Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers
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97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page iii Blogging Heroes Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers Michael A. Banks John Wiley and Sons 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page ii 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page i Blogging Heroes Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page ii 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page iii Blogging Heroes Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers Michael A. Banks John Wiley and Sons 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page iv Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-19739-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750- 8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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TRADEMARKS: Wiley and related trade dress are registered trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc., in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page v For Patricia, Betsy, Jerry, Roberta, Brandon, Dean, James, pushy James Patrick, Marj, Sharon, and the rest of the wonderful 1988 Worldcon Krewe. 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page vi Credits Acquisitions Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher Katie Mohr Joseph B. Wikert Development Editor Project Coordinator, Cover Maureen Spears Lynsey Osborne Production Editor Compositor Elizabeth Ginns Britten Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama Copy Editor Kathryn Duggan Proofreader Candace English Editorial Manager Mary Beth Wakefield Indexer Jack Lewis Production Manager Tim Tate Anniversary Logo Design Richard Pacifico Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Cover Image Richard Swadley Michael Trent 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page vii About the Author Michael A. Banks is the author of 42 novels and nonfiction books, most re- cently The New York Times bestseller, Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation. He has been a contributing editor for Winmag, Computer Shopper, Writer’s Digest, and other publications. Online since 1979, Banks is a veteran blogger and web consultant. He can be reached at [email protected]. 97394ffirs.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/11/07 12:36 PM Page viii 97394ftoc.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/10/07 10:11 PM Page ix Contents Preface.....................................xi Acknowledgments..............................vii Introduction..................................xix 1 Dave Taylor: The Intuitive Life Business Blog...............1 2 Chris Anderson: The Long Tail......................13 3 Gina Trapani: Lifehacker.........................25 4 Ina Steiner: AuctionBytes........................33 5 Mary Jo Foley: All about Microsoft ...................43 6 David Rothman: TeleRead........................55 7 Frank Warren: PostSecret ........................63 8 Mike Masnick: Techdirt .........................79 9 Mark Frauenfelder: BoingBoing.net ...................91 10 Robert Scoble: Scobleizer........................101 11 Peter Rojas: Engadget..........................111 12 John Neff: Autoblog...........................123 13 Ken Fisher: Ars Technica .........................133 14 Deborah Petersen: Life in the Fast Lane................145 97394ftoc.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/10/07 10:11 PM Page x x Blogging Heroes 15 Joel Comm: JoelComm.com.......................153 16 Brian Lam: Gizmodo...........................163 17 Kristin Darguzas: ParentDish .......................171 18 Chris Grant: Joystiq ...........................179 19 Scott McNulty: The Unofficial Apple Weblog.............191 20 Philipp Lenssen: Google Blogoscoped .................199 21 Brad Hill: Weblogs, Inc. .........................207 22 Steve Rubel: Micro Persuasion .....................213 23 Rebecca Lieb: ClickZ...........................219 24 Deidre Woollard: Luxist.........................227 25 Gary Lee: An Internet Marketing Web Site ..............233 26 Richard MacManus: Read/WriteWeb .................241 27 Eric T.: Internet Duct Tape.......................247 28 Victor Agreda: DIY Life .........................257 29 Steve Garfield: Steve Garfield’s Video Blog..............265 30 Grant Robertson: Download Squad ..................275 Further Reading...............................283 Index .....................................285 97394fpref.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/10/07 10:11 PM Page xi Preface “I’ve been too busy blogging to, well, talk about blogging.” —Owen Thomas, Editor, Valleywag.com rojects that are simple in appearance usually turn out to be complicated. PIf you’ve ever built a deck or planned a cross-country trip, you know that. This book is a good example. On the face of it, it seems simple enough: ask a bunch of bloggers questions about blogging, and then put the questions and answers into a book. But, as I knew going in, there was far more to it than that. Bare Q&A is rarely attractive. More often than not, it’s boring—like read- ing a deposition. So creating this book would involve far more than putting a bunch of questions and answers into print. The interviews (one per chapter) would require editing. Each chapter would need an introduction, with back- ground about the blog and relevant biographical material on the blogger. I felt confident enough about that part (the last biography I wrote made The New York Times bestseller list). The book would also need an introduction, and various other front matter and back matter elements that go into any volume. Knowing that, I could plan the book. I knew that the really difficult parts would come later, in the form of a seemingly endless series of complications, unforeseen events, and those special little problems that accompany the writ- ing of just about any book. Some of the more interesting aspects of putting this book together are described here. The whole process was almost worth blogging about. Questions I started the project as anyone would, by breaking the book down into groups of tasks, by category. 97394fpref.qxd:Blogging Heroes 10/10/07 10:11 PM Page xii xii Blogging Heroes First up, what questions to ask? What to discuss with bloggers? Some questions were obvious—simple icebreakers such as, “How long have you been blogging?” and “Why did you get into blogging?” From there the con- versation would work into more complex matters, such as getting traffic, maintaining quality, dealing with difficulties, and more. Gradually, a small list of questions evolved. (I could omit blog statistics; easily accessible sources like Technorati and Alexa would supply those. Why copy material that was readily available for free? Besides, I was more interested in the people behind the blogs than in the numbers.) Other questions would suggest themselves during the course of each