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The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by The editors of the Huffington Post
Book Summary InformationAuthor: The editors of the Huffington Post Foreword: Arianna Huffington Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-12-02 ISBN: 1439105006 Number of pages: 240 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to BloggingBook Review: Blogging Is Great For Overcoming Writer's Block Summary: 5 Stars
Take it from me, William H. Faulkner, Jr., The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging can transform you from an occasional writer of letters-to-the-editor into a confident blogger who can share your knowledge and opinions with a global audience whenever you want to do so. It has done that for me! If, like me, you have primarily used your computer to write, send, and receive emails, but are intimidated by the more complicated aspects of computer technology, this book is for you. It won't teach you how to be a computer geek, but it can give you the confidence to overcome whatever barriers you experience.
I highly recommend that you buy and read Arianna Huffington's book. You will want to reread some parts; however, its main value is not in the details, but rather, in its overall impact. The book is well-written and fun to read because it's not only very informative, but also humorous and full of good stories. I was lucky to see Arianna being interviewed on TV at a time when I was thinking about starting a home-based business via the internet, only because I had been presented with an opportunity. Suddenly, I knew that, if I was going to drive potential customers to any affiliate website, the ability to blog would be crucial to reaching people and saving on advertising dollars. Immediately, I went online to Amazon.com and bought the book. Of course, HuffPost is a political blog, so I also ordered ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.
Prior to reading the HuffPost book, I had a negative view of blogging as what computer addicts do with no thought about how they use the English language. (You know, garbage in, garbage out.) But as my reading proceeded, I soon became enthusiastic about blogging. Before I finished the book, I had already posted two comments (never previously), one on the Christian Century's blog, and another with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Opportunities kept coming my way!
Now, I have my own website - [...] - where I also have my own blog. I hoped to start posting immediately, but Amazon.com brought me yet another opportunity (to write this book review), so please stay tuned and click on Bill's Blog. And speaking of the English language, you may have noticed that my domain name does not have an apostrophe. (The site will save you some bills ... and some green!) Okay, cyberspace has a few limits, but not many! I still have a lot of freedom with Bill's Blog, and perhaps with your blog as well. No newspaper editor will decide not to publish my letters or limit the content, nor any of your blogging either. So please join me in future discussions of how to achieve a sustainable life on this planet. (What will be the topic of your blog?) And let's give a big thank you to The Huffington Post and Amazon.com!
PS - Did you notice my famous name? Yes, of course I'm related to William Faulkner (he's my father), but no, I'm not related to the famous author. At least I know how to write a short sentence! And "Yes, you can", too! (Rule #7 on page 91 advises: Write Short) I'm an ordinary citizen who recently started my own business and has written this book review (my first) on Inauguration Day. So, Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, let's "Renew America Together"! Okay, Bill, this review is not perfect; hit the "publish" button!
Summary of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to BloggingThe editors of The Huffington Post -- the most linked-to blog on the web -- offer an A-Z guide to all things blog, with information for everyone from the tech-challenged newbie looking to get a handle on this new way of communicating to the experienced blogger looking to break through the clutter of the Internet. With an introduction by Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder and editor in chief, this book is everything you want to know about blogging, but didn't know who to ask. As entertaining as it is informative, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging will show you what to do to get your blog started. You'll find tools to help you build your blog, strategies to create your community, tips on finding your voice, and entertaining anecdotes from HuffPost bloggers that will make you wonder what took you so long to blog in the first place. The Guide also includes choice selections from HuffPost's wide-ranging mix of top-notch bloggers. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Jane Smiley, Bill Maher, Nora Ephron, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ari Emanuel, Mia Farrow, Al Franken, Gary Hart, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam McKay, John Ridley, and Alec Baldwin. Book Description The editors of The Huffington Post--the most linked-to blog on the web--offer an A-Z guide to all things blog, with information for everyone from the tech-challenged newbie looking to get a handle on this new way of communicating to the experienced blogger looking to break through the clutter of the Internet. With an introduction by Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder and editor in chief, this book is everything you want to know about blogging, but didn't know who to ask. As entertaining as it is informative, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging will show you what to do to get your blog started. You'll find tools to help you build your blog, strategies to create your community, tips on finding your voice, and entertaining anecdotes from HuffPost bloggers that will make you wonder what took you so long to blog in the first place. The Guide also includes choice selections from HuffPost's wide-ranging mix of top-notch bloggers. