Funny story in the NY Times this morning. Why blog? Reason No. 92: Book Deal written by Allen Salkin.
This is how it happens.
A guy starts a clever blog in January and calls it Stuff White People Like. The site contains a list of cultural totems, including gifted children, marathons and writers’ workshops, that a certain type of moneyed and liberal American might be expected to like.
Then the guy, the guy that's writing the blog, gets a book deal.
And it's a deal for $300,000 according to someone who's familiar with the terms of the deal but not authorized to disclose them... but generously shared their time in discussing with a reporter from the NY Times what they weren't authorized to discuss...Perhaps it was someone from the publisher who wasn't authorized to discuss it ON the record ... but who maybe was authorized to discuss it OFF the record so as to maximize the tittilation, aka stealth buzz factor...
Maybe. Back to the story.
One person was amazed the author was able to get such a deal when the same thing, a goof of us white people's persuasions, was made into a movie in 1985. ( It was good, not epic, like this book will be.)
Ah yes. 1985. Pre-internet. Pre-blogs, Pre-netflix, pre-youtube and social media, pre-rss and podcasts. It's all changed now. Not really. Different media, same persuasion.
Those who saw the movie will likely not buy this book and vice versa. Hence, a $300,000 book deal, maybe. ( We're not authorized to discuss this except with reporters for the NY Times...it's very hush-hush, see.)
Now if we haven't had enough fun with this...consider this thought:
The outcry over Mr. Lander’s book deal suggests the trend that has been building for a half decade may have finally reached apogee.
Not hardly. Look at Facebook. No content of its own (other than the means to monitor its members activity....), just a place for people to meet. No revenue of its own, just what its advertisers share with it. Or vice versa. And presto, bingo, a multi-billion dollar company.
Maybe this blogger's book deal, whatever the amount, is a sign that trickle-down economics really works. And if someone from FaceBook wants to trickle down a mere smattering over here, I'm ok with being a copycat blogger author. $300,000 is 300,000 reasons to keep blogging. And I'm sure every other blogger feels the same way.
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