From Blog To Book

There's a few reports out there, about a blogger who is discovered by some literary agent or publisher and gets a book contract. Six figures, big buzz, that sort of thing. I'm not expecting such a windfall, but it's only because I don't blog about sex.

That must have been the key for Zoe Margolis, who started blogging about sex, and more sex, and group sex, and needing sex, and, well, you get the picture. Using an anonymous on line presence, writing as the permanently randy Abby Lee, Ms. Margolis created a world around this fictional person that garnered thousands of hits per day.

The blog's Abby Lee was forever looking to hook up, and her sexual dalliances were fodder for the blog. Getting it off regularly, was Abby Lee, but then the men never called back. Sounds like a bit of a morality tale as told by Mother Mary Cordula, but there were plenty of ladies in the audience who related to the sad tales. There's been praise given, with accolades for a blog that 'empowers' women. Personally, I think the ladies have all the power, and saying no is a grand gesture of all that empowerment, but maybe that's just the Catholic seeping out of the pores.

At any rate, the blog was published as a memoir, and before long Ms. Margolis had her cover blown. Imagine mammy reading the salacious bits, and you'll understand her desire for anonymity. With a six figure advance from a publisher, however, there is no room for secret identities. Interviewers have found Ms. Margolis to be quite the feminist, and not quite like the imaginary Abby Lee that stars in the blog. So the woman has a flair for fiction, and may go on to write a novel down the line.

As for the book version of the blog, it's not as popular as the daily installments of the sex search soap opera. Some feminists may find the search for sex, the casual hook-up, a part of the men's club that is raunchy culture, and Ms. Margolis is falling into the trap. The author counters, taking up a position as hopeless romantic, searching for love. But didn't your granny tell you to keep your knees together and the boys would linger? Why buy the cow when the milk's free, did you never hear of that one?

Still and all, she's got the big advance whether her book earns out or not, and I'm hoping an agent will at least consider my manuscript. There's no market for a memoir written by an author that details their futile search for publication. If there was, I'd be on a book tour by now.