Sometime last year, a book went all the way across the countries to receive a review from Charles (me!). The title of this book is “Blog Blazers – 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets“. It has been dangling there for quite a while before I have the time to review this book. That’s because I was busy preparing for my wedding and had to reject some of the reviews which came along the way.
This book is written by Stephane Grenier from FollowSteph.com. He had interviewed 40 well-known bloggers inside with a set of standard questions. But before they answered his questions, they were giving the readers a background of who they are (just in case they may not know them). Hence, you will see a total of 40 chapters altogether, and each chapter is about 8 pages of discussion as well as bloggers’ background.
Some of the bloggers interviewed that I heard of are:
- Aaron Wall (SEO book)
- Seth Godin (Marketing Guru)
- Yaro Starak (Entrepreneur’s Journey)
- Dan Lyons (Fake Steve Jobs)
- J.D Roth (Get Rich Slowly)
First Impression
When I receive this book, I have the impression that this seems to be a question and answer book. Every chapter contains one blogger, telling his or her story, and then answering Stephane’s standard set of questions. I got quite tired after reading the same questions, and having answers which are answered similarly in one way or another. But after reading a few more bloggers a while, you will start to get a rhythm. It’s a kind of momentum which you start to understand how a successful blogger thinks in a bigger picture. You will yearn to look for more varieties.
So what kind of questions did he actually ask?
He asked a lot of burning questions consistently to every blogger which we really hope to hear from those high-profile bloggers! Questions such as
- what makes a blog successful,
- when did they decide they have succeed,
- how long it takes to be successful,
- what’s their biggest tip to write a successful post,
- did they spend any money on advertising,
- and so on… (You have to read for yourself!)
So do you think those are really important questions? Yes, I think so myself!
So, who is this book for?
After reading this book, I find that it is giving me a glimpse of the the different bloggers’ mindset. It is not so much about teaching you how to blog, but it gives you the “why” element. It is more recommended for beginner bloggers who had started their blogs for a couple of months. That’s the time where the blogger will start to think whether blogging is for them or not (irregardless of their success rate). This book gives them an idea of how the veteran bloggers had gone through their initial stage of blogging. It is also suitable for the more advanced bloggers who will find this book more like a catching up of any lesson that they had missed previously.
Conclusion
Go and get this book, if you have just started blogging for 3 months, or if you have already been blogging for a few years. It’s a good refresher, and you might have the chance to network with these people now that you are exposed to their existence. They are basically sharing their secrets in creating a high profile, high traffic as well as a high profit blog. 
