: Blog and at Backfence.com.

Jeff Jarvis' 'Continuing Discussion About The Future Of Books'

BuzzMachine publisher Jeff Jarvis has posted another installment of his continuing "discussion about the future of books." I've enjoyed reading them. In fact, I enjoy reading Jeff's blog. 

 

The former "TV critic for TV Guide and People, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the NY Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner" is a creative thinker. 

Blog Leads To Book Deal For A Chicago Blogger

"Without his blog, Chicagoan Andy Wibbels never would have written a book," Knight Ridder Correspondent Alex L. Goldfayn reports in an article I read in the May 18, 2006 edition of the Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat. 

According to Goldfayn, "Wibbels, 31, who writes a blog that teaches blogging for small businesses (www.andywibbels.com) was contacted by an editor who had been reading his blog. The editor was from publishing giant Penguin."

"Out of the blue, without an agent, without a book proposal, the editor contacted me and asked if I would like to write a book," he quoted Wibbels as saying.

Noted Goldfayn: "That book came out in April. It's called "Blog Wild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging", and it's a quick, relatively low-tech guide to blogging for small companies. As Amazon.com's best-selling book on blogs, it's performing well, too."

For more, see "Blog for small outfits leads to book deals."

Is 'Blogging Like Baking Bread'?

Dan Brown, Online Editor for the London Free Press, has a review of "David Kline and Dan Burstein’s 402-page-long tome, blog! — which isn’t all that good, but it did provoke some thoughts."

Those are Brown's words. I haven't read it so I can't judge the book.

This is the same Kline and maybe the same Burnstein that contributed to The Call here in Chicago in the 1980s. Kline went into Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation when very few American reporters were willing to go. We held a lot of conversations during his days in Chicago. I doubt he would remember them.

Anyway, Brown's review can be found under the headline "How Blogging is Like Baking Bread." Kline blogs at BlogRevolt.com

The Book Standard Analyzes the Blooker Prize

Kimberly Maul at The Book Standard has a critical assessment of "self-publishing company" Lulu.com's announcement "of the winners of its inaugural “Blooker Prize,” for books derived from blogs."

As Maul noted, "Overall and nonfiction awards went to Julie Powell [link added], a blogging cook who spent a year of her life trying to crank out all the recipes in Julia Child’s foodie bible, Mastering the Art of French Cooking." See Maul's April 3, 2006 report headlined "This Just In: Punning on British Literary Prize Name Not Enough to Sell Books."

Blogger Riverbend Shocked by Nomination for Johnson Prize

Riverbend, the Iraqi woman who runs the popular Baghdad Burning blog, said in an April 2, 2006, post:

I was shocked to find out the BOOK “Baghdad Burning” had made the short list for the Samuel Johnson Prize- a prestigious, British award for non-fiction!! I didn’t even know it was on the long list for that award so it came as a huge surprise… I kept telling myself it was some sort of mistake because the other names on the short list are so illustrious but I got confirmation from the British publisher - Marion Boyars.

River, who started blogging shortly after the U.S. and Britain's invasion of Iraq in 2003, added: "I’ve been walking around in a bit of a daze since I found out. I feel like it’s all happening to someone else and I have to keep reminding myself of it- while filling the water tanks, while cleaning out the kerosene heaters for storage and while changing the newspaper in the parakeets cage (“I hope you know the person cleaning out your cage is a Samuel Johnson nominee…”)"

For more, please see "Nomination..."

‘Blogwild!: Another Book on Blogging

"The insider track on blogging is uncovered in the long awaited book ‘Blogwild!’ from blogging expert Andy Wibbels, which is launched on the 6 April 2006," says the UK's OnRec.com website . See "The insider secrets of blogging to build your personal brand and enhance your career success."

The Economist's Adrian Wooldridge Reviews 'An Army of Davids'

Adrian Wooldridge, described by OpinionJournal as "Washington bureau chief of The Economist and the author, with John Micklethwait, of "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America," reviewed Instapundit proprietor Glenn Reynolds' " An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths," in a piece that appeared in the March 23, 2006, edition of OpinionJournal.

Conclusion: "The David army envisioned by Mr. Reynolds may well, in the long run, end up beating the Goliaths of big media and big government into submission. In the meantime, let's hope for a more modest goal: that it can make them a little better at doing their jobs."

DNA Evolution: 'Bloggers Damn the Million Lies Man'

K K Sruthijith of India's DNA Evolution says "Literary blogs — normally content running interviews with little known authors and reviews - are enjoying a sudden spurt in popularity, thanks to two literary controversies." Read "Bloggers damn the million lies man" to see what controversies he's analyzing.

Gillmor Likes Scoble and Israel's 'Naked Conversations'

Dan Gillmor, author of "We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People," has given "Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, a just released book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, a valuable endorsement. The former tech journalist for the San Jose Mercury News, who this year will direct the Center for Citizen Media, wrote on January 14, 2006:

I read an advance copy and recommend it to business people who want to get a better feel for why business blogging matters.

Scoble, Microsoft's widely read technology 'evangelist," said of the endorsement: "That means more to me than anything. Dan’s one of the main reasons I’m on this journey."

That may be true. But it also means "Naked Conversations" will likely be bought by Gillmor's fans. By the way, there is a Naked Conversation blog.

What Ana Marie Cox's Hometown Paper Says About 'Dog Days'

Something else I learned about Ana Marie Cox after reading Lincoln (Nebraska) Star Journal online editor Steve Smith's January 8, 2005 review of her novel "Dog Days": She is "a graduate of Lincoln Southeast High School."

See Smith's "Going to the blogs: ‘Dog Days’ full of Ana Marie Cox’s usual snark."