Blogging for Bliss: Crafting Your Own Online Journal: A Guide for Crafters, Artists & Creatives of all Kinds [Paperback]

Tara Frey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2009

Today’s crafting community is online, connected, and blissfully blogging about their work and ideas. Blogging is hot in this highly creative world—and here is the only how-to book aimed directly at them. Everyone from knitters and beaders to scrapbookers and altered artists will find the practical information and visual inspiration they need to create an artful online journal.

Thanks to hundreds of gorgeous screen grabs from the very best blogs, a thorough introduction to the tools of the trade, and instructions that virtually take you by the hand, even beginners will swiftly go from blank screen to colorful, enticing pages. Those who already have a blog, but want to enhance their presence on the Web, will learn how to add banners and graphics, take the perfect shots, crop and size photos, establish links, and attract an audience of eager readers.

Best of all, readers will meet some of the Web’s most popular creative bloggers, including Alicia Paulson (Posie Gets Cozy), Gabreial Wyatt (Vintage Indie), Emily Martin (Inside A Black Apple), Lidy Baars (Little French Garden House), Heather Bullard (Vintage Inspired Living), and Serena Thompson and Teri Edwards (The Farm Chicks).

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since 2004, TARA FREY’s blog Tara Frey {typing out loud} (www.tarafrey.com) has inspired thousands with its honest, well-written, and often funny prose about subjects both professional and personal. Her blog was honored as a Typepad Favorite Blog in November 2008 and receives more than 6,000 hits a day. Her articles about the lives and blogs of creative bloggers appear regularly in Romantic Homes, Romantic Country, and Artful Blogging. Readers can connect with her at www.bloggingforbliss.com.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Lark Crafts (August 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600595111
• ISBN-13: 978-1600595110
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just wonderful! July 18, 2009

By Dawn C. Edmonson

Format:Paperback

If you are thinking of starting a blog, are new to blogging or you're like me, and have been blogging for several years, this book is a wonderful go-to reference for just what you need to know to be a great blogger! Tara covers all the important aspects of blogging from how to start your own blog to making your photographs look great to blog etiquette....plus there are so many wonderful bloggers featured inside. They share their take on blogging, what works for them and even the blogs they must visit on a daily basis. I love it ~ even as a seasoned blogger, there's still so much I can learn!

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed review September 28, 2010

By Niquey

Format:Paperback

For starters, Blogging for Bliss is a visual masterpiece. It's artistically and beautifully put together, and for that reason alone it makes a good purchase. However.... the content falls a little short of expectations. Each "chapter" seems to have about a dozen paragraphs worth of content, and then has page after page dedicated to someone else's blog. And while this does take time and effort to interview other bloggers, I was hoping for something more "meaty" to chew on when it comes to blogging about crafting. Furthermore, what I find ironic is that the author of a book about blogging has only posted eight (yes, I counted although it's technically 7 as one post is dedicated to her daughter's photos) articles to her own blog since January 2010, and this book was published in August 2009.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blissed Out August 10, 2009

By Gina M. Smith

Format:Paperback

What's not to love about Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey? It features several dozen eye candy blogs in a handy softcover square.
Want to know how to start your own blog? It's all there, whether you want to blog for fun or profit- from promoting your own business to accepting advertising on your blogs. Frey digs into all the major blog programs: Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress.
She knows whereof she speaks, having had an on-line journal since 2004 and a popular virtual on-line shop, Bella Pink. He blog is known as Typing Out Loud or TaraFrey.com, [...]. Frey may be familiar to some hard-copy readers, having been featured in Romantic Country Homes magazine and has been a contributing editor for Romantic Homes magazine where, among other things, she highlighted not-to-be-missed blogs.
Calling blogs "the personal journals of the 21st century," Frey takes her Bliss book readers on a journey of some of the most notable and widely-read blogs from around the country and around the world.
I enjoyed the book simply for the introduction to blogs I had not seen before, and for the beautiful showing of blog banners, both new and familiar. If you want to find more favorite places with the same kind of sentiment as Frey, Bliss will serve as your handbook. Good thing it is softcover; I have it dog-eared already from checking out all the beautiful blogs she profiles. You'll want to be at your computer while looking at this book! And keep it right there handy for future visits.
Newbies will appreciate her helpful glossary of e-mystifying terms, like domain mapping, IP address and Icerocket; links to helpful resources for bloggers, explanation of those cutesy abbreviations like OTOH and TAFN, and HTML, with simple codes for beginning bloggers.
Bliss will also help you explore the various platforms in depth, choosing a home for your blog, and the all-important style, colors, widgets and fun blog accessories to achieve a personalized and custom look, even if you are not computer savvy.
A big attraction of Frey's blog has always been her photography. In her book she discusses how to take--and edit--blog-worthy photos, with a discussion of proper equipment as well as public photo-sharing and storage sites.
Lastly, if you just want to understand more about the popular no-longer-just-a-phenomenon called blogging, Frey offers blog etiquette tips about comments, spam, and general manners for both bloggers and readers.
It's an indispensable little book. Try it; you'll like it. Blogging for Bliss, and blogging, whether as a reader or a writer, add much to the human language.