How Blogs Give Non-fiction Books Happy Endings
Scott Keir
Saturday, 13 December 2008 19:14 UTC
From Booktrade.info recently, interesting article:
More and more non-fiction authors are creating dedicated book blogs to supplement published work
So blogs may be good for science book authors.
-
Replies
-
I’m not sure how much the continuation of a book online does add value. I’ve done it sometimes (for instance) with the website for my global warming book, but in my experience readers seem more interested in either linking to other books they might be interested, hence my involvement in the Popular Science website, or in more general writing by the same author, hence my writing blog.
Don’t get me wrong, I think an internet presence is very useful for any author, non-fiction or fiction, and I put a lot of effort into it with the blog and my personal website – but I think the least interesting online content is extensions of a book online.
Of course I could be wrong. Maybe it’s because I’m lazy, but when a book announces ‘find the latest about this subject here online’ I can’t be bothered to follow it up – I’m already onto reading the next book. Could just be my butterfly mind, though.
-
Just had a look at your Global Warming site, Brian and while it is very impressive, I’m wondering if Gladwell’s might encourage more interaction (in part because of his topic). The section I came across recently was simply a blog which took a topic in the book, expanded it and then seemed to pass it over to readers to discuss – which many had taken up with enthusiasm.
It is perhaps an extension of what he does in Blink. I normally have the same attitude as you about website links in books (often they turn out to be out of date and not existing any more anyway) – but I remember coming across one in Blink which was a test for inherent racism. He confessed, surprisingly, that he hadn’t done too well and it made me want to see if I did any better (I didn’t – I got the same score as him). The whole thing really made me think and certainly enhanced my experience of reading his book.Paul Parsons, in ‘The Science of Dr Who’ also had links which were interesting – one was about Stairway to Heaven lyrics rumoured to be sounding like a demonic appeal if played backwards (illustrating the power of suggestion). I found this very interesting and certainly added to my experience of reading the book.
I suppose it depends on the topic of the book and some subjects will lend itself more to tests, quizzes and aural demonstrations than others.
-
I think there is an obvious market but mostly on group sites. The Freakanomics guys do well on the NYTimes and almost all the featured writers on scientificblogging.com are book authors first. A site for a book – or even a personal site – can look pretty desolate if it isn’t updated often but a group setting always has new content. So the miracle of compounding brings new readers and new articles add value to the audience but it isn’t a high pressure thing.
-
Clare – I’m not suggesting mine is a particularly good site, just that a very small percentage of readers ever go to such a site. I’d rather go to a blog (going back to Scott’s original post) that is interesting stuff by a book’s writer than a blog that’s just more of the same topic as the book.
-
I think we’ll have to agree to differ on this, Brian. My experience, as a reader, pretty much supports what’s been said in Scott’s post – a website dedicated to a book can enhance the experience of reading a book by giving an opportunity for discussion.
-
I’m probably the odd one, Clare – I read several books a week, and I’m usually skipping on to the next thing, rather than trying to get into more depth. I think that’s why I’m a writer, not a scientist!
-
Whereas I often take a week to read a whole book…and love to wallow in the thing…yes, maybe that’s the difference – although I consider myself a writer too.
-
I think there is room in moderation for online updates of a book – for example, one with multiple editions, to stay abreast between editions. Developmental Biology by Scott Gilbert comes straight to mind, but it’s a textbook, and the usefulness of the website is not in its blog format (although I am sure one could be incorporated, but I think Scott has his hands full).
-
