Tuesday, October 11, 2005
 the history of blooks by tony pierce
yesterday i got about a dozen emails asking me if i inveted the word "blook" because a contest was announced yesterday devoted to the best "blook" of the year or some shit.
firstly, no, i did not invent the word "blook", that was created by mr. Jeff Jarvis of the Buzzmachine in August of 2002 during a contest that i was holding to name my first book based on my blog posts.
the cover of that book is to the left.
in fact in December of 2002 i died and met kurt cobain and it delayed the release of the original blook, which is documented in this story, which incidentally appears in my latest blook, Stiff, which just happened to be released yesterday.
but i digress.
yes, im aware that Wikipedia claims that others have popularized the term "blook" way back in September of 2005, but one reason i have the disclaimer that i have on this blog is to remind people that as great as the web is, its often flawed, if not completely full of shit.
for example, when i was on the Live from the Blogosphere panel, you can plainly see in my bio it mentioned my (then-)recently published blook,
before that you can read in Buzzmachine that mr. jarvis received his Blook before Christmas of 2002,
infact, even the guy who wikipedia claims popularized the term gave props to jeff and i in a post this year.
although for some reason he fails to mention that i wrote the first blook,
and the second blook Blook II - which ended up being the How To Blog
and now, yesterday, i released my third blook, Stiff.
unfortunately i didnt make any of them through Lulu Press which is hosting the blook contest, i made the first one at a copyshop - which is why it looks like a college reader, and i made the other two at CafePress, who do beautiful work, as anyone who received How To Blog can attest.
which isnt to slight Lulu, but hell, how can you hold the Blooker Prize and not know, hello, the busblog started this gangsta shit.
 will i submit Stiff to the contest?
no.
the older ive gotten the more im aware of politics and if the Lulu people dont give me the award then the naysayers will complain that it was cuz it was a Cafepress blook written by the guy who made the first blook and if had been a Lulu blook blah blah blah
and if i win haters will say oh theyre just apologizing for stealing the name without proper props and there will be drama and blah blah blah.
which isnt to say id refuse a lifetime acheivement award :)
if you put Blook into Google the hackoff.com people are all over it. their marketing machine is tremendous, so good for them.
the fact that in his explaination of how blook was coined, the hackoff dude sorta blurs the story about jeff inventing it and oh yeah pierce sorta wrote a book called blook but these little kids also had a webpage called blook - helps keeps the story fuzzy. which is fine. he's got blooks to sell and he's serious about selling them.
me, i just write em.
if people buy them they buy them. yes i'd like to sell 666 before the year is over but thats just a little goal since my how to blog sold 500 and i think this one is better cuz its a real story and i included my favorite poems as a bonus.
do i care about winning awards? not really.
it was nice winning a Bloggie last year for How To Blog at sxsw because my bros from blogger/google were there and matt from metafilter was there and the lovely sk smith was there, but i didnt put the Bloggie winner button on the busblog, i dont have any lame bio where i list it on any set of accomplishments, it was nice for the moment and then its time to do something else.
plus i want people to like this blog because of what they read in the posts, not because others have praised it. you can give maroon 5 and coldplay all the grammys in the world and they'll still suck.
the idea of blogs and therefore blooks, which Lulu is right, are books made from blog posts, is to kick ass every day and do new things and communicate in an interesting manner. its not to win awards or make a shitton of money or sell out to a particular political party. its to write from the heart, and in my mind, to inspire others to write from their heart.
so yes i know ive influenced others.
that was always the point.
wKen also recieved a blook before Christmas 2002 + buggydoo + bonjour quebec
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