Blogging gets writers noticed by manga, book publishers

As printed in The Northern Light newspaper
Oct. 10, 2006

A Japanese man who regularly went online to write a daily blog about his domineering wife has now earned the equivalent of more than $300,000 for two book deals, as well as a manga, TV series, movie and video game, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

The “Demon Wife Diaries” is not unique either. The same article goes on to say that Japanese publishing firms scour the Internet for original content, and more than 300 books based on personal writings have been published in Japan since 2004. It’s estimated that about 1 in every 5 people in Japan read blogs and a person in Japan is far more likely to maintain a blog than a person in America.

“Densha Otoko” (“Train Man”) is another popular Japanese property based on conversations on an internet forum. What started out as people giving advice to a nerdy guy over the Internet is now a multimillion dollar, international story that’s generated over a $1,000,000 in royalties for the anonymous poster and the forum moderator. It became a book, manga, TV series and top-grossing movie. The author credited as creating “Densha Otoko” is named Hitori Nakano, a pseudonym meaning “one of those people,” according to Anime News Network. There are a couple of manga versions available in English, and the movie showed in New York at the end of September. The movie is scheduled to be out in the U.S. on DVD in January.

For anyone interested in writing, blogging is becoming the best way to get noticed. Because people from anywhere can instantly read blog postings, it can be as effective – and much less expensive – than trying to self-publish work in print. Of course, it most likely will not become a huge multi-medium hit, but at the very least blogging helps writers express themselves, hone their craft and have something creative to show prospective publishers when they prepare to turn writing into a career.

You never know, though — maybe your blog will be the one that brings the trend of blog books to the U.S.