Blogs vs. Vlogs

by Michelle Gagnon

I recently branched out from "adult" novels to young adult, and with that transition has come a major shift in marketing strategy. One of the main differences is that a significant chunk of my book reviews have been done by vloggers: video reviews, in lieu of blog reviews.

I have to confess, I've only seen a handful of these. I don't know if it's a sign of my age, but I'm much more likely to read a blog post than to watch a video review, even if the blog post takes me twice as long to read as a vlog would take to watch. I'm not entirely sure why: I consume plenty of media, heck, I'm as guilty of wasting time on YouTube as anyone. I own an iPad, and watch most of the tv series that I follow on that, rather than on my tv. But for some reason, internally I draw the line at vlogs. Yet apparently that's where the younger audience is.  Many YA authors actually contribute to group vlogs, rather than blogs.

In the interest of full disclosure, I actually attempted to compose a video portion of this entry to show the difference. Three times. And each time, I was more than a little horrified by how it turned out. In my humble opinion, one of the great benefits of my job is that I can sit in the confines of my home in my pajamas, hair unbrushed, face unwashed, and log in a full day of work. Granted, I occasionally frighten the UPS delivery guy, but over time he's learned to squint and focus above my head while I sign for packages.
All I can say is that vloggers are brave souls. Or maybe they're just better about their personal hygiene.
What do you think? Anyone out there prefer a vlog to a blog?