Blogs to Books: My First Session!

This might sound narcissistic, but ever since some time early in high school, I've believed that someday, somehow, I will write a book. What kind of book keeps shifting as I grow up and my outlook on life changes, but the overall theory that I will eventually be an author has persisted. So of course, when I saw that there was a session about how to create "a popular science book: using the Web from the initial idea to pitching to writing to selling," I simply had to attend.

The session was moderated by blogging, book-writing superstars Brian Switek (Written in Stone), Sheril Kirshenbaum (The Science of Kissing), Maryn McKenna (Superbug) and Seth Mnookin (The Panic Virus). In their opening remarks they shared their tales of book writing, and how blogging helped their process as authors.

Each panelist had a totally different angle on the blogging/book connection. For Seth, blogging helps keep him involved even after the pages are printed. He has a running list of corrections to his most recent book, and tries to engage with people as much as possible. Brian, on the other hand, was a blogger first, and used his blog like a writing laboratory to formulate the ideas that led to his first book. Indeed, keeping up with blogging kept him up to date on the science, allowing him to put last minute additions into his book. Sheril, on the other hand, wanted little to do with blogging initially: she ended up losing a bet that forced her to start. But once online, she used blogging as a way of engaging an audience. Maryn began as a journalist, but moved to blogging to claim her turf - though she stayed because it allowed her to put herself in her writing. It was really interacting with the people afflicted by MRSA that helped her tell the story.

Of course, blogging isn't always sunshine and kittens for the book author. Sheril, in particular, has had nasty commenters over the years who attack her as a woman, but she learned that no matter how bad they seemed, all she had to do was close the computer. "That's where they live," she says. Meanwhile Maryn likened blogging to a beast that she had to constantly feed. She worried that if she stopped blogging, she'd lose all the authority she'd spent so long acquiring.

For me, these insights were really intriguing. I've never tried to really write something as large as a book - the closest is my 59 page paper on marine toxins (believe me - a real page-turner that is sure to be a best-seller). But I like the idea of using a blog as a source for ideas, maybe even for testing the waters and seeing how popular or interesting a topic seems to be. I've already toyed with the idea of turning my Evolution posts into longer form, or taking some of the Understanding Our Bodies series and expanding them even further. Maybe I will.

Whatever I decide to do, it was great to hear these amazing writers tell their stories of the process of book writing and how they made it to the end result. I'll keep their lessons in mind as I continue explore my potential future as an author.