THE WEB BUZZ BOOK MODEL

The success of Northcutt and The Smoking Gun suggests a model for freelancers, Web writers and aspiring authors. Call it the 'Web Buzz Book Model'.

It borrows elements from Godin's thoughts, Northcutt's success and Yamaguchi's 'zine-to-book template. The idea is that a writer or small staff can start a site with the plan to later publish (or, self-publish) a book based on the site's best content.

In simple terms, here's how it works: Put up a site featuring sharp writing and interactivity; build a base of readers interested in your subject ('buzz'); then offer the site's best content printed as a book.

Consider the elements, common to the Web-based writers mentioned:

This model demands a great deal of dedication and work to succeed. Yamaguchi's Working For the Man site always remained a part-time hobby and he sold a small number of books, but the Darwin Awards site eventually ate up all of Northcutt's time, as did The Smoking Gun. Suck and Salon, of course, are larger operations with a number of staff.

A Web site is its own creative project: Create community by posting regular features, news updates, online polls or whatever takes advantages of the Internet's strengths. Northcutt said she's continually added features to her site like a slush pile for contributors' manuscripts and philosophy chat forums.

After a time, collect the best articles, illustrations and other site content for a book, then add value, like pulling together themes and adding context that's unavailable online.

'You can't just takes what's on the site and then flop it into a book and say 'Here it is,'' said Green, of The Smoking Gun. 'It's not just cut and paste. It does take a lot of thought about...what you're going to offer that you can't get online.'

Market with cunning and tenacity: Don't stop writing once a Web site has culminated in a book. Rather, write more widely, getting articles published elsewhere and the book mentioned, as Godin did.

Limitations: A strict news site likely won't foster a book; a book in this model must be based on 'evergreen' content, like illustrations or essays, or at least analysis pieces.

This model is based on nonfiction anthologies, a perhaps limiting formula. On the other hand, those could range widely, from pop culture essays to travel stories to, say, science fiction movie reviews.

Does the 'Web Buzz Book Model' guarantee best-seller status in exchange for a writer's all-consuming hours creating a nifty online journal? Absolutely not, cursed with a publisher that went out of business as their book hit shelves, Suck sold only a couple thousand copies.

Savvy Web marketing isn't a magic key to a best-selling novel. But might help unlock interest from readers, and potential publishers.