Review: Accessible, realistic, and genuinely helpful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2013
For authors of every variety, building a brand on the internet is the pivotal foundation to marketing books and cultivating readership. In today's technology-driven world an online presence is practically a necessity, and when we start to dissect the facets of internet success we're quick to find that all roads lead to blogging. Indie author and blogger extraordinaire Molly Greene has taken the determined initiative to highlight what makes a powerful blog in her book, Blog It!, where she whittles down the many overwhelming aspects of beginning a blog and curates them specifically for authors. Covering everything from choosing the right platform to managing subscribers, Greene delivers answers to the myriad questions every new blogger is apt to ask. And she answers them swiftly, sensibly, and succinctly.I found Blog It! to be wonderfully achieved: at once informative and organized, balanced in a way that will excite future bloggers (and even existing ones) without instilling them with the feeling of being in over their heads. Greene has a very capable approach to topics that many aspiring bloggers often chew over in uncertainty, and her ability to simplify some of blogging's more complex areas makes her a terrific guide. I nodded along to many of her suggestions, such as comparing and contrasting free and self-hosted blog platforms, and I even learned some new things myself (proof that even longtime bloggers are at risk for missing out on some of the field's new technology and helpful tools). Greene also extols the relevance of good social media conduct (i.e. being kind!) and explores the ever-complicated art of developing a steady Twitter following. While it caters to authors, I would definitely attest that Blog It! presents something for bloggers of every milieu and will likely help any blogger to better understand the virtues and pitfalls of successful blogging.I enjoyed her chapters on content and audience, especially. Greene knows that keeping a blog isn't as simple as writing things down and pushing that "Publish" button; she helps the reader to understand how they can make their content work for them, and what it takes for blog posts to be useful to readers. Likewise, her focus on engaging readers and building community defines the reasoning that no blogger is an island and, in fact, that a blog can help a writer connect to their peers (as well as their readers) in a whole new way. Accessible, realistic, and genuinely helpful, Blog It! is a must-read from a celebrated blogger and talented author.(Review  Casee Marie, originally published on May 29, 2013 at LiteraryInklings.com. I received a copy of the book for the purpose of review.)