How to get a book deal with a blog found on Google help site

How To Get A Book Deal With Your Blog

By Biz Stone
Back in the day, book deals were few and far between. You had to be a literary genius, a member of the super-elite writerly crowd, or some kind of insanely talented professional in your field. Then you needed an agent, a publicist, and a body of work to prove you had what it takes to be part of the chosen few, the noble, the proud, the published.

Now, you just need a blog and some chutzpah. Blogging is hooking people up with book deals willy-nilly. Have you always wanted to see your name on the shelf at Barnes and Noble? Do you want to tell your friends, "I can't come out tonight, my editor is breathing down my neck"? Well, there are bloggers out there getting book deals right now. Hell, Wil Wheaton just signed a three-book deal and he credits his blog and its readers for his good fortune. We here at Blogger Support don't want you to get left out, so we're releasing to you, our beloved users, the secrets of blog-to-book success.

Become Obsessed
That's how I got my first deal. I became obsessed with blogging over four years ago when I discovered how easy it was and realized that a revolution was at hand. I talked about blogging so much that my friends thought I was a freak, and people mostly rolled their eyes whenever I opened my mouth. But hey, I'm an author now. This obsessive fixation can work for you too. Obsessive behavior is treatable, but if left unchecked, it can land you some sweet gigs.

Julie Powell managed to swing her abnormal behavior into a book deal too. Down on her luck as a secretary in Queens, NY, Julie said "screw this!" (in her own way) and decided to blog-u-ment her crazy scheme to cook more than 500 Julia Child recipes in one year. Her blogging struck a chord with readers and heavy commenting on her posts was not unusual. The activity around her blog lead to some media coverage, and she soon found herself signing a "really obscene book deal" with Little, Brown and Company. Look for her book in stores early 2005.

People who love to obsess over things are natural bloggers. Not just because they will blog every day and sometimes multiple times per day, but also because they like to tweak, change, edit, redesign, add, remove, and fiddle around with their archives, profile, settings, template, etc. So if you are strange, and you have things to tell people about, or even if you don't, now's a good time to start a blog. You'll thank me later when you sign that book deal. Maybe something along the lines of "This book is dedicated to Biz."