We've all read books, and by now, most of us are familiar with Web logs, or blogs. Now there are "blooks," a book with content that was developed from material originally presented in a blog.

Lulu.com, an online publishing company, has set up the Blooker Prize for authors who began their writing as blogs and have turned them into fiction, non-fiction and comic "blooks" in print form.

Paul Jones, a UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor and director of the ibiblio online library and archive, will serve as one of the three judges. Jones spoke recently with education editor Roger van der Horst about this emerging form.

Q: Can you give some examples of the kind of work you're getting?

A: We haven't gotten the blooks yet, so we don't really know what we'll be judging yet. But we know there are books that started out as blogs, we do know they're out there, and we do know they're selling.

There are several you've probably heard of. The "Julie and Julia" book started out as a blog on Salon by Julie Powell, who decided to cook everything by Julia Child [from Child's 1961 cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1].

It's not really new. Charles Dickens was famous for doing serial fiction in the 19th century. He'd come out with an installment that would be published in a newspaper or magazine, then he'd put it all together as a book and sell it again.

Q: So Dickens was the first blooker?

A: I would say that he was. Not only was he a great storyteller, he was an incredible marketing machine. ... "Dombey and Son," that was an example of a lesser-known book but one that was popular at the time. It ran in 19 monthly installments, beginning in October 1846 to April 1848, in a London magazine ... and was later published in one volume.

Q: How might blogs influence traditional authors?

A: Blogs are a good discipline for a writer because you have to write every day ... and they tend to be interactive because your readers can respond to what you're doing. You have ongoing editors, for better or worse. ... Some people blog their books as they are writing them so they can get feedback as they go, so that other people can do research on them and comment on them.

Q: Will blooks replace traditional publishing?

A: Everybody likes to talk about replacement. The answer is: not until there's a business model to support it. There are three things that have to happen for it to work: First, you have to have the material; then, you have to have a culture that reacts to it in some way; then you have to have a business model to sustain it.

Q: What will you be looking for as a judge?

A: I hope to be surprised. This is a fairly new form. The hope is that you get some interesting and challenging new books that are not out there already. ...

First, a blook should be well-written. It should have all the elements of a good book anywhere. ... We're definitely going to be interested in someone's ability to do basic storytelling, to write well, to write paragraphs that make sense.

Q: How will you tell that the material is original?

A: I'm a college professor. I'll have some idea if people were stealing. It's possible we could be hoodwinked, but I hope we aren't.

Q: What's the rubber chicken mean?

A: It means I had it in my office.