Blogging book competition hots up

The first short-list for a literary prize that rewards bloggers turned bookwriters has been announced.
Dubbed the Blooker Prize, the contest is for those bloggers who have turned their episodic journals into something more substantial.

British entries on the Blooker short-list include the intimate diary of a prostitute and a guide to the UK's best "greasy spoon" cafes.

The first winner of the Blooker Prize will be announced on 3 April.

Cafe culture

The Blooker Prize was first suggested in October 2005 and was the creation of Bob Young, founder of self-publishing site Lulu which sponsors the prize.

In the last few years, regularly updated web logs - or blogs - have become a major feature on the internet and now there are believed to be more than 60 million of them in existence.

There are blogs on any and every subject and many of the writers behind blogs have found their passions for a particular subject and writing style has won them a regular and appreciative audience.


There's definitely a romance to cafes. Once there you can easily get yourself into the frame of mind that you are about to start a novel
Russell Davies

Some blogs or their authors have become so popular that they have turned to traditional print to collect their thoughts or explore their interest at greater length.
Books from blogs, or "blooks", were becoming hugely popular, said Mr Young.

Any blook published in English anywhere in the world before the deadline of 30 January 2006 was eligible for entry.

A total of 89 entries made it to the Lulu Blooker's long-list and this has been whittled down to just 16 that will compete for the prize money.

The entries are arranged into three categories - fiction, non-fiction and comics - and the winners of two of these sections get a cash prize of £550 ($1,000). The winner of the grand prize gets a cash prize of £1,100 ($2,000).

The short-list is dominated by US entries but the UK has two strong contenders in the running. One is notorious Belle De Jour, who blogs about life as a prostitute.

The other contender is Russell Davies, who turned his affection for "greasy spoon" cafes into a blog called eggbaconchipsandbeans and a book detailing the 50 best cafes in the UK.

"I was looking for something to blog about that was not a picture of a cat," Mr Davies told the BBC News website, explaining his choice of subject matter.

"I'm drawn to a full English," he said, referring to the colloquial term for a fried breakfast.

"There's definitely a romance to cafes. Once there, you can easily get yourself into the frame of mind that you are about to start a novel."

Co-judging the event are writer and activist Cory Doctorow, Robin Miller, editor-in-chief of online publisher OSTG and Paul Jones, director of Ibiblio.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4780774.stm

Published: 2006/03/08 00:03:18 GMT

THE LULU BLOOKER PRIZE HOMEPAGE

The Short-List
Non-fiction (6 finalists)

All The President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth by Bryan Keefer, Ben Fritz, and Brendan Nyhan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (paperback, $14.00)
Source blog/site: Spinsanity - www.spinsanity.com

Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl by Anonymous

Publisher: Phoenix (paperback, £7.99)
Source blog/site: Belle de Jour - http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com
Biodiesel Power by Lyle Estill

Publisher: New Society Publishers (paperback, $16.95)
Source blog/site: Piedmont Biofuels Energy Blog - www.biofuels.coop/blog
Egg Bacon Chips and Beans: 50 Great Cafes and the Stuff That Makes Them Great by Russell Davies

Publisher: HarperCollins Entertainment (hardback, £9.99)
Source blog/site: eggbaconchipsandbeans - www.eggbaconchipsandbeans.com
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

Publisher: Little, Brown (hardback, $23.95)
Source blog/site: The Julie/Julia project - http://blogs.salon.com/0001399
Stone Cold Guilty - The People v. Scott Lee Peterson by Loretta Dillon

Publisher: self-published through Lulu (paperback, $16.50)
Source blog/site: Observations of a Misfit - www.misfitting.com
Fiction (5 finalists)

Action Poetry: Literary Tribes for the Internet Age edited by Levi Asher, Jamelah Earle, and Caryn Thurman

Publisher: Authorhouse (paperback, $17.50)
Source blog/site: Literary Kicks - www.litkicks.com
Africa Fresh! New Voices from the First Continent - edited by Rod Amis

Publisher: self-published through Lulu (paperback, $15.00)
Source blog/site: G21: The World's Magazine - www.g21.net
Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest

Publisher: Tor (paperback, $13.95)
Source blog/site: Heretic Spire, a Damn Lie - http://wicked-wish.livejournal.com
Gus Openshaw's Whale-Killing Journal by Keith Thomson

Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (hardback, $23.00)
Source blog/site: Gus Openshaw's Whale-Killing Journal - http://blubberybastard.tripod.com/blog
hackoff.com: an historic murder mystery set in the Internet bubble and rubble by Tom Evslin

Publisher: dotHill Press (hardback, $24.95)
Source blog/site: hackoff.com - www.hackoff.com
Comics (5 finalists)

Ambidextrous: Collection 1 by Kevin Cornell

Publisher: self-published through Lulu (paperback, $11.99)
Source blog/site: Bearskinrug - www.bearskinrug.co.uk
Comic Strip Volume 1: Scarybear and Friends by Jason Pultz

Publisher: self-published
Source blog/site: Comic Strip - www.scarybear.org
Dinosaur Comics: Huge Eyes, Beaks, Intelligence, and Ambition by Ryan North

Publisher: self-published through CatPrint (paperback, $8.00)
Source blog/site: Dinosaur Comics - www.qwantz.com
The Dada Alphabet: An Absurdist's Illustrated Primer by Stephanie Freese, David Milloway, and Matthew Wood

Publisher: self-published through Lulu (paperback, $15.00)
Source blog/site: The Dada Detective - www.likelystories.com

Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection by Zach Miller

Publisher: self-published through Lulu (paperback, $14.95)
Source blog/site: Joe and Monkey - www.joeandmonkey.com

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