The Wee Blue Book

The Wee Blue Book is a publication created to advance the "Yes" argument in the Scottish independence referendum of 2014. It was written by Stuart Campbell of the pro-independence website Wings Over Scotland.

The 72-page book was published as a digital edition on 11 August 2014, and 300,000 copies[1] were subsequently printed, using money collected in an Indiegogo online fundraising campaign,[2] and distributed across Scotland from the first week of September.[3][4] Within a month, the digital edition had been downloaded 550,000 times.[5] It was also released as an audiobook[6] and narrated video,[7] translated into Gaelic[8] and turned into a standalone website.[9]

The book also commented on the constitutional status of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.[10] The book was described by Spanish news website ABC.es as "Salmond's secret weapon",[11] referring to Alex Salmond. At the end of 2014, some commentators named The Wee Blue Book among their favourite books of the year: author Chris Dolan described it as "iconic" in the Herald,[12] and in The Scotsman journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch made it her top pick for its "portability and sheer audacity".[13]

Subsequent political campaigns have imitated the Wee Blue Book. The MEP group of the Scottish National Party published a similar document - The Wee Bleu Book[14] - for the EU referendum campaign, and the movement for independence for the US state of California (which also appropriated some graphics from Yes Scotland) produced The Calexit Blue Book. [15]

The book was followed in 2016 by The Wee Black Book,[16] a record of events since the independence referendum. The Wee Black Book was distributed as a free download and in a print edition on a paid-for basis, the latter of which sold over 38,000 copies in the two months after its release.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Gray, Michael (15 September 2015). "Corbyn will fail for same reason Yes did not win". The National. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Let's Hit The Streets: Story". Indiegogo. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Time to get busy". wingsoverscotland.com. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Gross, Jenny; Douglas, Jason (2 September 2014). "Knock, Knock for Scottish Independence Ahead of Vote". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Bryant, Ben (11 September 2014). "Cybernat Campbell: The Blogger Trying to Break Up Britain". Vice News. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Scottish Independence Podcast - The Wee Blue Audio Book (made with Spreaker) by Scot Independence Podcast | Free Listening on SoundCloud". Soundcloud.com. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  7. ↑ Scotland's Referendum 2014 - The Wee Blue Book Narrated. YouTube. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "An Leabhar Beag Gorm" (PDF). worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Rev Stuart Campbell (2014-09-18). "Reasons to vote Yes in the Scottish Referendum". The Wee Blue Book. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Peter (17 September 2014). "Carmichael sets record straight on independence comments". The Shetland Times. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Bergareche, Borja (2014-09-17). "El arma secreta de Salmond: el librito azul de la independencia y "lo que no cuentan los medios"" [Salmond's secret weapon: the blue book of independence and "we do not have the means"] (in Spanish). ABC. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  12. ↑ "Books Of The Year 2014: Herald Choices". The Herald. 29 November 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Leading Scots reveal their favourite books of 2014". The Scotsman. 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  14. ↑ "Wee Bleu Book - Scotland in Europe". Scotlandineurope.eu. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  15. ↑ "Yes California Independence Campaign". Yescalifornia.org. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  16. ↑ "The Wee Black Book". Wings Over Scotland. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  17. ↑
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