Want to write a book? Start a blog.

That’s been the theme on THIS blog for quite a while. With blogging, you no longer have to pursue the horrid never-ending hassle of sending out query letters and proposals — you wait for publishers to come to you.

(I say “horrid” because it is: YOU don’t want to send out queries etc, and publishers and agents don’t want them either — they know they have a better chance of hitting the lottery than of finding anything of value in the slush pile.)

From Blog to Print, Laughing All the Way to the Bank – NYTimes.com reports:

“Mr. Birmingham started Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves in early January, uploaded the first entry and asked readers to contribute. Within days, visitors were supplying him with snapshots of bulldogs in bunny costumes and cats wearing wigs. The blogosphere noticed — and so did the publishing world. Within a week, he was contacted by editors and literary agents. By the second month, he said, he had sold a book based on the photos to Three Rivers Press, an imprint at Crown Publishing Group, for ‘enough money to buy a Lincoln Town Car’ — with change left over. “

Here’s the big benefit of blogging: if it’s a great book idea, people (readers and publishers) notice. If the idea stinks, it’s better you should find out now, and not after you’ve wasted three years of your life on it.

So, if you want to write a book, do it on a blog.

Get the writing success you deserve by taking the first steps into the new world for writers: instant publishing on blogs

Want to build an amazing writing career? You can.

“Writing Success With Blogs by Angela Booth” includes an hour of FREE email coaching with me with purchase; this is a $300 value. I want you to blog with style and confidence, and get the top blog jobs.

Discover what, how, when, where and why you should blog for writing success. Get started blogging, today, and watch your writing career take off.

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Got a totally mad idea? Your creativity may land you in big-bucks country.

Zombie Mash-up Lands Author Six-Figure Deal – 4/9/2009 8:24:00 AM – Publishers Weekly reports:

“Seth Grahame-Smith’s surprise hit from Quirk Books, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, may have been launched as something of a lark, but that hasn’t stopped its author from landing a major deal. Grand Central Press editor Ben Greenberg has just inked a two-book deal with Grahame-Smith for a rumored $575,000; Grahame-Smith’s first book for GCP, which currently has no pub date, will be Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. (A rep from GCP would not comment on the size of the advance.)”

Now, lemme see…

Pride and Prejudice and Guppies

Pride and Prejudice and One Million Dalmations

Pride and Prejudice Lands on the Moon

Pride and Prejudice Rules for Marriage and Life…

(Feel free to steal any of the above. )

When publishers put their heads in the sand and refuse to see that the publishing industry is in trouble, you pray for visionaries to arrive and save the industry.

Perhaps Bradley Inman’s idea of a digital book, combined with video, and Twitter may save the industry.

Slipstream – It’s a Digital Book, and a Video, and a … – NYTimes.com reports:

“‘We think there’s a real urgency in publishing to innovate with new kinds of content,’ he says.

Vook tries to address a big problem for book publishers as they expand onto digital formats. For all the hype and initial success of devices like the Kindle, they threaten to strip traditional books of much of their transportive appeal. Images on the jacket cover, inviting fonts and the satisfying feel of quality paper are all largely absent, replaced by humdrum pixels on a virtual page.”

Read the entire article — and start thinking about how YOUR book can make the switch to the digital age. It’s time to be where the readers are.