Blogging a Book
As I mentioned yesterday, on July 9 the San Diego Union Tribune published an article by Bruce Bigelow called Dr. Beyster's book (Or: How SAIC's founder stopped worrying about publicity and learned to love the blog).
No kidding, that's the actual title. Being a die-hard Dr. Strangelove fan, I adore it. And I don't just like the article because I'm quoted in it. (But thanks, Bruce!)
Anyway, this article is about how J. Robert Beyster, founder of one of the major super-spooky defense/intelligence contractors, SAIC, is using a blog to support/enhance the process of writing a book about the evolution of that employee-owned company. This is rather like what what Robert Scoble and Shel Israel did for Naked Conversations, and what I'm doing for my book on conversational media. But it's very nice to see someone from outside the tight, incestuous community of online-media professionals trying this strategy.
But it makes a lot of sense...
Bigelow wrote:
"As a one-time nuclear-weapons scientist who spent much of his career involved in classified programs, Beyster usually shuns publicity. So the fact that his latest venture is intended for a mass audience must pose some contradictory impulses for Beyster... He is using an online journal, or blog, to solicit comments from current and former employees about the key developments that helped SAIC succeed. Then he is using material raised in the dialogue to help shape his book.
“'My original plan was to send out e-mails to people I knew,' Beyster wrote in an e-mail about the project. 'But the public blog has attracted responses from people I would not have approached otherwise. It has expanded the universe of people involved in the dialogue on the project.'"
See, that's what's so cool. The writing of any nonfiction book -- and many works of fiction, too -- has always involved significant behind-the-scenes discussion. But if the discussion is so juicy, why leave it behind the scenes? Why not leverage it to build "Prue-buzz" about the book, as well as enhance the quality of content?
I don't know how common this strategy is for book authors yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was becoming more popular. And not just for books, but for documentaries or any research-based project. Especially projects where the primary intended audience/community lies in the Long Tail (another blog on the way to a book).
Buster's project will be one to watch.
What other examples of book/project blogging have you seen? Please comment below with examples and links. And if anyone has relevant research or statistics, please chime in as well.
I am experimenting with publishing a novel I've written, in blog form at http://www.ohouse.ca/index.php/category/novel-stonyfields/ . I'm a professional writer and editor, and have had short stories published, but this novel was rejected by all the Canadian publishers I sent it to. Yet some writer colleagues across the country read the manuscript and said they enjoyed it, so I'm wondering if others will as well. I'd be interested in hearing about other writers' and readers' experiences with online novels!
Posted by: Gloria Hildebrandt | July 11, 2006 at 07:11 AM
I'm also blogging a book, and it is very definitely in the long tail. I'm creating a book on how to use BPMN - the new business process modeling standard that is out there, and woefully underrepresented in the technical-book world.
What I like best about this approach is that the articles are all discrete tutorial posts, and are freely available, so students and moonlighters can learn this stuff on the side or as we go. And once the search engines rank us respectably, more people will get the value of the content for free.
People who want more, and want it organized, and want it bound in a book will have that option too, while people for whom cost is an issue, the bulk of the content will be freely available.
It also provides us with great feedback (public and private), some visibility, and a motivation to keep writing that I wouldn't have with a nebulous "book deadline" in the distant future.
To date, we have 20 articles posted, and that number will double or triple before we reach critical mass.
All of the articles get tagged with the same category (linked to my name above), and the articles are interspersed with our regular posts - making up a little under half of the ongoing content.
The articles also all start with the same preamble - to establish context for search-engine-driven visitors - and cross-links across the articles where appropriate.
On the blog, I have not (yet) mentioned that this content is going to be a book - guess I'm outing myself now.
Do you think it's a bad idea or good idea to mention that this stuff will show up in a book eventually?
If there's any other data that would help you with your research, PM me and I'd be happy to share.
Scott
Posted by: Scott Sehlhorst | September 10, 2006 at 01:40 PM