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March 25, 2005

Steve Johnson on books and blogs

Steve Johnson has a brilliant post on why he doesn't blog his books as he writes them:

The problem for an author is that books are not written the way they are read. They usually take years to write, from original proposal to final proofs; they are rarely composed in sequence; and by the time you submit a final manuscript, you've invariably read every page dozens of times, mostly out context.

So for me at least, the trick of writing a book is somehow shedding all the layered, time-shifted contortions of writing, and somehow recreating what it would feel like to sit down as a newcomer to the book and start reading..

...And private, linear, slow is exactly the opposite of the experience of blogging. .

Read the whole thing if only because it is itself an example of Steve's blend of logic, insight and voice.

I wrote Small Pieces Loosely Joined entirely online, posting updated drafts every day. That was a mistake. What's the point of reading, much less commenting on, drafts the author is going to throw out tomorow? So, next time, I think I'll aggressively blog ideas as they occur and post drafts of chapters as I finish them. I think. [Technorati tags: SteveJohnson blogs]

Posted by D. Weinberger at March 25, 2005 02:40 PM


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Tracked on March 25, 2005 07:57 PM

Comments

You know I TOTALLY agree. Writing a book on a blog in public seems crazy to me.

Posted by: Halley | March 25, 2005 07:09 PM


It doesn't have to be an entire chapter, but I agree, have it be "workshop ready" when you post it. Don't be shy about posting major revisions and explaining what lead to your changes!

Posted by: k.g.schneider | March 25, 2005 08:07 PM


Actually, there were quite a few books that origially appeared in serial form. Ever heard of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "The Count of Monte Cristo". Of course there wasn't any such thing as a blog when these were written... but they were trickled out to their audiences piecemeal.

'Uncle Toms Cabin' was a serial

and so was 'The Count of Monte Cristo'

Posted by: Gary | March 26, 2005 10:40 AM


Except serials weren't publishing drafts, of course.

Posted by: David Weinberger | March 26, 2005 11:52 AM


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