Videoblogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) [Paperback]

Stephanie Cottrell Bryant (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471971774 | ISBN-13: 978-0471971771 | Publication Date: July 12, 2006 | Edition: 1

Have you ever felt the urge to share the entertaining and insightful things that happen in your everyday world? Got a message you’d like to get across to others? A cause you want people to support? A videoblog allows you to share whatever you choose in a colorful, interesting way that gets attention—and furthermore, videoblogging is fun!

Grab Videoblogging For Dummies and put your videoblog on the fast track. You’ll see how to

• Gather and use videoblogging tools
• Decide what you want your videoblog to do
• Plan content and edit your footage
• Set up a video hosting account and post your videoblog
• Create a complete “show”
• Videoblog safely, without compromising your security or others’ privacy

Of course, a great way to get an idea of what you want to do with your videoblog (or vlog, as you’ll be calling it when you’re an insider) is to check out other people’s vlogs. You’ll find information about that in Videoblogging For Dummies too, including where to find videoblogs and how to set up RSS feeds. And you’ll see how vlogs can affect public opinion, offer fresh viewpoints, and be terrifically entertaining.

Written by a true videoblogging pioneer —Stephanie Cottrell Bryant launched her first vlog in 2005, and now presents seminars on videoblogging topics—Videoblogging For Dummies gives you the scoop on

• Choosing hardware and software you need to get started, plus an idea of what it’s going to cost
• Adding the extra bells and whistles and professional touches that will get your vlog noticed
• Deciding whether to script your vlog or make it “reality TV”, dealing with “vid fright”, and making other people comfortable before your camera
• Finding out who your audience is, getting feedback, and fine-tuning your vlog
• Giving your vlog a clear identity
• Becoming a citizen journalist, an advocate, or a small-screen movie producer
• Editing, adding soundtracks, working with file formats, and publicizing your vlog

Videoblogging lets you showcase your art, keep in touch with friends and family, make new friends, or do your part to help solve the world’s problems. Videoblogging For Dummies is the fun and easy way to get started!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Add video to a current blog or start a new vlog

Use your vlog to share family activities, showcase your art, or support a cause

Eager to try this exciting new form of twenty-first century communication? This book makes it easy! A groundbreaking vlogger shows you what you need to get started, how to turn your text blog into a videoblog, how to make things easy for your adoring public, and even how to deal with little snags like stage fright.

Discover how to

• Stamp your vlog with your personality and passion
• Choose and use the right hardware and software
• Script your vlog or wing it — with riveting results
• Shoot and edit video
• Host your vlog and set up RSS feeds

About the Author

Stephanie Bryant is a technical writer from Santa Cruz, California. She’s been writing professionally for ten years, and has written two books on Web design and graphics. Her first video posted to the Internet was a 30-second clip of finding her first book on HTML in a Parisian bookstore.
In May of 2005, Stephanie started a personal videoblog, after having been a text blogger for three years. She now co-presents seminars on videoblogging and the law, covering technological aspects to help those in the legal professions to make informed arguments about the intellectual property and other legal aspects of this emerging technology.
When she’s not writing, Stephanie writes! A four-year winner in National Novel Writing Month, she’s written five novels, keeps several blogs and videoblogs, and still maintains a healthy handwritten correspondence with a few friends and family members. She is married and has one cat and several betta fish.

Product Details

• Paperback: 386 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (July 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471971774
• ISBN-13: 978-0471971771
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,120,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in a Chicago suburb, but moved to California during college and stayed for 15 years. That's what happens to transplanted species in California: we take root and thrive!

I helped support myself in college by doing web design in the early days of the public Internet. When I graduated, I looked for employment in technical writing or web design, and landed work in both fields. I've been a technical writer for 9 years.

In 2002, I wrote my first novel, by participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This was a terrific experience and got me back into writing fiction. I have several works in progress, plus one novel in revision (it's complete, but needs to be cleaned up now). With any luck, perhaps I will end up actually publishing some of my fiction.

In the meantime, one of my biggest successes as an author is Videoblogging for Dummies. This is a fun technology, and I think you'll enjoy it.

A couple of years ago, I hit out on the road with my husband, traveled all over the US, and finally landed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where we now live. While on the road, I started Handknit Heroes, a comic book for knitters, which is published four times a year and is a fun superhero comic book featuring a knitting pattern in every issue. The website for Handknit Heroes is http://www.comicknits.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good guide for beginners, October 30, 2006

By 

Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Videoblogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

Videoblogging is one way for people to record their thoughts, advertise a service or product, and/or get their message across to Internet viewers without spending a lot of time and money with recording studios and the like. Stephanie Bryant who clearly has quite a bit of experience with videoblogging has done a great job in explaining how the average person can become a "videoblogger." Using a casual writing style (I love chapter titles like "I Vant to Vatch Your Vlog), she breaks down the steps involved in getting a successful videoblog off the ground and onto a web site.

She starts off with an overview of what videoblogs are, why you'd want to watch and/or make your own videoblog, and the various kinds of people who are videoblogging. Subsequent chapters detail items like the tools needed to do a successful videoblog (they're not as expensive as you might think), the physical "process" involved in shooting a videoblog and then converting it to a format your computer can understand. Part II of the book details the "behind the scenes activities," things like figuring out who your audience is, getting comfortable behind a video camera, and scripting the show you want to present. Having done some TV work in college many years ago, I discovered some of the same concepts apply here as well as doing a TV production.

Stephanie in Part 3 details the "physical production aspects" of videoblogging: actually shooting it, editing it, adding sound, and saving it to the 'Net. And finally, there's the task of hosting your files online, syndicating them, adding to them, and of course publicizing them. The book's Part of Tens include "Ten Core Vlogs to Watch," which give you ideas on how successful videoblogs are put together.

Stephanie has done a wonderful job in demystifying the world of videoblogging.