I'm always on the lookout for blogging books to recommend clients. A few I recommend are in the right lower side bar. The latest one I'm recommending for new bloggers is Blog 101: Why YOU Need a Blog and How to Make it Successful by Kyra Reed. It's a downloadable ebook available on Kyra's blog, blog101 for $19.95.
Blog 101 is an introduction to blogging for beginners. It covers the basic definitions, history and benefits of having and maintaining a blog. Blog 101 takes the reader through step-by-step instructions on setting up and populating a blog, integrating into the blogosphere and building the vital online community necessary for a blog to be a success!
Kyra was nice enough send me a free copy to review.
My Review
When it comes to blogging, there's a wealth of information out there, from the daddy of them all, Problogger to up-and-comers like Blog About Your Blog. While the information is available elsewhere, it's wonderful to have one document like blog101 to centralize the information.
In other words, Kyra's book is nothing new. And that's o.k. because its strength is that it's amazingly comprehensive. She give you tons of information you need to start blogging. Most importantly, she links to various websites and blogs you must check out. And the wonderful thing about reading an ebook on your computer is that you can double click the links and immediately see what Kyra's talking about. Try that with a traditional book.
One word of caution, while blog101 is a great book for beginners, it's really slanted towards bloggers who are promoting a business. So if you're a blogger who just wants to write about a passion, hobby or your life, some of the information may not apply or may be overwhelming.
My only kvetch with blog101 is that there are a few typos that a good editor would find. That's the problem with self-publishing. You don't see those little boo-boos because you've read the document thousands of time. I would recommend to Kyra to get a freelance writer with strong editing skills to go over the document and correct those typos. Yes, it may cost a little money, but it's something anyone who's self-publishing an ebook should do.
blog101 - A Write Spot Recommended ebook - check it out!
