Personal blogs turn into best-selling books in Egypt

Blogging has become something we’re really familiar with, especially in the Middle East. Middle East bloggers mainly talk politics, Entertainment, and personal issues and daily problems. But imagine when a girl talks on her blog about her daily adventures in finding her “Future Husband” and then this blog gets turned into a book that sells more than some famous best-sellers.

This is what “Dar El Shorouk”, one of the leading publishers in Egypt, is doing through their series called “El Shorouk Blog”. The books they’ve released so far are, “This is my Dance” by Ghada Mohammad Mahmoud, “Egyptians’ Café” by Mohammad Kamal & Moustafa AlHusseiny, “Alexandria/Beirut” by Nermin Nizar, “I Want to get Married” by Ghada Abel Aal, and “Rice Pudding for Two” by Rehab Bassam.

These books originated normally by their writers as a blog, with several entries, following a certain theme in some cases. Their writers aren’t professional ones, but they write with sensitivity, that’s why they managed to touch the hearts of so many, and were able to sell more and more.

“I Want to get Married” by Ghada Abdel Aal for example is a diary-like book, about this pharmacist who is in her late twenties, she happens to meet all kinds of men but never “the right one”. The book made a big success that it was turned into a TV series!

“Rice Pudding for Two” by Rehab Bassam, is made of sensual stories, of the daily life and the bright imagination of the writer. All the other books have almost the same style but with different characteristics.

The idea of this series was brilliant, as it drew more attention to the world of bloggers, and now more bloggers get to publish books, sometimes based entirely on what they’ve published online.

news@theasian.asia