The Truth About Blog-to-Book Deals

Authors and publishers reveal what the headlines won't tell you about pitching your blog for a book deal

By Katie Bunker - March 29, 2010

After the movie Julie and Julia was released, writers everywhere started turning to the blogosphere with hopes that their hard work online would result in a deal with a major publishing house. Approximately 60 blog-to-book titles were acquired by publishers in 2009, said Patrick Mulligan, senior editor at Penguin Group's Gotham Books, the publisher of the blog-to-book titles I Can Has Cheezburger? A LOLcat Colleckshun; The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human; and Texts From Last Night: All the Texts No One Remembers Sending. Mulligan personally selected and published only two of the estimated 60 to 80 blog submissions he received that year, and in just the first few months of 2010, he has received -- and passed on -- more than a dozen pitches for the burgeoning genre. It seems that everyone who aspires to publish their own story thinks a blog is the way to do it.

But what headlines like this one and this one, and this one, don't tell you is that convincing a large publishing house or an agent of your work doesn't become easier simply because you can blog. Before branding your own dot-com, here are some realisms to consider....