Why Blogging Is Like Book Publishing

This is only my second blog, but I have an observation. Blogging is like book publishing. Here are a few reasons:

(1) Publication Proliferation: According to The Blog Herald, as of July, 2008 there were 70 million blogs. That’s around one blog for every four people in the United States. There seems to be some logic in Despair, Inc.'s blog observation: "Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few"

Book publishers launch around 200,000 new books a year. So every year we add a lot of books to the millions of books that publishers already have in their catalogs from many years of publishing.

(2) Content is King: You have to have great content that resonates with at least a distinct audience. For example, people that might care about this blog are those in the publishing business that blog. I will probably not set any traffic records with this blog.

(3) Building Awareness: Great content, however, is not enough. There is a lot of great content that never gets published and even content that gets published but is never read. I suspect like book publishing, blog awareness gets largely built through viral marketing; someone likes what they have read and then passes it along to someone else. Overtime you build a following. Having a major platform along with great content that people care about would seem to be a winning combination, and that's similar to book publishing.

(4) Distribution: Distribution applies to the blogging world, but traditional brick and mortar distribution channels it is not. It is still, however, about getting your message and content in as many places as possible so it can be exposed to as many people as possible. - Still wrestling with how that one is different from building awareness, but I think that like getting various retailers to carry your book, you need to have various people/influencers willing to discuss, link to and promote your blog.

There is at least one way that blogging is not like book publishing - The cost of publishing. The cost to get into blogging and communicating your ideas and content is pretty cheap, assuming you have a computer. It is mostly just your time and the opportunity cost of that time. That explains 70 million blogs.

As a book publisher, this leaves me to wonder...what is our role as content consumption trends towards more digital forms of media? My hunch is that we will continue to be experts at recognizing great content, have an even sharper of eye for matching the most effective delivery vehicle for the content's intended audiences and then maximizing awareness. It's not that different than what we do today in some ways but completely different in other ways.

I would love to hear your thoughts on blogging and publishing.

Why Blog? (how to get a free lunch)

I am certain many have asked the question "Why blog?" In fact, I am asking myself this question. Who wants to hear anything from a guy who is involved in several different things but an expert of none? - Perhaps the Jack-of-All-Trades and Master-of-None Club? (Googled it and no such club exists.)

The CEO of Thomas Nelson, Mike Hyatt, is a prolific and eloquent blogger. I think Mike has blogged since 1998, before there was blogging as we know it today. If it was the Stone Age, Mike could chisel out a stone tablet with fresh, interesting thoughts every few days. I thought Mike blogged one time on all the reasons one should blog. I could not find the "why blog" entry, if there ever was one, but I did find one on "Why Twitter". Let's not, however, get technologically ahead of ourselves. I also found an entry on "How to Blog" which I probably need to read.

Being the CEO has its advantages when it comes to blogging. Many folks want to actually hear what the leader of the largest Christian book publisher has to say, and Mike has some pretty interesting things to say.

Then there is the blog from Larry Downs who has responsibility for our Iberian publishing group at Thomas Nelson; Spanish and Portuguese. Larry has been in Spanish-language book publishing for over two decades, and runs the largest Spanish Christian book publisher. He knows what he is doing. Like Mike, folks want to hear what Larry has to say.

Larry thinks I ought to blog about the book publishing business from the perspective of the relative outsider which I am. He says I should use humor to discuss perceived nuances and issues within the world of book publishing, even though I am not a terribly funny guy. No doubt I would upset someone in the process, but I reckon that's not all bad. Hmmmm???

Maybe I should blog about baseball. Along with some friends, 18 months ago we started what has turned out to be a fairly successful youth travel baseball team, the Hendersonville Heat. We have many players that want to join the team. Other individuals and teams are interested in or already doing the same. We are thinking about starting our own travel league, The Sumner County Baseball Association. Here's the problem: like book publishing, I don't really know that much about baseball. I am just the general manager and oversee the organization; the coaches know baseball.

Then, there is our family flooring business Textures, which my wife runs with a partner, Andrew Denny. I sit on Texture's board, but again I know very little about the flooring business and how it works.

I like to hunt and each year a group of us makes an annual pilgrimage to the Snake Den Lodge in Presho, South Dakota to engage in what my friend Jack calls "poltricide". We take down a lot of pheasants in three days of hunting. It's a blast, but I am certainly not the pheasant hunting expert; the guides are.

So, I require your help. And, you have a chance to win a free lunch, maybe even two lunches, because I have two problems - blog ideas and my blog tag line.

Blog Ideas - Like the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe, I am asking you, my friends, family and co-workers, to provide me with ideas. (Not for Dirty Jobs, but blogging subjects.) The best blog idea wins a free lunch with me, the guy who really does not know much about anything. And, you will get your name in lights on my blog.

My Blog's Tag Line - I made up my blog tag line in two nanoseconds with very little thought, "Observations Once Removed". I suspect it is not representative of what the best tag line would be for my blog. You might have a better idea.

A Thomas Nelson employee suggested this tag line, "From Where I Sit on the Commode". For those of you who are employees at Thomas Nelson, I think you know why that one will not win the free lunch.

Just post your ideas and comments below. I may have an online poll to decide on the best ideas.

Well, I am glad I got my first blog out of the way. And, thank you in advance for assistance with my two dilemmas above.