How a 23 Year Old Used A Tumblr Blog To Get A Book Deal

by Dana_W
28 replies
Very inspiring! Especially since I'm a former journalist, just like the woman in this article: How This 23-Year-Old Used Tumblr To Land A Book Deal
#blog #book #deal #tumblr #year
  • Profile picture of the author JR Consulting
    That's awesome. Just goes to show the power of social media, especially when you focus on the "social" part of it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Originally Posted by Jeffrey Reidy View Post

      That's awesome. Just goes to show the power of social media, especially when you focus on the "social" part of it.
      Exactly this. Without the social part to social media, there is not too much there. I have been scanning through the WSO forum lately and seeing some of the words phrases that are promoting FB aimed products.

      Forcing people to like your page, hacking Facebook, all those super macho competitive-minded phrases trying to apply themselves to an idea that is inherently about sharing instead of fighting.

      And then this lady comes along and just calls people up to ask if she can talk with them, writes down the results of her interview on a Tumblr blog and finds other people who might be interested in it to help her promote it.

      And it works because she was willing to work at it rather than throwing up 2000 Tumblr blogs overnight with a piece of spam software or tricking people into liking her page so she can redirect them to a CPA "Win A Free IPad" ad.

      Sounds pretty good, thank you Dana.
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      • Profile picture of the author KenJ
        Nice Share Dana.
        It's a great idea to start with. But then she has done it in a style all her own.
        I would have done it differently and it wouldn't have worked.
        Thanks

        Kenj
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  • Profile picture of the author Samrath Gupta
    Awesome !!

    I feel one can achieve anything if you have a WILL to do so.... But in this case it looks like the lady was good with his LUCK
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  • Profile picture of the author Dimian
    i love seeing stories like this, gives me hope for myself. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author wowcolombia1
    [DELETED]
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    • It's funny-odd. I didn't get that "oh so clever" vibe from it. A collection of interviews? Not a blog I'd be interested in reading.

      I'm curious to see what kind of IM lesson you all are drawing from this. Money is your god, and I don't see the cash flowing here. Only a handful of top-name authors get the lucrative book deals.

      fLufF
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      • Profile picture of the author JR Consulting
        Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

        It's funny-odd. I didn't get that "oh so clever" vibe from it. A collection of interviews? Not a blog I'd be interested in reading.

        I'm curious to see what kind of IM lesson you all are drawing from this. Money is your god, and I don't see the cash flowing here. Only a handful of top-name authors get the lucrative book deals.

        fLufF
        --
        Money is whose god? Not mine.

        In the age of self-publishing, especially thanks to Amazon, you no longer need a lucrative book deal from a traditional publisher in order to succeed.

        Just because you're not interested in reading her blog, doesn't mean she won't succeed with it. Clearly she already has succeeded, what with getting a book deal and all. Not everyone can be a JK Rowling, but that doesn't diminish this girl's success one bit.

        I say that what she did is very clever actually. She leveraged the interviewees' existing audiences, and put herself in front of the people that are interested in this sort of thing. Warrior Seth Larrabee has done something similar with interviews in the IM niche, and it worked quite well for him. I don't think he was after a book deal, but the concept of using interviews is a tried and true strategy.

        Why knock her hustle?
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        • Again I ask: Where's the money? Quit ducking the issue. Suddenly IM isn't about money?

          Would you like a list of famous well-connected broke people?

          fLufF
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          • Profile picture of the author JR Consulting
            Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

            Again I ask: Where's the money? Quit ducking the issue. Suddenly IM isn't about money?

            Would you like a list of famous well-connected broke people?

            fLufF
            --
            Ducking the issue? She got a book deal! That's where the money is.

            Obviously IM is about making money, but not to the extent that "money is your god". That might be your god, but it's not my god, and it's not a lot of other people's god either.
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            • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
              I've only read a couple of interviews but it looks like the author has added something of value to the internet as a whole and has been rewarded for it.

              I might be mistaken but it has always seemed to me that the WF has been about different kinds of marketing to diverse groups of people. The way this person put her information together, created her info product and marketed with the help of a group of stakeholders and other interested parties sounds like pretty good marketing to me.
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          • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
            Banned
            Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

            Again I ask: Where's the money? Quit ducking the issue. Suddenly IM isn't about money?

            Would you like a list of famous well-connected broke people?

            fLufF
            --
            Can you say .... book deal?
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      • Profile picture of the author zamzung
        Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

        It's funny-odd. I didn't get that "oh so clever" vibe from it. A collection of interviews? Not a blog I'd be interested in reading.

        I'm curious to see what kind of IM lesson you all are drawing from this. Money is your god, and I don't see the cash flowing here. Only a handful of top-name authors get the lucrative book deals.

        fLufF
        --
        You are very wrong with this one... her idea is great and the best part is - she will make money with it... on the other hand, she already received a "best blog aware".... so your statement "that's not something I'd be interested in reading" counts only for you...

        Also, I find your comment rude... would you feel good if someone would say something like that for your blog? There are many people out there who don't find your blog interesting...

        And IM lesson that can be learned from her example is pretty obvious, and it's actually great one... but I guess you didn't get it because you are not interesting in the actual subject... I agree that idea is not something new, as this approach is well known and even some well known IM marketers used it, but this girl done a great job by implementing proven approach to niche of her wish (let me say it that way)...

        There is a lot to learn from this story, if you take 5 minutes and think about it... that's why I'm well surprised that someone with over a thousand of post here can make such a rude and negative comment on pretty inspiring story...
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      • Profile picture of the author James Foster
        Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

        It's funny-odd. I didn't get that "oh so clever" vibe from it. A collection of interviews? Not a blog I'd be interested in reading.

