The Wall St. Journal reports today that video podcaster and energetic force of nature Gary Vaynerchuk has signed a “seven-figure, 10-book deal” with publisher Harper Studio. The first of the series, “Crush It! Turn Your Passion into Profits in a Digital World,” will be published in September.

The publishing contract is noteworthy for a couple of reasons: the total dollar amount is large (all those zeroes!), and, outside the rarefied atmosphere of Internet video and Twitter, Vaynerchuk is relatively unknown.

On the Internet, however, “GaryVee” is something of a rock star. He has a legion of fans [80,000 viewers, according to Tech Crunch] who watch his weekday wine video podcast, “Wine Library TV.” He has additional video projects, including Gary Vaynerchuk.com, and a small-but-growing roster of web shows featuring other personalities, like Samantha Ettus’ “Obsessed.” Over 100,000 people follow him on Twitter. He gives keynote addresses to big audiences at geeky conferences like Web 2.0, and South by Southwest.

Although his initial popularity came via his knowledge of wine (he is the owner of the retail store Wine Library), Vaynerchuk quickly expanded his subject matter to include entrepreneurial advice, social media expertise, and general all-around enthusiasm about the things and people he’s crazy about.

This is not the first time a podcaster has landed a lucrative publishing deal. Other content creators, including science/horror author Scott Sigler, have parlayed writing talent and a monster-sized online fan base into book contracts, introducing their new media creations to an old media audience. [See our interview with Sigler here.]

This is not Vaynerchuk’s first foray into writing and publishing, either. His book, “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World,” was published by Rodale in summer 2008, and was the centerpiece of a “social media book tour” which was organized and publicized on a shoestring budget via social media.

Our exclusive interview with Vaynerchuk, from the Des Moines stop on his book tour, is here. While we talked, he was smart, funny, kind, and so boundlessly energetic, it was very hard to keep up.

We’ll be interested to see if he can “bring the thunder” (a catch phrase from his Wine Library podcast) of his online popularity into the old-media, book-buying public.