It\u2019s Christmas morning. I didn\u2019t expect to give you a blog today\u2014thought I\u2019d be too busy. But Lily (my cat) and I woke up early (must have heard the tiny reindeer hooves outside the window), so I have time to write this before heading over to my family\u2019s house with my homemade cinnamon rolls.<\/p>\n
I want to write this morning about the prospect of having your blog noticed by a publisher. I hear over and over that publishers keep an eye out for interesting blogs that would make good books and are actually offering contracts to bloggers. That\u2019s what I keep hearing.<\/p>\n
Last night I finished reading a book I got as an early Christmas present. It\u2019s The Daily Coyote<\/em> by Shreve Stockton. It’s the story of how the author raised a 10-day old orphaned coyote successfully to adulthood. Charlie still lives with her and his best friend, Eli the cat, in Wyoming. It was toward the end of the book that I discovered Shreve was wooed by publishers who had stumbled upon her blog, The Daily Coyote<\/em>. Several of them offered her book deals. She chose to go with Simon and Schuster. <\/p>\n This morning, I attempted to locate some additional stories around the blogger becoming an author scenario. Here\u2019s what I found. The movie (and book) Julia and Julia started as a blog, as did the book Past Secrets, Stuff White People Like<\/em> and several food blogs. One blogger was approached by National Geographic with a book deal. She shopped her blog around and ended up choosing another publisher. <\/p>\n Food blogs are especially popular with publishers who are seeking new book projects.<\/p>\n Do you maintain an interesting blog? Are you getting the publicity that could put your blog in line with major publishers\u2019 radar? It wouldn\u2019t hurt to put more effort into your blog if you are, indeed, interested in finding a publisher\u2014or having a publisher find you.<\/p>\n So this is my big WOW holiday gift to you this year. Stop hiding away your wonderful story or book idea. Start blogging about it in an organized, interesting manner. As I said, reach out for publicity in all of the most obvious and not so obvious ways. If you truly do have a knack for writing and you have a good story, valuable information or a new twist on something we all enjoy reading about, you just may lure in a publisher.<\/p>\n In the meantime, if you actually have a book in mind, don\u2019t wait for a publisher to show up. Establish a blog and maintain it. But also get busy writing a book proposal. Flesh out your idea, reveal your marketing plan\u2026 Study the publishing industry. Evaluate publishers, select a few that are appropriate and go for the gold.<\/p>\n If you need help with your book proposal (most first-time authors do), consider signing up for my online book proposal course. http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/course_bookproposal.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n Merry Christmas Everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s Christmas morning. I didn\u2019t expect to give you a blog today\u2014thought I\u2019d be too busy. But Lily (my cat) and I woke up early (must have heard the tiny reindeer hooves outside the window), so I have time to write this before heading over to my family\u2019s house with my homemade cinnamon rolls. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t