Disruptive Conversations

FIR Book Review: "WordPress for Dummies" - November 27, 2007

Earlier today I participated in a audio book review of "WordPress for Dummies" with FIR co-host Neville Hobson (I am a weekly "correspondent" into the FIR podcast). The podcast is now online on the FIR site and I will also be cross-posting the podcast notice below as well. It was fun to do the interview with Neville and overall we both were very positive about the new book. (You'll hear my one main point of criticism, which was not so much with the content but with the way it was presented.) If you are working with WordPress - or thinking about it - I would definitely recommend you check out this book.

NOTE: Neville cross-posted the podcast notice on his blog and the book author has responded with a comment.

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One of the most popular platforms for creating and managing a blog is WordPress. From its origins in 2003, WordPress has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

A new book, WordPress For Dummies, has just been published, with explanations in plain English about WordPress and how to use it.

Written by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, WordPress for Dummies covers blogging basics, choosing a hosting solution or setting up a host, developing blog content, syndicating blog posts with RSS, launching a specialized blog (including podcasting, photoblogging, mobile blogging, and videoblogging), and even earning revenue. It includes help on every aspect of installing and using WordPress, illustrations from real-world WordPress blogs, step-by-step tutorials on key topics, and insights from bloggers who use WordPress.

FIR co-host Neville Hobson and FIR correspondent Dan York discuss their take on the new book, looking at various aspects of the overall content, and concluding with their recommendation about the book.

Download the review here (MP3, 12.6MB, 27mins 37 secs), or sign up for the FIR Book Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.

Listen to this podcast now:

Voxeo
If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments; or comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR; or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Podsafe intro music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

WordPress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Paperback, 384 pages
Published in November 2007
ISBN: 978-0-470-14946-1
Available online now from Amazon.com and other outlets.

Technorati Tags: blogging, danyork, fir, nevillehobson, wordpressfordummies, wordpress, wordpressmu

Congrats to Terry Fallis on "The Best Laid Plans" being published!

Congratulations to Terry Fallis on the publishing of his novel, The Best Laid Plans!  He also notes that the book is now available on Amazon.com!

For those who haven't been following Terry's work, he started podcasting his book out chapter by chapter back in January (scroll to the bottom to see how it began).  Each week (all the way up through May) , we tuned in to hear the latest wacky exploits of Daniel, Angus, Muriel, Lindsay and the two punk-rock campaign workers named Pete.  Even if you didn't understand all the nuances of Canadian politics, it was a fun story to listen to and you definitely found yourself cheering on Angus and Daniel all the way up to the finale when Angus......... well, I can't really give that away, can I?  You have to listen yourself - or now you can buy the book!

Starting in March, Terry began taking us along on his journey into self-publishing, and it was interesting to read over the months how that has all gone.  In the era of Amazon.com and other online bookstores, self-publishing sites like iUniverse.com and Lulu.com have gone far to disrupt the traditional gatekeepers of the traditional publishing business - and also done much to remove the stigma traditionally associated with self-publishing (what used to be called (and probably still is) "vanity publishing").  It's definitely a fascinating dynamic and one that I'm certainly considering for some ideas of my own.  Sure, you don't necessarily wind up in bricks-and-mortar bookstores as you would with a traditional bookstore... but in the online era, does that matter? (or does that matter as much?)

Anyway, congrats to Terry and it's great to see it finally out.  I look forward to seeing a copy myself.

Technorati tags: terry fallis, the best laid plans, books, publishing, iuniverse

Shel & Neville's "How to Do Everything with Podcasting" book nearing its launch date..

For a bit now, I've been meaning to post here that Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson's new book "How to Do Everything with Podcasting" is now nearing its launch.  Last week both Shel and Neville posted about it, but with travelling I wasn't doing much blogging and added it to my (long) queue of things to write about.   If you are not aware of Shel and Neville, they are the duo behind the "For Immediate Release" (FIR) podcast that comes out twice weekly on "the intersection of public relations and technology". I've been providing commentary into FIR for now most of two years as a "weekly correspondent" and both Shel and Neville have become good friends over the time.  I've not seen their book yet (since it's not available until June 15th) but knowing them both, I expect it to be both high quality and extremely useful.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it... kudos to them both for putting the time and energy into making it a reality!

Technorati tags: podcasting, shel holtz, neville hobson, fir

Terry Fallis wraps up "The Best Laid Plans", his podcast of his satirical political novel... and the listeners want more!

Over the weekend, Terry Fallis finally distributed the final chapter of "The Best Laid Plans".  For those of us who have been listening throughout, it was a thrilling ride to the end that very nicely brought the various storylines and characters together in a fun and exciting conclusion.  You kind of knew it had to work out somehow... but the how was the fun part.  As I started listening to the final chapter, I realized that somehow the hovercraft was going to factor in... but the precise manner in which it did was very enjoyable. 

Kudos to Terry for creating characters that we could care about... and also for making the subject of Canadian politics fun and entertaining.   Even though the Canadian system is different from my own world of the US,  Terry left enough clues along the way to help those of us outside the world of Ottawa get a glimpse of how it works inside.  (Full disclosure - I'm a political junkie, so this was great!)

It was amusing to note the other effects of the novel on me.  Last Friday I was in Ottawa and up early driving home to Vermont.  Staying out on the western side of the city, I figured the Queensway (the 417 highway) would be starting to get crowded, so at about 6:30am I took Carling Ave to Richmond Ave down to Wellington Ave and went up over Parliament Hill  (eventually winding through some other streets to catch the 417 on the eastern side of the city and avoid all downtown highway traffic).  As I drove up Wellington in front of the Parliament buildings, I was impressed as always by the sheer grandeur of the Hill, but I also had to laugh and think of the follies of Angus and company in the novel.  As well, Terry threw in enough history along the way that it did give me a deeper appreciation for the sight that lay before my eyes. 

This weekend was, of course, also a sad day... for those of us who have followed the book are now left with no more chapters to hear!   There is, of course, in the comments to the podcast episodes the call already that we want to hear more... which I'm sure I'm sure is both gratifying and a wee bit intimidating to Terry!  (He does, after all, have a PR business to run, family time, Inside PR podcasts to record and all those ice/ball hockey games he has to play!)

I'm looking forward to seeing the book in print... and also to continuing to watch Terry go through the self-publishing process on his blog (where he will also post other announcements).  It's intriguing to see the options now available to authors... and I thank Terry for keeping us all in the loop.

If you haven't checked it out, do give it a listen, even if you aren't that into politics... I think you'll find it enjoyable.  (I would, though, suggest going back and listening starting at chapter #1! ;-)

Technorati tags: terry fallis, the best laid plans, canada, politics, ottawa

Terry Fallis gets 15 minutes of fame on a TV interview about his podcasted book

As I wrote before, Inside PR co-host Terry Fallis has written a "satirical novel" about Canadian politics called "The Best Laid Plans" and, in an experiment, is using social media as a way to see about attracting a publisher.  He is podcasting a chapter of his book each week and now has 4 segments up online. Today he lets us know that he has been interviewed on TV about the project. The TV show is "The Agenda", hosted by Steve Paikin on Ontario station TVO. Kudos to Terry for all the work he's done and I look forward to seeing if he is successful in attracting a publisher.

Also congrats to Terry for having his book listed at Podiobooks... all good stuff.

Technorati tags: terry fallis, the best laid plans, podcasting, books, podiobooks