While some blogs are calculated toward making an online profit, others are created to amuse and enlighten. The top blogs in the latter category have a chance of reaching the ultimate blogger goal - the book deal.
Getting the Big Book Deal
Sites that feature large, telling pictures along with humorous commentary are often the ones that get noticed by major publishing houses. One of the biggest blog book stories has been Stuff White People Like. The blog grabbed not only the attention of the public; it got enough notice from Random House that the blogger was given a $350,000 advance for the book based on it.
"Passive Aggressive Notes" is a popular blog made up entirely of humorous notes that readers send in. The notes are taped to walls, found in workplaces and circulated in emails. Sometimes they are found on Facebook. What they all have in common is an aggressive need to tell others what to do or point out faults and to be polite at the same time. The book version of the blog has earned the blogger a six-figure advance.
"Postcards From Yo Momma" features short notes that people receive from their mothers. The notes are unintentionally humorous on the part of the mothers but the readers of the blogs can laugh at the strange, quirky notes that mothers send their children. The blogger has not revealed how much the advance was but admits that it was "comfortable."
Cake Wrecks is a blog that features exactly what the name implies- truly awful cakes. While that may not sound appealing, the pictures of ugly cakes and the witty commentary have made it extremely popular. The blogger has now attracted a book deal and will showcase in print some of the worst cakes imaginable. This book deal was more than just one publisher that came knocking- several publishers bid for the rights to the print version of Cake Wrecks.
"The Julie/Julia Project" was a blog that began as one woman's personal goal to cook hundreds of Julia Child recipes and to keep a blog about it for one year. The resulting blog attracted so much attention that the blogger not only got a book deal, she also sold the rights to a movie version of the blog. The film version of the blog will star Meryl Streep.
Why Blogs Get Book Deals
All of these blogs began as small, personal blogs that the blogger began because of a love of the subject matter. Any blogger who begins a blog that will entertain and amuse the public has a chance to get a book deal. Bloggers who start a blog to make money blogging are generally not as successful as those who start one because of a passion for the subject matter. The main components of the blogs that get book deals are amusing pictures that are funny by themselves and a blogger's personality that is the driving force behind the blog.
This personality is what ties all of the pictures and comments together to make the blog something that will appeal to the largest audiences.
