Why read a book about Blogging? I’ve been blogging for a couple of years, so why read what seems to be a “beginners” book – Born to Blog ? Simple answer – Mark Schaefer. He was an early inspiration with Tao of Twitter, and one of the digital media folks I always look to for trends – so I thought it was worth a read [the book is co-written with Stanford Smith of PushingSocial].
I would recommend it:
- If you’re trying to encourage others to blog
- If you want to take a fresh look at your own blog
- If you want some inspiration to keep going
[That probably covers 90% of you!]
First of all it’s a quick read – well paced, easy to grasp, but packed full of useful items. As much as I enjoy some of the meatier books out there, such as Lee Odden’s Optimize, sometimes, they can be a bit of a slog! Not so with Born to Blog. You’ll find a couple of actionable ideas in every chapter (and there are 21 chapters…)
The top 3 sections for me:
- The Minimum Viable Blog – i.e Keeping it simple
- The four types of content (Evergreen, Identity, People, and Bread & Butter). Intrigued? You’ll have to buy the book to find out more!
- Blog set-up checklist (pg 152). A simple guide to getting it done.
Sure, there’s some basic material covered throughout – but that makes it useful at any level. I’m planning to share it with some wannabee bloggers in my company, to give them the tools to get stated. But with triple digit blog posts under my belt, I found plenty of takeaways too.
Bottom line. If you’re interested in blogging, at any level, buy Born to Blog. You won’t regret it.
Steve Cummins - B2B Tech Marketer 
Totally agree – I’ve been reading it, in bits and pieces, as it’s so easy to fit in a chapter here and there, put it down for a week, and pick right back up again. Lessons are easy to digest and, as you point out, inspirational for bloggers at any level. I’ve been blogging for less than a year… but thought the title would have made a great autobiography for me, had Mark not already taken it. Love your idea of using it as a teaching tool to newbie additions to your company’s social marketing team.