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As the blog-olution reaches critical mass, the desire to make sense of a million confessions, reblogs and old photos tumbling over our screen has given rise to single-topic blogs that easily categorize and organize them for us. And with these blogs springing up in multiples by the day and attracting large audiences, the rush to turn them into books has begun. HarperCollins Publishers has even developed an imprint called IT Books to tackle the market.

Subsequently, the expectation and intention of starting a blog has become to get a quick book deal. There is the good and the bad, anything from bound blogarrhea to refining years of original content developed on a blog. In order to get a grasp on this trend, we compiled a cross section of blog-based books that have and will be published. See below for information on 18 of the most notable blog book releases and then dive deeper into a comprehensive timeline.

PostSecret



postsecretPostSecret is the monarch of blog-to-books, both for its cathartic, burrowing hook and by pulling off the pimpest move any book can make -- never going to paperback. Originated in 2005, the blog struck a chord by showcasing each reader submitted secret with a visual identity. Free from the uniformity of type, the divulgings on decorated postcards make it human, giving the idea a leg up on its confession site/book predecessor Grouphug.us /Stoned, Naked, and Looking In My Neighbor's Window. PostSecret creator Frank Warren's incessant need to put his face on the anonymity-based blog has hurt the series more than helped it, but the blog rages on with new secrets posted every week and a new book in stores about once a year.



Awkward Family Photos


awkward family photosThis blog features vintage pictures and is exceptionally photo edited, mixing the outlandish with the subtle, and never banging on the same note consecutively. Its popularity has shown that our appetite for awkward is as insatiable as our thirst for porn. Which raises the question: which would get more hits, a chick with the best boob in the world or a guy with the most messed up sweater, teeth and hair?




This Is Why You're Fat


this is why you're fatThe internet has either birthed or unearthed peoples' compulsion to photograph their food. Maybe it's some primal pride left over from the days when we actually had to kill our food or the desire to document the only creative decisions most people make all day. Luckily, it has given creators Jessica Amason and Richard Blakeley plenty of material for their blog-turned-book which showcases the grodiest, cloggiest food concoctions that people choose to shove in their bods.



Look at This F*cking Hipster


look at this fucking hipsterIt's an exciting time to hate your friends! The hipsters over at LATFH.com are still taking photo submissions for their soon to be published book, giving you a great opportunity to submit a picture of someone you'd like to mess with. The word hipster has never been spoken lovingly nor is it used by anyone other than hipsters. All hipsters hate hipsters, if you don't, you're not a hipster. If you embrace your hipsterness, you forfeit your hipsterness. When presented with the book as hard evidence that they are in fact a hipster, the hep will grow angry further implicating themselves.
  • BLOG: LATFH
  • BOOK: Not Yet Published
  • AUTHOR: Joe Mande
  • PUBLISHED: Date TBD



The Sartorialist


the sartorialistThis is a street style blog (the streets of heaven!) at the top of its game -- so much so that it was the only blog on Time Magazine's Style & Design 100 List last year. It's so fance that it seems degrading to even call it a blog, so binding was its destiny. You are allowed to buy this book but you are not allowed to keep it in the bathroom because no one in this book has ever gone to the bathroom.




Hot Chicks With Douchebags


hot chicks with douchebagsThis should be called Douchebags and Their Matching Orange Soul Mates, but you know dudes and their boner blinders. This early bloggernaut started a few years back, aided in the oversaturation of the word douchebag, became a book, then finally reached the end of the relevancy road by being turned into the MTV show Is She Really Going Out With Him? The book doesn't strive to go any deeper than the blog but no one ever drowned in a douche bag.




