Blog Blazers Book Giveaway!
If you're in the market for a powerful and user friendly Help Desk solution, please take a look at my company's flagship product HelpSpot.
HelpSpot customer and fellow MicroISV Stephane Grenier just released his work of love, Blog Blazers. The book is a series of interviews Stephane conducted with 40 popular bloggers. I’m honored to be one of the bloggers, though there’s a lot more talented bloggers than myself in the book including the likes of Seth Godin, Eric Sink, Jeff Atwood, etc.
One of the keys to my success if not the primary key has been this blog. While I don’t write as much as I used to, the early years of UserScape and it’s success were almost completely dependent on this blog and the traffic it generated. Without this blog I’d almost certainly be working “For the Man”, filed away in some cubical farm.
While blogs are no longer “new” as they were when I started, I still think they’re a key component to any startups business, especially a MicroISV. Now, one problem with blogs is that it’s often hard to find concise advice on how to blog well. Even just figuring out where to start looking for advice is difficult. Sure there’s lots of “how to blog” links in Google, but few get into the subtle details that make a truly successful blogger. Blog Blazers does just that. If you’re starting out in blogging or want to grow your blogging presence this book is where to start.
Now, Stephane has been kind enough to offer my readers an amazing opportunity. He’s given me 10 copies of Blog Blazers to give away free on this here blog. I’ve thought a lot about how I might give these away. I don’t want to do anything cheesy nor do I have time for a very complicated give away. So here’s what I’ve decided:
To receive a free copy of Blog Blazers be one of the first 10 people to agree to write up a complete review of Blog Blazers on their own blog. That’s it. This is on the honor system. If you’re not going to write up a review about it then please don’t ask for a copy and let someone else have it. You must have a blog to be eligible.
If you’re ready to commit to doing a review then just do the following:
* Post a comment below stating you’d like to review Blog Blazers and include your blog URL
* Include your real email in the email field
I’ll email the 10 people to get their address information and ship off the books, probably next week.
If you have a blog and think your readers might be interested in this giveaway please link them over.
Thanks!
Update: We’re at 10. Thanks everyone!
Discussion
Hi Ian,
I'd love a copy to review on my blog. Note that I just moved and have a new address, so get a hold of me before shipping.
Created by Leslie Camacho on 11.19.2008 1:19 pm
Ian,
I would like a copy as well, sounds like a great book. My blog is at http://accidentaltechnologist.com
Thanks,
Rob
Created by Rob Bazinet on 11.19.2008 1:23 pm
I’d like to review Blog Blazers!
http://armbarkimura.livejournal.com
Created by Oleg on 11.19.2008 1:30 pm
I'd be happy to write up a review of Blog Blazers at my blog, Usable Web Apps (http://usablewebapps.com).
Created by John Moody on 11.19.2008 2:31 pm
Please sign me up, I'd be happy to read and review it, thanks.
Created by Christopher Svec on 11.19.2008 3:07 pm
Thanks guys, looking good. 5 down, 5 to go!
Created by Ian on 11.19.2008 3:13 pm
Ian, I'd be happy to review Steph's book (was looking forward to reading it anyway).
I'm curious about your attributing much of your early success to your blog. Do you think this is because the audience for HelpSpot intersects your blog's audience (i.e., software developers and entrepreneurs)? I'm interested in your thoughts on this because I'm trying to build traffic to my blog and company website as well, but I'm not really sure that my product's target audience is likely to be interested in a "founder's blog".
I suppose that even if the audience for the blog and the main website are quite different, it can still help in terms of search engine placement. Perhaps Blog Blazers will help illuminate some of these more subtle advantages to blogging...
Created by Jesse Smith on 11.19.2008 3:50 pm
Sure thing Jesse, you're in 
No, it wasn't really that my readers were great target customers. Some were of course, but it was more that my readers are bloggers. And so as I was developing HS and releasing it they linked to what I was doing. That gave me more reach and very importantly increased my search engine rank.
I rarely post about help desk stuff, keeping more to the business end of things which is where most of my readers are.
Created by Ian on 11.19.2008 4:09 pm
Hi
I'd love to review the book. My blog is at http://www.tektalkin.co.uk
Cheers - Steve
Created by Steve Cholerton on 11.19.2008 4:52 pm
I'd love to review it. My blog is at http://whitkemmey.com
Thanks Ian!
Created by Whit Kemmey on 11.19.2008 5:54 pm
I would love to review the book - and having the requirement that I blog about it is just the impetus I need to finally get around to implementing a blog on my currently sparse site.
I think it would make a great opening post.
Hoping for the best!
Created by Colin Ross on 11.19.2008 6:13 pm
Hi Ian, I'd appreciate an opportunity to review the book. My blog is at http://www.invoiceplace.com/blog
Created by Scott Carpenter on 11.19.2008 6:35 pm
If you haven't reached 10 yet, I'd be happy to write a review for Software Made Simple.
Created by Paul Lefebvre on 11.19.2008 6:43 pm
OK that's 10 (actually 11, but we'll get you all a copy). Thanks all!! I'll get in touch with everyone tomorrow or the next day for addresses and get you copies next week.
Created by Ian on 11.19.2008 9:12 pm
Thanks Ian, look forward to hearing from you soon!
Created by Scott Carpenter on 11.20.2008 8:40 am
Hi Ian, I didn't feel up to the challenge of writing a review so I just went out and bought it instead (the package deal where you get the e-book as well). Thanks for the info about the book.
Created by Steve Gill on 11.30.2008 11:06 pm
Hi Steve,
Hey, great Steve. I hope you enjoy it!
Created by Ian on 12.01.2008 9:53 am
Received the book this morning - am looking forward to reading it. I noted my initial impressions at http://vcolin.com/posts/blog-blazers/initial-impressions.html.
Created by Colin Ross on 12.01.2008 5:42 pm