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Biz Stone, foreword by Wil Wheaton

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A hip and helpful reference for anyone who wants to plunge into the wonderful world of weblogs

FROM ULTRAPERSONAL DIARY entries to specialized information on a wide variety of subjects, blogs have tapped the power of the Internet to create new virtual communities. It's almost laughably easy to set up a blog, but adjusting to life in the blogosphere can be a little more thorny. Who Let The Blogs Out? will let you in on what the bloggerati know, including:

--How to bring traffic to a blog
--Posting etiquette
--Maintaining a blog and keeping it fresh
--How to make money through blogging
--Wielding the power of a blog in any industry
--How to keep your blog from getting you fired

Blogging has moved out of geek culture and into the mainstream. Who Let The Blogs Out? is not just a how-to-get-started guide but a next-generation blogging book for anyone who wants to keep their blog blooming.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Who Let the Blogs Out?

A Hyperconnected Peek at the World of WeblogsBy Stone, Biz

St. Martin's Griffin

Copyright © 2004 Stone, Biz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0312330006
Why Would Anyone Want to Blog?
 
Without my blog, I'd be Just another forgotten former child actor, dug up every decade or so on a "Where are they now?" program. I'd be frustrated and broke. However, by writing in my blog, I found a passion for storytelling, and maybe even a second career. I'm happy and able to support my family doing something that I love. -Wil Wheaton
 
My sister lives in a small house with two greyhounds, three cats, and her husband. She makes great vegan banana bread. When I visit, the dogs get nervous. They take turns staring at me. They keep watch just to make sure I don't unfurl my hidden wings and fly off with one of the cats.
 
During one of these occasional visits I will enjoy banana bread while chatting with Mandy (that's my sister) and Garo (that's her husband). I've already converted Garo, to the way of blogging-he keeps a blog for his band. We will start talking about how Mandy would love to one day work for herself, maybe something having to do with herbs. She loves herbal remedies and knows a lot about them. Before long, the conversation inevitably turns toward blogs. It's a sickness with me.
 
"Mandy, you should start a blog."
 
Her nose wrinkles, and she says she could never do that. She doesn't like the idea of strangers reading what she does or knowing anything about her. Never mind strangers, she adds. Even worse than that, people she knows could go on the web and read about her. This is typical of someone who "doesn't get" blogging.
 
Don't misunderstand me, privacy is a valid concern in the blogosphere. What my sister is missing about blogs is that they are whatever you make of them. Mandy doesn't have to put anything personal on her blog. It can be more of a professional undertaking. This doesn't win her over. Her nose is still all bunched up, and now she's got one eye half closed. Some people need a little more encouragement. Or maybe it's just been a while since I last bathed.
 
If Mandy started a blog about herbology, she could call it Herblog. Nice. That works on many levels. Okay, so Mandy is interested in eventually starting up a small home business somehow relating to herbs. A blog could help her in the endeavor. Let's look at how her herbal blogging initiative might play out.
 
She starts a blog with a simple editorial direction: surf the web for a few hours every week looking for herb websites, recipes, remedies, and products. Link to these sites and include opinions, reviews, and thoughts. If she allows commenting on her posts, her readers can help define her editorial vision with feedback.
 
She could kick-start her blog's traffic by telling all her friends and family about it. Or better yet, if she has some friends with blogs, she could ask them to link to it. She could also spend twenty bucks on grassroots text-­based advertising, but she doesn't need to because if she keeps her editorial focus on herbology, Mandy's blog will start attracting web searchers and that's good be­cause they're looking for information about herbs-and she's got it.
 
My sister could slowly hone her knowledge of herbs and homeopathy while simultaneously building a de­voted readership. Let's say she keeps at this for one year. That is a year of knowledge retained in her blog, and, more important, her readership grows larger every month. With a good amount of traffic and a niche topic, Mandy could put some content-targeted advertising on her blog and make a modest amount of revenue. She's also well on her way to becoming the web guru of herbs. When people go searching for a savvy herbologist (maybe an acquiring editor?), they're going to land on Mandy's Herblog. Eventually Mandy will discover that there are several benefits of blogging. Some of these benefits are professional, others are personal.
 
Benefits of Blogging
 
It really doesn't matter if your blog is focused on a hobby, your work, politics, or lust what you do during the course of your day. Blogging is information sharing, and the more you research and share, the more you gain expertise in your area of interest, even if that area is only "things that interest me." Every post you publish is added to your life's work, and that work is a window on your mind. Even if all you do is collect and publish bookmarks, the very links you choose to publish tip your hand. Blogging is an everyday practice of searching, thinking, and writing. There are many benefits to this exercise.
 
Blogging Makes You Smarter
With a seemingly infinite supply of information on the Internet, a blogger is forced to choose wisely when offering up a link.  Then that blogger is tasked with adding succinct commentary to explain why that link is blogworthy. This in and of itself is not so hard, but doing it every day exercises the analytical mind because it force us not only to choose what we think is interesting but also to pinpoint why we think it is. Then, we convey those thoughts in a short descriptive paragraph.
 
Blogging is an information­-saturated lifestyle filled with contemplation and expres­sion. It doesn't seem like this at first, because bloggers are never expected to do much more than blast out a few posts a day as the mood strikes, but the cumulative effect is smartening. Is that a word? See how I think about these things? You can tell I'm a blogger.
 
Blogging and the blogosphere is all about the cumula­tive effect. Millions of blogs are making the web smarter and thousands of posts are making you smarter. Not Just smarter either, but more successful. Let me give you an example.
 
Blogging Scenario: Getting a Book Deal Via Blog
 
I mentioned that an acquiring editor might spot Mandy's blog. This is not out of the realm of possibility.
Back in the day, book deals were few and far between. You had to be a literary genius, a member of the super­elite writerly crowd, or some kind of insanely talented professional in your field. Then you needed an agent, a publicist, and a body of work to prove you had what it takes to be part of the chosen few, the noble, the proud, the published.
Now, you just need a blog and some chutzpah. Blog­ging is hooking people up with book deals willy-nilly. If you've always wanted to see your name on the shelf at Barnes & Noble and have an urge to tell your friends, "I can't come out tonight; my editor is breathing down my neck," then blogging is the place to start. There are bloggers out there on the web getting book deals right now. What are the secrets of blog-to-book success?
 
Become Obsessed
 
That's how I got my first deal. I became obsessed with blogging five years ago when I discovered how easy it was and realized that a revolution was at hand. I talked about blogging so much that my friends thought I was a freak, and people mostly rolled their eyes whenever I opened my mouth. But hey, I'm an author now. This obsessive fixation can work for you too. Obsessive behavior is treatable, but if left unchecked, it can land you some sweet gigs.
 
Julie Powell managed to swing her abnormal behavior into a book deal too. Down on her luck in Queens, New York, Julie said "Fuck this!" (I think she really did say that, she swears a lot) and decided to blog-u-ment her crazy scheme...