Am I insane?

shuffles03

Am I insane to think that my 90,000 word (so far) blog could ever become a book? I ask because friends and family are constantly nagging me to get a real job. They don't seem to get it. They don't seem to see the potential even though it's gaining traction every time I post. Just wondering if there's anyone else in this situation. Basically, I was away for the past year. I kept a journal (an amusing look at travel) and have started a blog in the last two weeks. I should have all my writing done by or just after christmas as I'm well over halfway through although with the constant sighing I hear all around me, I sometimes think that maybe I should just pack it in. Has anyone been in this position before? With everyone connected to a device of some sort nowadays, people just assume that when you're on your computer, you're just on Facebook and Twitter. They don't realise that you could actually be doing something extremely productive that may have potential to go further. Anyway, rant over. I suppose I'm just having one of those writing days where you feel inadequate.

EileenG

What do you blog? Is it possible to turn it into a book?

baalthor

Twenty Major and the Secret Copper were turned into books. But they were massively popular on the internet back in the day when blogs were a really big deal ...

shuffles03

It's a travel blog written in a completely different way. Everyone I've come across over the past year that has seen snippets said they would buy it in an instant if it was on a bookshelf. I've had the same response since I created the wordpress blog two weeks ago and have gained a shed load of followers and two blogger awards. Maybe it's just the usual family ****e. You know, you must be out of the house for eight hours a day wearing a tie to constitute it being a real job.

I'd put a link to it here although I'm not sure if it's against boards rules. I think it is. It's really a book I've written but I've presented it in blog form ie each chapter is a different post to see if it would gain traction.

shuffles03

It's called, "Feck This Sh1t I'm Outta Here - The Ramblings Of An Irish Manboy On His Journey Across The Globe"

If anyone's interested in having a read, I'd love to hear your feedback. The '1' in 'Sh1t' is obviously meant to be an 'i' but I can't post that word on boards. So, the address is: www. feck this sh1t.com (with an 'i', can't post the address in it's normality as it gets blurred out).

Cheers.

My first question is to ask why anyone would pay for something like the book-version of a blog when the blog is freely available?

endacl

shuffles03 wrote: »

Am I insane to think that my 90,000 word (so far) blog could ever become a book? I ask because friends and family are constantly nagging me to get a real job. They don't seem to get it. They don't seem to see the potential even though it's gaining traction every time I post. Just wondering if there's anyone else in this situation. Basically, I was away for the past year. I kept a journal (an amusing look at travel) and have started a blog in the last two weeks. I should have all my writing done by or just after christmas as I'm well over halfway through although with the constant sighing I hear all around me, I sometimes think that maybe I should just pack it in. Has anyone been in this position before? With everyone connected to a device of some sort nowadays, people just assume that when you're on your computer, you're just on Facebook and Twitter. They don't realise that you could actually be doing something extremely productive that may have potential to go further. Anyway, rant over. I suppose I'm just having one of those writing days where you feel inadequate.

Chuck in the odd paragraph and I'm sure you'd be in with a shout.

shuffles03

Deleted User wrote: »

My first question is to ask why anyone would pay for something like the book-version of a blog when the blog is freely available?

Fair point. I suppose, however large a blog following there might be, it would always pale in comparison to offline readers. Since receiving all the positive feedback, I have thought about deleting the blog and finishing it offline.

shuffles03

I can pm a link to anyone that's interested in having a quick glance.

pickarooney

There's a thread here specifically for pimping blogs. Feel free to put it in there.

shuffles03

pickarooney wrote: »

There's a thread here specifically for pimping blogs. Feel free to put it in there.

Cheers for that, that would probably be the best place to get some advice. Feel free to delete this thread so. Oh yeah, I sent you a pm about my blog link - I'm having trouble making it work properly. The details are in the pm.

Cheers again.

shuffles03

Feel free to delete this thread mods, I found the creative writing blog thread. Cheers!

EileenG

I had a very quick look.

My impression from about ten minutes of reading is that you would need to polish it a lot before you could publish as a book. And yes, please heed the previous comment about paragraphs.

shuffles03

EileenG wrote: »

I had a very quick look.

My impression from about ten minutes of reading is that you would need to polish it a lot before you could publish as a book. And yes, please heed the previous comment about paragraphs.

Cheers. Yeah, my blog template is making a balls of displaying paragraphs properly. I've added loads but it barely indents a new paragraph making it unnoticeable. I've found a bit of html that would allow me to add ......... in between paragraphs breaking it up. Cheers for the response.

shuffles03

I'm uploading a new post at the moment and I'll throw in the new ........ format. I'd be interested to know what you think of it. Hold on......

shuffles03

EileenG wrote: »

I had a very quick look.

My impression from about ten minutes of reading is that you would need to polish it a lot before you could publish as a book. And yes, please heed the previous comment about paragraphs.

Hi Eileen, I just uploaded a new post called 'Caged Animals' with a new paragraph styling. Does this look better?

OU812

Put some Adsense code in & make some (a little until word spreads) money that way.

