Blooks

A few months back I wrote some comments on papercasting, the idea of turning blogs into books. Well it looks like these works are set to be called blooks and there is an award, the blooker (sponsored by lulu.com) for new authors in this field.

Like Booksquare, I’m not fond of the word blook (in part because it seems impossible to pronounce with any grace). Moreover, I’m a little concerned that this lulu-sponsored award could breed cyncism about the blog-to-book phenomenon, even beforeit has really flourished (as evident in this WSJ piece).

But, on the other hand the blookosphere already has a major hit on its hands, with the book version of the fabulous Baghdad Burning blog being nominated for the prestigious Samuel Johnson award. That is the sort of breakthrough that shoudl remind everyone how many great writing voices remain untapped by conventional publishers and book agents.

[tags] Blook, Blooker, Papercasting, Publishing [/tags]