I have decided to blog about more than books. The idea is to get the creative juices flowing and get back in the habit of posting by writing about my life and perspective. I am also trying to stay off Twitter and Facebook for the month of January.
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Should book blogging be pure love of reading or corrupted by financial motives? Or is it maybe some place awkwardly in between?
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I periodically get in funks where nothing quite seems to “work” for me and I find myself reading three or four books at one time looking for something that will connect or get the juices flowing again; something that compels me to write because I want to get my opinion down rather than writing because I haven’t written anything here for awhile.
Continue readingTo be successful at blogging do you need to read and comment on blogs?
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As I have noted before, the fine folks over at NetGalley operate sort of like an open bar for alcoholics. People who just don’t have enough books to read can get a hold of even more! I kid, of course, as it is a very convenient way to get review copies without making your TBR pile even more of a fire hazard.
Speaking of which, one such digital galley I picked up was The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarrella. Since social media plays a big role in my “day job” I thought it would be worth checking out.
It turned out to be a useful approach but a very basic introduction. A useful and easy to read book for those just looking to explore social media marketing and want to know how to get started.
More after the jump.
Be sure to read Mark Athitakis: The Way of the Litblog. This quote is worth the price of admission:
I suspect that when somebody says that blogging had a “golden age,” the person means that there was a time (circa 2002) when it felt new and exciting, and the media wanted to do stories about it, and some people got a lot of attention really quickly (book deals! movie options!), and everybody got to have lively discussions and post pictures of puppies or argue about string theory, and it was a thrill because we all had a brand-new toy to play with and we knew who was reading us and we were finally, finally, getting some interesting e-mail. That moment has passed, so it’s easy for media folk to say blogging is old hat and move on to the new. But blogging remains a valid form, and Twitter is no replacement for it. (Twitter is more a supplemental form, I think—a supplement to a supplement.) What other online format besides blogging allows people to write at various lengths, distribute to a wide audience, and spark conversations? I suppose Facebook might qualify, but it’s a poor vehicle for lengthy, considered thought, and its system is designed to push your ideas only to your closest friends. If blogging is over, nobody’s created a suitable replacement for what blogging does.
Someone envisions it here.