Words of wisdom concerning bloggers-turned-book-authors:

Successful-author-and-blogger John Scalzi hits the nail on the head in explaining why publishers are nuts to hand huge advances for books to bloggers on the basis of their having a successful blog:

“Being a blogger is a bit like being that lady in the supermarket who hands out free samples. You see her, you stop and have the tiny piece of sausage she’s got speared on a toothpick, you might chat for a second, and then you move on. You like the sample lady — she’s giving you free sausage! — and you may even seek her out (‘I could use some free tiny sausage right about now’). But no matter how much you or anyone else likes the sample lady and are glad to see her and her tiny sausage chunks, the number of people who actually reach behind the sample lady to buy the product she’s offering you a taste of is a pretty low percentage.”

Which is not to say that I don’t want each and every person who reads this post–all five or six of them!–to buy a copy of Lost in Translation when the paperback hits bookstores next week!

Have I mentioned they make great Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s/Valentine’s Day gifts?