Remember when everyone looked at you funny the first time you used the word "blog"? Well, here's a new one for you: Blook.  What's a blook? Blog + book = blook. According to Lulu Publishers, "A blook is a book with content that was developed in a significant way from material originally presented on a blog, web-comic or other website. This material includes the website's characters, themes, ideas or outline that ends up getting published as a printed book." Blooks are getting a lot of attention right now because the first ever Blooker Prize -- the world's first literary prize devoted to this new form of content -- was awarded this week (grand prize: $2,000). Lulu Publishers sponsors it. This year's winner is Julie & Julia,

a non-fiction work by Julie Powell who spent an entire year cooking all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. What a great blog that must have been! I am not that into cooking, nor do I cook well.  But, I am still intrigued by this book's topic. If I wasn't reading so many books on search engine optimization and buzz marketing, I probably would make time to read it. (The two other winners -- each winning $1,000 -- were Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest and and a comic book, Totally Boned, by Zach Miller.) According to the Lulu, traditional publishing houses frequently scout for new talent in the blogosphere. Seems appropriate. There is lot of great talent out there. My guess is that blooks will soon be a dime a dozen. The next big thing? Blookisodes.