        I'm curious to see what kind of IM lesson you all are drawing from this. Money is your god, and I don't see the cash flowing here. Only a handful of top-name authors get the lucrative book deals.

        fLufF
        --
        With this kind of thinking no wonder your entire signature is about Fiverr....

        There are dozens if not hundreds of ways she can capitalize on this.

        Selling advertising on her site is the most obvious one that comes to mind.

        If she is popular enough (and getting a book deal would indicate she is) there's plenty of niche endorsement deals or web shows like DiggNation she could brand herself in.

        Just the connections from the people she's met can spin off into more profitable possibilities than are imaginable.

        Judge less. Think more.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Well, first of all, while I like making money, I can definitely say that "money is your god" does not apply to me.

    As for the IM takeaways - she used a free blog and social media to publicize herself. She approached already popular blogs in her niche to multiply her reach by offering them her posts. After a while, when she'd built up a name and a following, she attracted the attention of a publisher. Also - she made a name for herself because she did something that she was passionate about, and when you do that, it's really easy to excel because you are motivated to do it every day and to do a great job. These are all really valualbe lessons from what she accomplished.
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  • Profile picture of the author angela99
    Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

    Very inspiring! Especially since I'm a former journalist, just like the woman in this article: How This 23-Year-Old Used Tumblr To Land A Book Deal
    Wonderful story, Dana, thanks for the link.

    I love stories like this. I especially loved this quote from the article:

    When Dunn set out to find 100 interview subjects and post their stories online, she only intended to simply satiate her craving for storytelling. She eventually got plenty more out of the project -- from improved writing and reporting skills to notoriety because of her site -- but that's only because she didn't go halfway on 100 Stories.
    I'm always telling my writing students that it doesn't matter what their challenge happens to be -- it's eliminated if they just WRITE MORE.

    Of course, the same applies to IMers. The harder you work, the luckier you get. Move! Do stuff.

    No one -- guru or baby newbie -- gets any guarantees that your hard work will pay off.

    BUT...

    If you realize that the work is its own reward, you'll discover that you succeed beyond your dreams. Because your work will take you to places you never expected.

    Someone once said that if you're not successful, you're not failing enough.

    Early on, I was prepared for a LOT of failure in my writing. Daily rejections ensured that I learned to master disappointment, and not give up. When I started writing, way back in the 1970s, I expected to take five years to get magazine articles published regularly. I gave myself ten years to publish my first book.

    It didn't take anywhere near ten years to get my first book contract. Indeed, within six months of deciding that I'd publish a book by age 40, I had a multi-book contract from a major publisher.

    In those days, I had a full-time job, and three small children. I worked harder than I've ever worked. Here's what stands out for me: it was FUN.

    You can and must fail your way to success. There's no other way to succeed.

    Angela
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  • Profile picture of the author TheHotChick
    Banned
    Don't hate, you know that's awesome! haha
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  • Profile picture of the author JennyBizz
    I LOVE this story. She used her own free resources - her time and her creativity to create something special which later earned her a book deal. There are so many ways to make money online and she found the one that was right for her.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Jim's Pancakes Here's something similar: every morning this guy made pancakes in crazy shapes for his daughter - flowers, trees, carousels, At-Ats from Star Wars..and he posted the picture of the pancake on his blog each day...and he got a book deal from it.
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    • Profile picture of the author dsouravs
      Well money is god for me definitely but I do love life :p
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Kage
      Originally Posted by Marianne Gonne View Post

      Another similar example...

      An obsessive fan of The Who's Pete Townshend spent his spare time writing about the legendary guitarist for no other reason than to satisfy his own impulse.

      He eventually posted the 700-page document online in the form of a blog.

      He then self-published via Lulu's print-on-demand platform. It went on to become one of Lulu's best-ever sellers - and was instrumental in alerting other writers (and marketers) to the potential of print-on-demand.

      He was then offered a book deal by Omnibus, complete with a forward by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

      He made his dream come true, and is a published author. For many of us (and writers especially), this is worth more than any amount of money.

      To quote the album-intro to Townshend's "Pinball Wizard": "Extra Extra Read All About It!": About the author of Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend
      Awesome story. 700 page document in the form of a blog. Now that's an interesting idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ronak Shah
    I think she gave it her "All" - the energy is darn infectious - she never gave up!

    It's NOT about money - It's about SPIRIT! VALUE
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  • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
    The value especially monetising does not need to come instantly.
    Seth Godin was interviewed by Problogger and asked at the end about "so how do they monetize....." for the benefit of the problogger audience he answered by stating that if you concentrating on providing content [of products] of value then monetization will follow.
    Look at zenhabits, stuckincustoms, smartpassiveincome, to name a few blogs. Heavily monetizing on behalf of their creators since they offer value.
    The IM culture of monetization is a deadly virus. There is probably more damage caused then benefit in the west especially with the quick rich and how to money schemes.

    If it was not a book deal I am sure it would be something else that would have directed this young women to find a way to monetize her blog.

    These are the kind of inspirational stories that should be kept at the forefront and 'making money' included in the strategical goal for sure but as a goal from a meaningful journey.
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  • Profile picture of the author thesuccesscoach
    i don´t get how someone could say what´s the take away from this. Its pretty obvious. You do something, you focus on what you are good at, you do things the way they should, as one person said not by creating spammy blogs etc, you set yourself a goal you persist, you work hard, you get rewarded with a book deal..

    guess there´s no money in book deals these days, let´s all go back to buying the next over night success product from the gurus

    sheeesh
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    This is story is inspirational indeed. Instead of complaining and
    moaning about her position she decided to try some hard work
    instead. Glad that it paid off the way it did.

    Hard work usually pays off in the end.

    That's what you do when a president's daughter takes your job.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    I belong to a writer's forum and have heard of others doing the same. It requires a lot of work so that will disqualify the majority. Great thread.
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