How to go from blog to book dealOver the last few year, the publishing industry has been increasingly tapping the blogosphere to uncover the next big things. Six bloggers-turned-real-life-authors explain how they turned their online hobbies into bone-fide book deals
Bloggers
Can the blogosphere topple a government?
The blogosphere may have reacted with the predictable explosion of outrage and vitriol at the announcement of the Government’s plans to filter the internet, but is Australia’s Twitter Army strong enough to take the fight to Conroy and Rudd? We’ll never know unless we try, says Craig Wilson.
Why women make the best bloggers
How come women can have fame and glory as bloggers online but rarely reach the same heights in the offline literary world? asks James Bradley. Is it because blogging lends itself to more chatty girl talk?
Bloggers now eligible for the Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize has relaxed its eligibility requirements to open the award up to more online reporters. With the web increasingly becoming the source for breaking news, it’s surely only a matter of time.
Arianna Huffington: Suck it up, Rupert
Murdoch and his offsiders have called news aggregators “parasites,” “content kleptomaniacs”, and “tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet”. Enough with the name calling, says Arianna Huffington.
Ahmadinejad hates press freedom… but loves blogging
Online journalists in Iran are regularly jailed and shut down for speaking out against the government, even though the country’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is himself a prolific blogger. But the English an Farsi versions of his site tell two very different stories.
Channel Ten now taking programming direction from the blogosphere
Channel Ten has decided to show the US version of The Office in an earlier timeslot due to pressure from bloggers, according to its new promos, which claim: “You blogged. We listened.”
Blogger Belle de Jour’s true identity revealed
The anonymous blogger behind the famous Diary of a London Call Girl diary, which inspired spin-off books and a TV show, has revealed her true identity to the Times: Dr Brooke Magnanti.
Cuban blogger tells: beaten black and blue by government agents
Cuba’s most famous blogger, Yoani Sanchez of Generation Y blogs about her beating and attempted kidnapping by Cuban state security officials while on her way to a peace march in Havana.
Crikey costs trimmed, but not the attitude
The contributor budget has been cut here at Crikey, leading some to fear the publication will be run with a harder commercial edge following recent changes in ownership and management.
Fort Hood: citizen journalists can’t handle the truth
The tweets, blogs and blurry mobile phone photos flooding the internet during the Fort Hood shooting did nothing but spread misinformation and breach the privacy of those killed or wounded in the incident, says Paul Carr.
Stilgherrian: What do journos do better, exactly?
The “bloggers vs. journalists” debate is stupid, says Stilgherrian: of course journalists are better at journalism — they’re the ones doing it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other important roles people can play in the broader media community.
The internet ushers in the age of the ‘amafessional’
The internet has allowed amateurs to directly rival professionals in opportunity, talent, quality and price, says Mark Penn — and not just in the field of journalism; bedroom musicians, artists and authors are all shaking up their respective fields with some serious competition.
When online journalists moonlight as copy-writers 25 bloggers you should read (but probably don’t)
Mediaite has put together a list of the “most talented and influential bloggers” who often fly under the internet’s radar. It’s a great list full of must-reads, though we’d contend that the likes of Andrew Breitbart and Michael Arrington hardly count as “underrated”.
Are independent political blogs dead?
With the leading political blogs increasingly backed by big media outlets, are the days of needing only a PC and an opinion to be an popular online pundit over?
Bolt’s blog: why the apologies will continue
As long as there are no strict guidelines about what the blogger and parent organisation deem to be acceptable reader commentary, we will continue to see more of the same at Andrew Bolt’s blog. Meaning, homophobic comments.
Interview with Iranian blogger: stuff nuclear weapons, what about people’s lives?
Prolific Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad updates the NY Times on the anger still bubbling inside Iran and why sanctions for nuclear weapons misses the human rights issues.
Political snippets: Bloggers beware — here comes the FTC
America’s Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on bloggers taking cash for comment, and how the global recession may have reduced carbon emissions.
The Web’s biggest wankers
A round-up of the online world’s top 10 blowhards, including Michael Arrington, Arianna Huffington and Robert Scoble. We could easily reel off 100, but it’s a good start.
Can bloggers pull a sickie?
An amusing Gawker post recently exposed the large number of sick days taken by Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke. But as blogging become a “real” job, it raises a genuine puzzler for the media industry: can you pull a sickie for a job you already do on the couch in your PJs?
What are the secrets to a happy marriage?
A variety of well known bloggers give out their marriage secrets, from pancakes and coffee in the mornings to writing love notes and having drunken sex whenever possible.
TED: Ideas not worth spreading 
Bloggers who are really, really, ridiculously good looking
Fashion models are not typically known for their powerful intellects or English language skills, but a number of catwalkers are shattering the stereotypes online with their interesting, and sometimes even eloquent, blogs.
Boston Globe / Wednesday, 2 December 2009
As of today, bloggers and tweeters in the US will be required by law to disclose any freebies and payments they get for product reviews or endorsements. Some of them are a bit miffed.