Fame and fortune: They're in the blog

Fame and fortune: They're in the blog

That is the route taken by writers who go online to break into the mainstream


BY AILEEN JACOBSON
Newsday Staff Writer

March 20, 2006

Think of the blogosphere as a teeming ocean, filled with thousands of amphibious creatures jumping for attention. Some are happy to be noticed by their aquatic buddies. Several are famous before they jump in. But quite a few long to leap out of the Web pool, to be recognized and rewarded by the world outside.

In the blogging world, that means getting on TV or radio, signing a book contract or being written about by - or writing for - a print magazine or newspaper. In other words, riding a fast current into what bloggers call MSM - mainstream media.

It's starting to happen with some frequency. Recently, a real-life video blogger played herself on an episode of "CSI," helping to catch a fictional serial killer. Not so long ago, a young woman who wrote about her sex life online for only 13 days got embroiled in a scandal and - what else could be next? - landed a six-figure advance to write a novel, and an option to turn her life into the next "Sex and the City." Other bloggers have been tapped by TV, commissioned to write songs or signed by agents and publishers.

Bloggers, who essentially keep online journals (Web logs = blogs) about their lives, opinions or some other topic, are the new media darlings. They often revel in their outsider status, taking pride in the snark and attitude of their postings. So it is perhaps ironic (but bloggers tend to like irony) that beneath the ultra-cool surface you're likely to find scribblers yearning to reach you the old-school way, from a TV screen or from between the covers of a book.



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