Glenn's Book and Blogonomics

As most of you are well aware, Glenn Greenwald has written a book. Though it has yet to be released, Amazon.com started taking pre-orders on Tuesday. By the end of the day, the book was atop Amazon's best sellers list and has stayed there all week. And that's without the benefit of any publicity campaign other than online word of mouth. That's a rather stunning development, one that has even provoked the bewildered admiration of Byron York at the National Review.

Earlier today Kevin Drum shrugged off York's confusion, observing that "big liberal blogs started pushing their readers to pre-order Greenwald's book on Amazon, with the specific goal of driving up its Amazon ranking. And it worked. Mystery solved."

I don't think Kevin is giving Glenn nearly enough credit. It's true that a lot of people read Atrios, Daily Kos, Digby, and the other liberal bloggers who encouraged their readers to buy Glenn's book. But people don't just go plunk money down on a book because some blogger told them to, especially not weeks before the book is released. To the contrary, I suspect that nearly all the people who have purchased the book are people who became familiar with Glenn's writing through his blog. They are people who know that Glenn is a fantastic writer who consistently delivers top-notch commentary and analysis. They know what to expect from him and are confident they are purchasing a quality product. I know because I'm one of them. I bought the book the first chance I got.

I suspect that the reason Glenn's book is selling so much better (at least so far) than books by other prominent bloggers (Glenn Reynolds, Hugh Hewitt, etc.) has to do with why people read his blog in the first place. Glenn is what I would call a "primary content" blogger. People stop by Unclaimed Territory to read what Glenn has to say, not to see what interesting thing he has chosen to link to that day. He is primarily a provider of original content, not an internet shepherd like Atrios or Glenn Reynolds. I think that's why Glenn's readers have been so eager to buy his book. They know it will be very much like what they are used to reading from him on a daily basis, just is longer form.

The success of Glenn's book is potentially a significant event in the evolution of the blogosphere. As a relatively new medium, the economics of blogging has not yet fully worked itself out. For most, like myself, blogging is a hobby, not an income earning activity. Those who blog for a living either work for a news organization or have sufficiently high traffic to be able to eke out a living on ad revenue. But Glenn may be paving the way for another economic model. Glenn's online writing--which is free to the world--has allowed him to introduce himself and build a relationship with a large number of political consumers, who in turn have shown a desire and willingness to purchase his book. I have no idea how much money this will generate for him, but it seems that, at least in theory, a blogger/author with a loyal following could make a decent living by maintaining a blog and publishing books periodically, particularly if the books are timely and priced reasonably like Glenn's is.

If Glenn's book continues to sell well, it will undoubtedly encourage publishers to troll the blogosphere looking for talent, and that can only be a good thing. The more enticing blogging becomes from an economical perspective, the more talented writers will join the fray (and stay there). I hope that many years from now, people will look back on this as a key moment in the early history of the blogosphere.