A few weeks ago, the editors of the Huffington Post published their entrée into the field of blogging with their “Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging.” An avid fan of the Huffington Post, I thought I might take a look at the book and see if I might learn a thing or two from the writers of one of the most popular blogs in the world.
Arriving at the Barnes and Noble in suburban Washington DC, I immediately found a copy on the front table. A quick look at this thin paperback and I was immediately struck with an Uh oh!
It should have come as no surprise to an active blogger like myself, having followed numerous other blogs on the topic (CopyBlogger.com, ChrisBrogan.com, ProBlogger.net, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, et al) that I may have read this advice many times before. Did I need another bit of advice from an uber-blogger about writing every day, creating my voice and staying focused on my niche? I had my doubts.
I sighed, put the book down and walked away.
A week or two passed, my supply of non-fiction had dwindled and I found myself at Barnes and Noble again. Hmmm. One copy left, I noticed. The remaining copy was a bit dog-eared but, what the hell, it’s only fifteen bucks. A few minutes later, I was the proud owner of my very own copy of the latest tract on blogging for fun and profit.
Some weeks later having completed my read of this effort, I felt a bit underwhelmed but oddly satisfied with my read on this subject. A whopping 230 pages of insight and commentary on blogging (including acknowledgments and Glossary), the book was full of anecdotes, white space and rudimentary “how to” instructions for the beginning blogger. This was particularly handy in cutting my reading time down to two sittings before bed.
I can continue to grind away at the book but let me say a couple of positive things about it. First, it does deliver as a guide to blogging. If I had not read another book on the subject, the Complete Guide to Blogging delivers. It explains in sufficient detail the technology of blogging, how to set up your first blog, software choices and so on. It also gets to the point about blogging on a consistent basis if you, as a fledgling blogger, hope to attain some success.
Second, the Complete Guide to Blogging also does a commendable job of telling the history and the great success of the Huffington Post. As a case study of how Arianna Huffington and her colleagues pulled this off, I recommend this book for this reason alone. While I found the guest commentaries peppered throughout the book to be rather tiring, many of them serve to explain how Arianna Huffington managed to harness her considerable networking talents and create a New Media machine. Herein lies the value in this book. The Complete Guide to Blogging is not so much a guide as it is a case study of the business of blogging.
If you are interested in becoming a successful blogger, take a quick look at this book then look for other references online that will hammer you with detailed advice. However, if you are interested in an interesting tale about the evolution of a business in the age of new media, spend a few nights with this book and take a few lessons from the Huffington experience.
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