Stuff on My Cat
Disapproving Rabbits
Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves


stuff on my catThe leap from blog to book for this bunch wasn't one that took much faith. Cute and wacky animals with cute or wacky sayings has been a cornerstone of the gift book market long before blogs existed. I'm sure your aunt has already forwarded you most of these blogs' contents in the body of an e-mail where for some odd reason each image appears twice. By today's blog standards, these seem pedestrian and inside the box, but who doesn't love a box full of kittens, especially wearing costumes. It's also worth mentioning that Stuff on my Cat is really going for it in merchandising arena, offering stuffonmycat.com frosted beer mug and onesies.

disapproving rabbits



suicidal pets




Stuff White People Like


stuff white people like
This is the real deal. Perfectly timed and matured on the web before being plucked for the shelves, the blog/book offers competent, on point assessments of the stuff white people like. It also has the honor and distinction of becoming a 2010 Calendar which will give way to legions of Borders employees proudly pointing out to each and every one of his coworkers, "Did you notice how I put the Stuff White People Like calendar between the Twilight and Thomas Kincade, and below Lighthouse calendars, ha!"



F U, Penguin


F U PenguinCombining two tried and true things is a pretty obvious recipe for success, but it isn't always easy to make work. If anyone can find a way to make a reality show about vampires right now they could have the keys to Shaq's go-cart so to speak. FU Penguin has done it, successfully combining two popular blog qualities, irreverent snark and cute animals for some classic sweet and sour contrapuntal fun.



Cake Wrecks


With smiling cute cupcakes constantly being shoved in our faces, it's nice to know someone is exposing the darker truths about cake making. Making a cake is a story of triumph and tragedy. It begins with heroic attempts at greatness, disappointment in the result then redemption in the taste. This epic tale is told over and over in Cake Wrecks. The blog/book documents both blaring wrecks and the more subtle "what wrong with this picture" cake mistakes that Highlights gave us a taste for.


cake wrecks



Love, Mom (Postcards From Yo Momma)


love mom bookNot exactly as salacious as it's sister blogs/books but pretty damn adorable, this site and book are a collection of modern day correspondence from Moms.



The Joys of Engrish


engrishThis classic is worth mentioning because it proves it's possible for a blog/book to have a non-diary shelf life. Engrish.com, the online compilation of butchered English on signs and products has been around for over a decade and in print for nearly five years, proving ESL faux pas are like a good broach, timeless.



Passive Aggressive Notes


passive aggressive notesI once put polaroids of a syringe injecting fake urine into a Lean Cuisine on the freezer at work when my Cuisines kept disappearing. Tiny crimes and inconsiderations like these are ultimately inconsequential even to those involved, so why are the documents of them so much fun to read! Passive Aggressive Notes is an amazing collection of those minutia based, third-rate dramas played out in Times New Roman on break room battlegrounds.




Sleeveface


sleevefaceSleeveface is an photo collection of people holding records sleeves to their faces filling in the world around the sleeve however they see fit. It's a cool little worldwide group project that combines nostalgia with creative participation.




Sh*t My Dad Says


This is the first microblog book deal and it happened in micro time. Justin Halpern moved back home to his parents' house and began to Twitter things that his dad said. Less than two months and 50 tweets later, he had a book deal and an agent. There is something more at work than just the spoutings of a toilet mouth Twain going on in this microblog, there is a sweetness about the whole thing and it's a pitch perfect capture of frustration and ultimately the gift of having to live with your parents as an adult. Warning to bloggers, novelist and grumps, the time you spend enviously bitching about this is not going to land you a book deal.

BLOG: Sh*t My Dad Says
BOOK: Not Yet Published
AUTHOR: Justin Halpern
PUBLISHED: Date TBD




BLDGBLOG


bldg blogThe excitement of someone who is genuinely nerding out on something is really contagious. BLDGBLOG has this in spades and is the best example of the value of a blog. Free from formality or the pressure of drawing conclusions, for five years Geoff Manaugh, Senior Editor of Dwell Magazine, has been stacking his thoughts and ideas on top of the things that inspire him. The book is the perfect adaption and evolution of the totally accessible and fun architecture based blog.
  • BLOG: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/
  • BOOK: The BLDG BLOG Book
  • AUTHOR: Geoff Manaugh
  • PUBLISHED: June 10, 2009



(Be sure to check out our handy timeline of blog book releases!)
blog book timeline