At the urging of certain of my more
enthusiastic fans, I've started consolidating some of my better writings into a collection tentatively titled
Antisocial Commentary: From the Secret Files of the Mattress Police. Believe it or not, in the eight months since I started this blog I've written over
250 pages of semi-coherent drivel. When I realized just how much I had written, I exclaimed to my wife, "I could make this into a book!"
And she beheld me with a look of pride and admiration and responded, "Not a very good book."
To be fair, she thought I meant a novel, and it's true that a novel based on this blog would make about as much sense as
Gravity's Rainbow.
When I explained to her that it would be just a random collection of humorous essays, she warmed to the idea.
"Why would anyone buy it if they can just read your blog?" she asked.
Why indeed? I mean, don't get me wrong. The book wouldn't just be a hard copy version of this blog. I'd pick and choose from the better posts, organize them, expand some of them and pare down others, and I'd write some new material as well -- but the book would still be mostly recycled material. For example, I'd include
Harry Potter and the Slide Into Satanism,
The Force is Middling in this One,
WTF? and all your other classic favorites. So my question to you is, would you buy such a book? Don't worry about offending me; I chafe at the thought of paying more than $6 for a book by Hemingway or Twain, and they're like famous and stuff. I'd just like to have some indication, before I get too far on this project, how many of you might actually be interested in buying it. I'm figuring it will be around 180 pages and cost about $12-14 in paperback (I'm assuming at this point that I'll self-publish it, but I may shop it around a bit first).
For that matter, what if I wrote a book that was in the same vein as the stuff I write here, but it was all original content? Or if it was 50/50? Or let's say that I've also been working on a novel about an angel who is supposed to be helping out with the apocalypse but feels that he has better things to do. Should I, theoretically, focus on that instead?
I'm easy, just tell me what I can do to make you pay me for something I write. So that I don't have to get a job.
Anyway, post a comment or send me an email with your thoughts. Something for you to think about while I'm away on vacation this week.
In other news, I've posted the reviews of
Florid Organum Straight from the South Side,
Dan's Blah Blah Blog, and
Copacetic City at the
humor-blogs.com review blog. Enjoy!
See you in a week or so!
Diesel out.
I've got two tickets to
humor-blogs.com. Because we've waited so long. Waited so long.
Labels: Antisocial Commentary