Want To Write A Book About Your Favorite Band?

Continuum’s 33 1/3 series is by far the best collection of books on rock records… In fact, it’s pretty much the only one that continually publishes works on a strong range of albums. They’ve gotten a strong showing on numerous “best of” listings for 2008 for a number of books on records such as Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality (written by the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle) and Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love (by Carl Wilson).

And now you can write one too. Continuum’s call for open proposals for the 33 1/3 series has been out for a couple of months, and the deadline is fast approaching. But, there is still time to submit a proposal – you have until midnight on New Years Eve.

What are they looking for? Here’s a quick peek:

“Regarding your choice of album: this is entirely up to you. I don’t, sadly, have the time to answer emails asking “would album X stand a better chance than album Y?” – so use your best judgment here. My advice would be this: we are looking to sell some books. That’s the bottom line. If you are absolutely convinced that we could sell 4,000 or 5,000 copies of a book about your chosen album, then go for it.”

For more information, check out the blog and specific submission entry.
The question for this blog is will an emo album be picked out of the lucky handful that are selected? True, Weezer’s Pinkerton is on the table for future publication, but the merits of that being a true emo album/band versus the impact of that band/album on 3rd wave emo acts is debatable and could formulate an entire book. So, that aside, will an undeniable emo album be selected for future publication?

Judging from the comments on the blog, the possibilities are there. One commenter has been a vehement supporter of writing about emo albums:

“Blogger transylvanian said…

Here’s a question. Who would buy a book about a modern post-hardcore/emo band like Brand New (any of their records), Say Anything (…is a Real Boy), or Thrice (Vheissu, The Illusion of Safety)?

I have serious plans to write either a Brand New or Say Anything book. I believe these boos would be awesome, but I also believe they’d sell a lot of copies.”

I’d love to see the total listing of submissions, which will no doubt be posted on the blog. Fingers crossed for everyone who has submitted a proposal!