Blooks are the new books,
a hybrid literary form at the cutting edge
of both literature and technology.
(Bob Young, founder of the print-on-demand publisher Lulu, 2006)
Back in 2006, a phenomenon made its way from the depths of the World Wide Web into the newspapers: the so-called „blook“, a portmanteau word composed of the words „book“ and „(we)blog“, meaning a book written on the basis of a blog. The media were excited about these new kinds of books and looked to Japan, where blooks were already bestsellers. „Blook“ even made it into the shortlist of words that were considered to be included in the new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 (Philipps 2006). If you search for „blook“ on Google in 2010, you are in most cases directed to archives and it will not take you long to find out that blooks have virtually disappeared from the Web. Despite the fact that weblogs keep thriving, blooks seem to be forgotten.
Considering this, it is not surprising to find out that no research has been done on blooks, while weblogs have been a subject of research since 2005. Research on weblogs often concentrates on how they changed journalism and communication in general, but never mentions the medium of blooks. Jenna L. Brinning and Jill Walker Rettberg gave good overviews of web-publishing and blogging, with Brinning stressing Habermas' “Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit” with regard to the opportunities of the Web and Rettberg taking into consideration the rise of “citizen journalism”.
This paper will try to find out what happened to blooks not only by examining this medium, but also by taking a look at its origins. The first chapter will deal with the definition of blooks as well as with the history of the so-called “blogosphere” from which the blook emerged. The second chapter will present some successful examples of blooks, show the diversity of subjects they deal with and analyze the reasons for their popularity. Chapter three will focus on marketing strategies and the overall reception of blooks by taking a look at the media coverage and an award especially invented for this genre. The last two chapters will then compare blooks to traditional narratives and eventually draw a conclusion concerning the development of blooks and their potential for success.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Emergence of Blooks
2.1 Definition of the Term “Blook”
2.2 Definition of the Term “Weblog”
2.3 The History of Weblogs
2.4 Different Kinds of Blogs
2.5 The Blogosphere
3. Examples of Blooks
3.1 The Pioneer: Tony Pierce, The History of Blooks
3.2 The Japanese: Nakano Hitori, Train Man & Kazuma, Demon Wife
3.3 The Self-Publisher: Tom Evslin, Hackoff.com
3.4 The Housewife: Julie Powell, Julie and Julia
4. Marketing and Public Reception
4.1 The Blooker Prize
4.2 Press Coverage
5. Different Forms of Narratives
6. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Topics
This paper examines the emergence, development, and eventual decline of the "blook"—a hybrid literary form combining blog content and traditional book publishing—by analyzing its origins in the blogosphere, representative examples, and reception by mainstream media.
- The evolution of the "blogosphere" and its technical and social characteristics.
- Case studies of successful and unsuccessful blooks from various cultural contexts.
- The impact of marketing strategies, such as the Blooker Prize, on public reception.
- A critical comparison between episodic blog narratives and traditional linear book narratives.
- The challenges of transitioning from ephemeral, web-based formats to permanent print media.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 The Pioneer: Tony Pierce, The History of Blooks
As the title and author of the first blook ever published already suggest, the history of blooks starts with the blogger Tony Pierce. In 2002 he held a contest to find a title for his first book based on his blog busblog.com. During this contest, the American journalist and blogger Jeff Jarvis created the word “blook”, which Pierce eventually chose for his compilation of blog posts. The History of Blooks was followed by two more blooks: How to Blog and Stiff, both being equally collections of posts published on busblog.com (Pierce 2005, Maxwell 2006).
Tony Pierce's blog, which today is called tony pierce dot com + busblog: the number 2010 Tony, was and still is a personal and a filter blog one half each. The author writes about his personal life and he presents interesting links or videos he found on the Web. In doing so, Pierce is not confined to a particular topic, but his posts deal with almost every aspect of his personal life and reflect his view of the Web without restrictions. Therefore, Pierce's everyday life within and without the Internet does not follow a certain pattern and is not aimed at some particular goal. His blog is just a kind of stock-check, a momentary glimpse on the Web and his life, in which the present tense is primarily valued. This is a characteristic, Rettberg mentions for blogs in general, but it becomes particularly obvious in Pierce's blog (Rettberg 2009: 65). It is all the more surprising, that Pierce was the one to invent the blook and commit his “snap-shots” to paper.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: This chapter defines the "blook" phenomenon as a hybrid of blogs and books and outlines the research objective to investigate their origins and failure to establish a long-term presence.
2. The Emergence of Blooks: This section explores the roots of blooks by defining blogs, tracing their history, and analyzing the "blogosphere" as the environment from which these hybrid texts emerged.
3. Examples of Blooks: This chapter presents chronological case studies, including works by Tony Pierce, Japanese examples like Train Man, and projects by Tom Evslin and Julie Powell, to illustrate diverse approaches to blook publishing.
4. Marketing and Public Reception: This chapter analyzes how marketing initiatives like the Blooker Prize and media coverage initially propelled the blook into the public eye, only to experience a rapid decline in interest.
5. Different Forms of Narratives: This section compares the episodic structure of blog content with the linear, goal-oriented narrative demands of traditional books, highlighting fundamental structural conflicts.
6. Conclusion: The final chapter synthesizes the findings, concluding that the hybrid nature of blooks proved to be a disadvantage, as the episodic nature of weblogs failed to translate successfully into the permanence of print.
Keywords
Blook, Weblog, Blogosphere, Print-on-demand, Narrative structure, Episodic writing, Blooker Prize, Digital literature, Intermediality, Publishing, Online diary, Media reception, Content serialization, Hybrid form, Long-tail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on the phenomenon of "blooks"—books derived from weblogs—investigating why they emerged, how they were marketed, and why they ultimately failed to become a sustainable new literary genre in Western culture.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
Central themes include the evolution of weblogging, the transition of content from digital screens to printed pages, the role of community in shaping narratives, and the impact of mass media on digital trends.
What is the main objective of the study?
The objective is to understand what happened to the "blook" trend by examining its origins and analyzing the structural and narrative flaws inherent in transforming blog posts into traditional books.
Which scientific methodology is utilized?
The author employs a combination of media analysis, historical context tracking of the blogosphere, and a comparative narrative analysis between blog-based texts and traditional literary forms like novels.
What does the main body of the text cover?
The main body covers definitions of technical terms, a history of weblogs, detailed case studies of various authors and their blooks, an analysis of marketing and press coverage, and a comparison of narrative structures.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Blook, Weblog, Blogosphere, Narrative structure, Intermediality, and Publishing.
Why does the author argue that the "blook" failed as a format?
The author argues that blogs are inherently episodic, reactive, and designed for "scanning and skimming," which conflicts with the reader's expectation of a cohesive, linear narrative when reading a printed book.
How did the Blooker Prize influence the development of this trend?
The Blooker Prize helped draw mainstream media attention to the phenomenon and validated individual bloggers as authors, though the subsequent lack of award continuity after 2007 signaled the decline of the trend.
In what way does the Japanese context differ from the Western experience?
In Japan, blogs such as Train Man became huge successes by leveraging community-driven narratives that already possessed a dramatic arc, whereas many Western examples simply "shoveled" existing, loosely connected blog posts onto paper.
What role does "intermediality" play in this study?
Intermediality describes the crossing of boundaries between the internet and the printed book, a process the author identifies as a defining, yet problematic, aspect of the blook's hybrid identity.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Stephanie Lange (Autor:in), 2010, Blooks - The New Books?, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/171422