Also hold back on some stuff so that if you do publish you have some alternative content. Actually do that both ways.

If the family want you to leave the house, do. Get up in the morning, get dressed & Go to a mate's or the library. Your "office".

At least give yourself enough time to finish before lookin for a job & then see how it goes

shuffles03

OU812 wrote: »

Put some Adsense code in & make some (a little until word spreads) money that way.

Also hold back on some stuff so that if you do publish you have some alternative content. Actually do that both ways.

If the family want you to leave the house, do. Get up in the morning, get dressed & Go to a mate's or the library. Your "office".

At least give yourself enough time to finish before lookin for a job & then see how it goes

That's literally my plan. I've calculated that by writing a new post each day I should be finished around Christmas. My main argument was that if I got a job now, I'd never finish my story so I really want to finish it first. I'm a glass half full kind of person but even I know that the chances of ever being published are extremely slim but screw it, you have to give it a go. And sure if all else fails, I'll have written a draft of a book which I would consider to be a bit of an accomplishment.

Do you know how many page views you're getting each month? I would imagine that with regards to getting a blog published, it would be a good idea for it to be popular first.

shuffles03

It's only up two weeks so I'm getting around 200 page views a day so far. Just passed the 200 followers mark yesterday. I've got over 60 posts ready to be uploaded so I'm currently feeding them in one at a time each day whilst writing new ones as well.

shuffles03

Ok, I'm coming close to finishing my book but I'm not sure who I should begin to contact with regard to publishing. Should I be focusing on finding an agent or finding a publisher and which publishers would be best suited towards comedy travel in Ireland?

I've compiled a short list of agents and publishers that I think might be relevant to the style of my book:

Agents:

Marianne Gunn O’Connor Literacy Agency
Font International
Jonathan Williams Literacy Agency
The Book Bureau Literacy Agency

Publishers:

Ashfield Press
Blackstaff Press
Brandon/Mount Eagle Publications
The Collins Press
Currach Press
Guildhall Press
The Liffey Press Limited
Mercier Press
Merlin Publishing
The O’Brien Press Limited
Onstream Publications
Penguin Ireland
Phaeton Publishing
Poolbeg Press
The Stinging Fly Press
Yes! Publications

Am I on the right track or have I veered madly off the side? Also, should I be focusing on trying to secure an agent first or publisher and when submitting based on the publishers/agents guidelines, should I contact one at a time and wait until I hear a response or contact as many as possible?

Cheers in advance for anyone that can shed a bit of light.

OU812

Find some Authors in your genre, contact them & ask their advice (don't give them anything).

I presume you've registered proof of concept?

shuffles03

Will do. I haven't registered for Proof Of Concept. What are the steps involved? I've prepared an exert for Penguin Ireland based on their submission requirements.

EileenG

You don't need an agent, Irish publishers accept direct subs.

It looks to me as if you just made a list of all the Irish publishers, I know some of them are not interested in what you are proposing. Go onto their websites and look at what they are actually publishing before you submit.

And finish the damn book, then go back and edit, edit, edit.

Toasterspark

EileenG wrote: »

And finish the damn book, then go back and edit, edit, edit.

This, a million times this. You're no good to anyone if you haven't a finished product.

Dave_The_Sheep

Personally, from read the last few posts on the blog, I'd hope the writing quality is a lot higher in the book. Then again, it doesn't matter, because I won't be getting it based on what I read. Maybe it's just not my scene.

Maybe you should listen to your family. I'm guessing they care about you a lot.

shuffles03

When I said I was nearly finished the book, I meant that my writing was already finished and I'm in the process of editing. I'm not going to be sending anything off until I'm positive it's polished. I'm just trying to gather information for the next process.

shuffles03

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Personally, from read the last few posts on the blog, I'd hope the writing quality is a lot higher in the book. Then again, it doesn't matter, because I won't be getting it based on what I read. Maybe it's just not my scene.

Maybe you should listen to your family. I'm guessing they care about you a lot.

You're possibly right. I'll still give it a go though. Was there anything in particular you didn't like?

OU812

shuffles03 wrote: »

Will do. I haven't registered for Proof Of Concept. What are the steps involved? I've prepared an exert for Penguin Ireland based on their submission requirements.

www.digiprove.ie Register a copy there.

Shinaynay

shuffles03 wrote: »

It's a travel blog written in a completely different way. Everyone I've come across over the past year that has seen snippets said they would buy it in an instant if it was on a bookshelf. I've had the same response since I created the wordpress blog two weeks ago and have gained a shed load of followers and two blogger awards. Maybe it's just the usual family ****e. You know, you must be out of the house for eight hours a day wearing a tie to constitute it being a real job.

I'd put a link to it here although I'm not sure if it's against boards rules. I think it is. It's really a book I've written but I've presented it in blog form ie each chapter is a different post to see if it would gain traction.

i would consider "a real job" one in which you get paid. So untill that happens your family/friends will not look at what youre doing as a job.

hoppway

:cool:I don't know if you're insane, and I don't know if it matters if you are. Your story is your story. Where are the blogs? I'd like to read some of them.