Making the leap from blog to book is harder than it looks

'Julie & Julia" was just the beginning.

Austin native Julie Powell's blog-turned-book-turned-movie set the precedent for just how far a little old food blog could go, and even though she wasn't the first blogger to score a book deal, the success of her book almost six years ago has agents and publishers scouring the Web for the next big food blogger to publish.

But for every Powell (and, for now, she's the only one: Columbia Pictures bought the rights to make a movie based on Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond's blog and books, with Reese Witherspoon rumored to play the lead, but production isn't guaranteed), there are thousands of food bloggers who won't make the transition to book author.

But the best - or perhaps luckiest - of that incredibly strong and fast-growing community of food bloggers are people like Molly Wizenberg, who has leveraged her popular blog, Orangette, into a writing career that includes a book ("A Homemade Life," Simon & Schuster, 2009) and articles in magazines including Bon Appetit.

Ten years after "blog" was just another made-up tech word that most Americans snickered at, bloggers are capitalizing on their online success to write everything from memoirs to culinary travel books to cookbooks akin to science textbooks and cookbooks that are traditional except for the fact that the author also took all the photos. (See box for a list of some of the recently published books written by food bloggers.)

At the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, Wizenberg and a handful of those bloggers-turned-authors will talk about the increasing impact of food blogs, including their effect on the book industry.

In many ways, food bloggers are ideal first-time authors. A well-developed blog is like a virtual book whose chapters are spread out over many months. Bloggers not only cook the food and write the posts, they photograph the dishes and market the content through social media streams such as Twitter and Facebook, all without getting paid a cent.

But what some see as earnest enthusiasm, some in the publishing industry see as naivete. Kirsty Melville, president of Andrews McMeel Publishing, says that bloggers often lack experience in creating a longer-form package that feels like a well-thought-out book instead of a series of impromptu, casual blog posts. "A blogger has to be prepared to be edited and critiqued," she wrote in an e-mail. "Some don't like this."

But successful bloggers have already developed a voice, a niche and - most attractive to a potential publisher - a built-in audience. "Bloggers aren't reaching as many people as, say, a TV person, but the audience they have is very engaged, and it's a two-way conversation through comments, e-mails and social media," says Lisa Fain, a Houston native and former Austinite whose blog-turned-book, "Homesick Texan," will come out later this year.

Another advantage of having a dedicated fan base? Readers who are eager to test recipes and give feedback. Steamy Kitchen blogger Jaden Hair says that more than 1,000 readers asked to help test recipes for her book, "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook" (Tuttle, 2009).

Bloggers also can reach audiences that publishers didn't even know existed. When Fain started her blog in 2005, she thought only Texans or former Texans would want to read about making brisket and beans in a tiny Manhattan kitchen, but through the years, she's drawn readers from around the world who are simply curious about Texas culture.

Neither publishers or regular readers are interested in books that are a replica of a food blog. "Blog readers are going to be your biggest fans, and they won't be happy if it's all reprinted from the blog," Hair says.

But it's inevitable that some of the signature stories, recipes and photos that won over fans will be part of a printed product. For Fain's upcoming book ("The Homesick Texan Cookbook," Hyperion, due out in September), she says she's reusing some of the "greatest hits" from her blog such as migas and chicken-fried steak, but two-thirds of the book will be completely new content, including photographs.

"My pictures are part of the package and the brand," Fain says. Her photos are all shot in her tiny New York kitchen, and if the publisher had insisted on bringing in an outside photographer and a stylist, the book wouldn't feel like her blog. Even the choice of typeface, color palette and design elements are based on what already exists on her blog. (You'll notice a shade close to burnt orange all over Homesick Texan. "Even though I didn't go to UT, I'm a secret Longhorn," she says.)