Warning: Opinions

I've been reading about all the bloggers with book deals. On the one hand I think, how cool is that? Talent gets recognized and rewarded and the world is a better place. On the other hand I think, would I pay to read their book when I can read their blog for free? I am skeptical that I would. In general I'm not a fan of the memoir genre; there's no suspense. With a blog, it's instant gratification... dragged out and out and out. Like an Advent Calendar, without the Christian sensibility. If you bundle it up and make it pretty, it doesn't change that I'm reading two-hundred pages about an average person. If I'm going to take the trouble to read a memoir, that person better be pretty damned fascinating.

On the third and final hand -- because I'm not limited by petty things like physiology -- I support bloggers who step outside their genre and go for broke. I might pay to read their fiction -- if it's the stick-to-your-ribs kind. But I definitely won't pay for a trade paperback that consists entirely of blog archives printed on slick paper. Hell, I've got access to a laser printer and Kinko's. What's to stop me from publishing their book myself?

I've read too many articles where it's all treated like a tongue-in-cheek fad. I want them to sell lots of books. I want to buy their books and like them, but I don't think I can. In my bones I believe that translating the ephemeral nature of a blog to book form is cheating.

Then again, maybe I only feel that way because I don't have a book deal.