Monday, January 13, 2014
Thoughts on Blogging a Book Part 1
Can I blog a book? I suspect that after the next few months, I will have plenty of material.
I think about people like Julie Powell, who turned her blog about trying to cook every recipe in a Julia Child cookbook into a book, and a movie.
Last year, I took a book out of the library called "How to Blog a Book" by Nina Amir. This blogger took one of her blogs and turned it into a book.
The book is a step-by-step guide showing just how she did this.
Recently, I blogged about meeting a local author at a farmer's market. (She was at the January 4 market, too, so she must be having some success at selling her book there.)
There are several things that scare me to death about the possibility of trying to write and publish a book. The writing part isn't bad. The after-writing part is. The editing part scares me because I know I will have to have it done professionally. The beta reader/people giving me honest reviews part scares me because I have too thin of a skin (and I know I have to build the tough as leather skin up soon to survive) but that kind of scared isn't like the terror to follow. The having-to-promote-it-by getting out into public and - gulp, talking to people terror. People who aren't introverted (on an introvert scale of one to 10 I am a solid 10) might not understand this.
I would rather undergo a wisdom tooth extraction (which I have before, and have to again in the near future, so I don't say this lightly) than meet people and try to sell them something. Or worse, sitting in a bookstore or - a farmers market? - and no one stops. That's even worse.
Rejection is part of an author's life, too. Who wants to be rejected? We all want to be loved, right? But we can't be loved by all of the people all of the time (with apologies to Abraham Lincoln). I've certainly learned that in 61 years of living.
More thoughts about this later in the week.
4 comments:
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I feel like you just have to satisfy who you can. There is no satisfying everyone all the time.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can blog a book!
ReplyDeleteBeta readers can be a mixed bag. Some can be quite harsh and straightforward. Others are more gentle. You can find beta readers that match your personality.
I saw Peter S. Beagle on a promotional tour for the re-release of his book The Last Unicorn and showings of the redone version of the animated film that was made for it. Mr. Beagle seems to like people, but I think he gets easily overwhelmed. He had a friend along with him who is very outgoing and loves to talk to anybody, any time. When you get ready to do your Farmer's Market or other promo with your book, maybe you have an outgoing friend who can go with you? I'm sort of in the middle. I can force myself to be outgoing for short periods of time, and then I need to go back to my cave!
I blogged a book (and then turned the blogs into a book!) last year and it was one of the most fun experiences I've had creatively. I say do it!
ReplyDeleteI'm an introvert who likes to be around people, but I couldn't sell much of anything. I think it's really challenging to put yourself out there. Maybe you should start your book under a pseudonym and decide before publishing if you want to use your real name or not.
ReplyDeleteBut I hope you will write that book!