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Jane Smiley, Bill Maher, Nora Ephron, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ari Emanuel, Mia Farrow, Al Franken, Gary Hart, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam McKay, John Ridley, and Alec Baldwin. A Message from Arianna Huffington Dear Amazon customer, I'm thrilled to be working with Amazon.com as an online bookseller and partner for the publication of our new book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Amazon understands how to use the Internet to harness intelligence that enables people to make informed decisions. That mission is similar to that of The Huffington Post, a news and opinion site I co-founded in May 2005, and which has grown to become the most linked-to blog in the world. Bringing people together and sparking interesting conversations among my friends is ingrained in my DNA, and the world of blogging has opened up this passion to endless possibilities. It's fast-paced, limitless, and best of all, there's room for everyone. That's why I'm so excited about our Complete Guide to Blogging--if you have ever tried to start your own blog, wondered if you could, or if you're just an insatiable blog-addict, this book is for you. Our team of editors and contributors has put together all the tools you'll need to build your blog, strategies to create your community, ideas for finding your blogger voice, and countless, hilarious anecdotes and stories. What are you waiting for? Start blogging! Best, Arianna Questions for Arianna Huffington Amazon.com: There are over 100 million blogs in the world, and counting. Does the world need another one? Is it too late to start one that will have any sort of impact? Huffington: There is always room for another blog ? the key is having something to say, and the ability to say it in an interesting way. That combination will allow you to break through in almost any medium, but especially in blogging. New bloggers are rising to the top all the time. Amazon.com: When you meet someone and tell them, "You should blog!" (which it's my understanding happens quite often), what is it about them that makes you think they'd be a good blogger, especially in the long term? Are there some writers you wouldn't say that to? Huffington: I invite people who have an interesting point of view, a provocative way of looking at the world. And the best bloggers tend to be a little obsessed about something. When I see those things, I get excited about offering a platform to express them. One of the original reasons for starting HuffPost was my feeling that some of the most interesting voices in our culture weren't online--and I wanted to make it easier for them to make the transition. Amazon.com: Has the Huffington Post turned out the way you planned? What surprises did you adapt to take advantage of? Huffington: We had our hopes, but no one could have predicted that HuffPost would become such a huge success. One of the things that surprised us was the passion expressed by our community, so we worked hard to provide them an easy way to comment, and an environment where civil discourse is encouraged. Amazon.com: As many people have noted, the Obama campaign was the first to really harness the power of the web for fundraising and organizing. Do you think running in the first heavily blogged election also made his victory more possible? Huffington: Obama's online operation was state of the art--incorporating everything from viral videos to texting-as-a-grassroots-organzing-tool to social networking sites to its online fundraising juggernaut--and was a key component in his success. It wouldn't be overstating things to say that if it wasn't for the web, we'd be inaugurating a different 44th president on January 20th. And thanks to blogging--and YouTube, instant fact-checks, and viral emails--it was much harder for his opponents to use the tactics of the past: fear, smear, and anything goes. Amazon.com: You and your editors have written a book about blogging (while noting the irony of doing so). There's a lot of talk about the relationship between blogs and newspapers, but less so about how blogs will live with books. Aside from the obvious examples of bloggers getting book deals, how do you think blogs and books will affect each other? Huffington: Anything that keeps people reading is a good thing! And blogging has certainly led to a renaissance of sorts for the written word. We live in a culture dominated by visual imagery and communication, so having so much vital writing on the web has helped re-habituate the younger generation to reading ... and hopefully blogs will be a gateway drug that leads them on to the harder stuff of books. And people blogging about books is obviously a great way to promote the best of the new releases (and some deserving older releases that never got the attention they warranted).
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