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Blook is the name for a new and special kind of book. It is a paper product, printed conventionally or digitally, and bound traditionally, but the content originates from an internet blog.

Blog is a portmanteau word formed by fusing web log, a website containing the random commentary or opinions of an individual or a group. Keepers of weblogs are known as bloggers and the subjects treated range from politics to business and from personal prejudices to science. Seemingly, the term weblog dates from 1997 and the shortened blog from 1999.

Bloggers deservedly have mixed reputations. They are the free marketeers of ideas operating unconstrained (in the main) from editors or proprietors. In effect, the blogosphere is without accountability and the integrity and veracity of the
conversational-style texts pass without serious scrutiny.

Notwithstanding these remarks, I have strayed from the original proposition of a blook. Arguably the most prominent blook of recent times is Baghdad’s Burning by an anony­mous Iraqi female blogger. It deals with the occupation and unrest in the country and has attracted widespread attention. Indeed the title was longlisted for the prestigious 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction worth £30,000. Hence a blook for the first time competed alongside books of a customary provenance. More exclusive for ‘electronic creations’ is the Lulu Blooker Prize valued at $4,000. Lulu.com is a business designed to bridge the gulf between blog-inspired titles and conventionally conceived volumes.

As might be expected, the styles of writing diverge in blooks and books. Blook texts tend to have an informality and conversational intimacy, whereas books appear to be more thoroughly digested and structured. They come from different literary heritages.