May 9, 2011

It's All About Popular

by Kristin Baker Przybyla

The other day the author of a blog I follow made the exciting announcement that she has a new book deal with Touchstone. Her blog is hysterical; she writes about life events and illustrates them, and her book will feature more of the same. It's the wacky drawings that bring her blog to life and make it so popular (over 52,000 followers, and 500 comments within the first half hour of her posting).

I couldn't help but suffer a stab of envy at this news. It reminded me of the scene in Julie and Julia, after food blogger Julie had been interviewed by--who was it, the New York Times? She found her answering machine filled with messages from agents and editors offering representation or a book deal. I sat there and ground my teeth during that scene, while my husband cracked up.

Sing it with me: Popular, it's all about popular! (My mom is taking us to see Wicked on Friday! That's a song from the show and it's stuck in my head right now, hee hee.)

Interesting how a bit of popularity makes you look more marketable to the publishing world, but who can blame them? With the staggering number of followers she's accumulated, the odds are good that her book will sell. I might even buy it, seriously. Her blog is funny enough that I look forward to every new post. (For those who are wondering, it's Hyperbole and a Half. Read her post about the Alot monster!)

It's all enough to make me want to start illustrating my blog posts, except obviously it's been done. And I don't have the hand for comic-strip type drawing. It's alright, though; I'm happy for her success, but it also thrills me that my own little blog has 24 followers. 24! Some of these people I don't even know! Every time I get a comment, I do a little dance. So remember that, friends, imagine me dancing in an extremely dorky fashion and then post a comment! It works for this blog, too.

After thinking about it, I realized I'm content with the traditional route of getting published: querying agents, consuming massive amounts of chocolate with each rejection, then dusting myself off and sending out another round of queries. I feel popular enough, and I'm sure I'll sell at least a few dozen books when I'm finally published! It might not be 52,000 right away, but I'll do a little dance with each and every sale.

10 comments:

  1. Kristen, I love you! I'm picturing you doing your little dance as you read my comment. lol...I look forward to your posts. thank you for bringing a smile to my face.
    hugs~

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  2. I did, Kari! I shook my booty! Hee hee

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  3. I gotta tell ya it's nice to know your responses get a response ha. Sometimes you just put it out there and wonder if anyone ever really notices. Glad to know you do.

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  4. Now *I* have that song in my head.

    As far as comments go, I'm with you, Kristin. I love getting comments. It's like a tiny stamp of validation. And, while I try not to get too attached to them, comments certainly are nice.

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  5. I'm starting to think it wasn't a great idea to entitle this post with the song title, because now I get it stuck in my head every time I get a comment! Hahaha

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  6. I am with you. I don't have to get rich (although who doesn't like $?). I just want to get my name in print someday.

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  7. Thanks Kristin, I enjoyed your post.

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  8. I think all bloggers can relate to this, lol.

    And darn that popularity thing--you think you leave it behind in high school and it's gotta come and follow your writing career too!

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  9. Oh, I'm dancing, Tracy! And I just found out my blog has a new follower, so I'm really boogying down. I just might pull something!

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