First off: HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone this 2016 and OH GOD IT'S AN ELECTION YEAR THE MADNESS IS GONNA GET WORSE. There, got that out of the way. I can write about that in greater detail as the chaos deepens.
Moving on...
One idea that's gotten into my head is putting together a set of the blog articles I've written on this site and getting it published in print form.
The practical reasons aren't entirely there, if I have to argue against this idea. I've developed a bit of a readership - Hi, everybody! - but it's not like there's a clamor for me to get something wrapped up in a book with a nice hardcover and a fresh off-the-press scent.
In terms of marketability, I'm not entirely credible as an expert on some of the political and social issues I discuss here. It's not like I'm a PhD in Public Administration or a constant presence on a cable channel talk show. Anything I have as 'experience' is a degree in Journalism (just not a career in it), and eight years worth of ranting on a blog with about 1500 views a month on average (unless Crooks and Liars promotes an article on the Mike's Blog Round-Up, which bumps up the monthly stats to about 3500, which is why I'm always ever so grateful). It's not exactly something to burnish as credentials to get a book like this on a Barnes & Noble store shelf.
One idea I've been having is taking the articles I've written about Obama's tenure as President - during which most of my blogging's been done - and putting them together as a sort of pro-Obama critique of his administration. One of the things that keeps bothering me at the library are all these anti-Obama diatribes getting shelved and checked out. I can count on one hand the number of pro-Obama books I've come across. I just feel there's a need for a book that would point out the positives of the presidency and the follies/fallacies - my Shoelace Hypothesis - of the haters.
I could focus on just the overall craziness of the American political landscape. One of those "this is what the nation was like, future generations" diaries that were so popular in the 19th Century. Only with more profanity.
(The real reason I'm thinking of this is because I overpurchased a Print-on-Demand book service about 10 years ago, it's still sitting there, and I really want to get that taken care of as quickly and without consuming any more time away from other projects as possible)
I dunno. To the seven regular readers of this blog, is any of this a good idea? You think this has merit? Leave a comment please.
4 comments:
"It's not like I'm a PhD in Public Administration or a constant presence on a cable channel talk show."
John Greer doesn't have those credentials either, yet he has a profitable book career based on collecting the posts on his blog and his credential is that he's an Archdruid. Yes, really.
well, if he's certified as an Archdruid then he's perfectly capable of publishing to that niche market, right?
I just looked up Greer's publications. He's actually prolific on a lot of non-fiction topics for more than a decade, and he's received favorable reviews from a good number of journals that libraries use for collection development - Booklist, Library Journal, etc. So he can get away with publishing his blog articles.
So I went and transferred the blog articles I wrote on Obama and on my "Shoelace Hypothesis" (although I should transfer that over to "Theory" instead now that it's been proved), and unedited the articles tally up to around 238 pages in OpenOffice Writer. Edited, well, oy... that will take some time.
Post a Comment