Blog Blackman

Zoe Margolis - the Girl with a One Track Mind – is probably the most famous blogger-cum-author. Except that she tried to it all anonymously. In publishing the author is the brand but by calling herself Girl with a One Track Mind she gave herself an instant identity. Belle du Jour did a similar thing.

Perhaps they rode on then reputation of established by the earlier works of Anonymous.

Girl with a One Track Mind was said to be revolutionary and her expression of female sexuality was subsequently published. By Virgin. Actually it wasn’t, it was Ebury.

This doesn’t sound all that revolutionary to me but there was a feeding frenzy among literary agents earlier in the noughties and when Margolis was “outed” by the tabloids the publicity did wonders for sales at the expense of her privacy.

Belle du Jour is still in cognito. Some say she doesn’t exist.

Blogging allowed them to express themselves but they started when blogging was new. Nowadays it’s much harder to make yourself heard but it’s arguably even easier to make a statement with all the media at our disposal.

I don’t think anyone could make such an impact with their blogs again. I’ve never read a blog book because it’s probably like a diary, which I think lack narrative and are just a series of articles. They would have to be consistently interesting and funny to attract me. I have a negative opinion of the genre before picking one up. If I want to read a blog I’ll read the blog. But for a while blogs were really trendy.

Blogging is another means to connect with people who have similar interests - a platform for me as a brand - and this blog and Engine Punk are already working for me.

But what would be really clever is to anticipate the next trendy thing, the next platform that has a buzz about it simply because it’s new. Lliam West told me once he reckoned his initial success was part of the Eden effect. This raised the profile of Cornwall dramatically and people wanted to have a part of it.

So I’ll watch and I’ll wait and I’ll explore new media. Remember the punk slogan “Don’t fear the media, be the media?” The margins can become mainstream.

Whoever criticized those of us jumping on the latest band wagon was a po-faced old misery who got left behind. I can easily jump off again if I don’t like it. There’ll be another one along soon enough.