Welcome to the LitBlog Session at the LA Times Festival of Books. Oops – I began this post while we were doing the Q&A, but they had to shoo us out. So here’s one Q and 4 As.
David Kipen asked which of our posts brought us the most traffic — and why?
Me: at LAist, a picture of a car. bafflingly, a huge hit.
Tod Goldberg: The sad tale of Mister Teriyaki, documenting a Big Famous Author’s unselfconscious, ugly prejudice.
Andrew Keen: An article about sex ads on craigslist. Sex. Duh.
Galleycat: James Frey, other big news items. But the biggest: a very early Judith Reagan post.
It was very cool that litblogs found a place at the Festival of Books this year. I only wish we hadn’t focused so much on “litblogs — good or bad?” — I think litblogs are good for books and readers and authors. I don’t want to waste space arguing about it — heck, even the NNBC is coming around.
Instead I would have loved to have a topic like: “litblogs — what’s good, what’s bad, what’s next?” I know what I’d like to do more of (I think it’s a congenital blogger condition to be cursing oneself for not fill-in-the-blank), but I want the bigger picture. What does it take for a litblog to be successful – voice? genre? regular posting? Have we made any big mistakes (like engaging n+1 in an argument over an article critical of litblogs — an article they never put online)? What exciting, fun things are happening in the litblog world? I would have loved to hear what Tod and Ron and the audience thought.
Most everyone in the audience raised their hands when asked “who blogs?” Including LA litbloggers John Fox and Callie Miller. I hope they’ll blog their takes soon.
Panel in action photo! From the left: the back of Tod Goldberg’s head, Andrew Keen, and Ron Hogan.
It’s always interesting to see what drives people to sites or blogs. That Mr. Teriyaki story is horrifying!
Don’t curse yourself!
Voice: talent.
Genre: can’t control what you like right?
Regular posting: hard work.
How could n 1 have been compelled to place that article online?
Pinky’s Paperhaus is exciting and fun in the litblog world.
The Hood Company
Carolyn, sorry I missed your panel. But I did eventually see Tod Goldberg in action as moderator for the Inland Empire panel which included Susan Straight and Michael Jaime-Becerra. Tod was too funny; Susan said that each time she gets together with Tod her face hurts (from laughing, to be clear). I will be moderating a panel on LitBlogs at the West Hollywood Book Fair in September. I might need to compare notes with you before then. By the way, thanks for posting your picture; you look great!
I was fortunate enough to attend the litblog panel over the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tod Goldberg was out-of-his-mind hilarious. However, the talk of profitability had this swerve effect on what y’all came there to talk about: where are litblogs going? how do they fit in the larger lit stratosphere?
The after-buzz of the panel got me thinking, and I put some of those thoughts down here: http://losangeles.broowaha.com/article.php?id=1405
Great panel & great site!