A new book about blogging is about to hit the shelves and Dane101 is honored to be part of it. Nearly a year ago we received a request of someone seeking bloggers for a book. We responded and the result will make its debut on July 31 when Aliza Sherman Risdahl's The Everything Blogging Book: Publish your ideas, get feedback and create your own worldwide network (click to order via Amazon) breaks across the country. The book is a sort of beginner's guide to blogging and intends to teach individuals how to utilize the medium for creating business buzz, publishing short stories and poetry, and building a social network based on your interests. As a thanks for including us in her research, Dane101 interviewed Risdahl about the book, what she has learned, and where she sees the format heading in the future.

Dane101: Why did you want to write this book?

Aliza Sherman Risdahl: I was given the opportunity to write this book by my agent and the book publisher Adams Media. Because it was an introduction to blogging, I felt it fit in nicely with all of my previous work over the years - helping people understand the Internet for their personal and professional lives. I've been online since the late 80s - first as a hobby then as part of my business. I started the first woman-owned full-service Internet company in 1995 and my main focus was to make the Internet make sense to others. Blogging is clearly getting a lot of attention but there are still many people who have absolutely no idea what a blog is. I saw this book as a chance to help others understand blogs and blogging.

D101: What did you discover about blogging that you didn't know going into it?

ASR: I've been producing content online since even before the Web was publicly available so most of what I found about blogs and blogging during my research was really not a surprise to me. I really feel that blogging is nothing more than a new, easy-to-publish format for the everyday web site. Throw in some media hype and you have a "new phenomenon" that is not new at all. I think my biggest discovery while working on the book was finding incredibly eclectic blogs by bloggers who push the envelope of the medium - just creative, fun, interesting, unusual stuff. I also did a lot of in-depth research about several of the more popular blog publishing tools so that confirmed to me that I'm using the ones that are best suited for me for my own personal blogging needs.

D101: How was the response when you originally sent out requests to bloggers
seeking information?

ASR: Just about every blogger seemed happy to be mentioned or interviewed for the book. I wasn't out to be too critical so I think people felt safe to respond. There were some bloggers who never responded but that's normal. And just a handful of bloggers - but of over 100 approached - said they didn't care one way or another if I mentioned
or featured a screenshot of their blog - that it was public domain. Those were mostly the techie blogs. The companies I approached about their blog publishing tools were very helpful, considering I had a lot of very detailed questions.

D101: How has the response been now that you are preparing to get ready to release it?

ASR: So far, people seem very interested in the book - even savvy and experienced bloggers. I tried to write a book that was not only very basic but also one that was filled with the personalities and voices of diverse bloggers so that it had a longer shelf life than a straight-forward introductory how-to book. Blogging is really about
the people behind the blogs and those who congregate around blogs. Blogging is not just a soapbox - it is an organic community builder. I love writing, blogging and building online community. I hope my own personal passion for blogs comes through in the book.

D101: What kind of history do you have with blogging?

ASR: Well, before the term blogging was coined, early "web logs" were basically long lists of links to other web sites, usually with some commentary and updated on a regular basis. They were not what we think of when we picture blogs today. I was doing my own ad-hoc "web log" in 1995.

Instead of gravitating toward blogs and blogging, I dove into Web site publishing and online community building, creating the first 3 general interest web sites for women (over a year before iVillage.com and Women.com). In 2000, I began an online road diary when I traveled around the country for a year in an old RV. I sure wish I had known about the early blog publishing tools - it would have made my Web publishing so much easier. But instead, I published it all doing the HTML from scratch.

I have a long history with the Web (long in Internet years, of course), but I didn't officially turn to blogging using an actual blog publishing tool until 2003. Last year, I managed about eight blogs including a few for other people. I still have about half a dozen blogs of my own but really just write in one or two of them on a regular basis at this time.

D101: Where do you see blogging heading in the next five years?

ASR: Oh, the old crystal ball question! I don't think anything too monumental will happen with blogging because in the whole scheme of things, blogging is actually a monumental thing that has come out of Web publishing. If there wasn't audio and video blogging and PDA
blogging at this point, I would have said those would be the "next big thing" for blogging. But technological advancements happen exponentially faster these days so we already have those things. The media will eventually find a new thing to hype. I've been hearing
rumblings about 3-D online environments again - do you remember when that was the "next big thing" for the Web? 3-D shopping malls and such? For every great idea (blogging) there are not-so-great ones that people throw a lot of money at and hope they will stick. Gotta love the Internet.

D101: What's next for you?

ASR: Well, by the time everyone reads this, I will have given birth to my first child. So that is the most important thing on my horizon. I'm also working on another book for Adams Media, this time one for their Streetwise series. It will be an introductory book to E-business for late adopters. Again, what attracted me to this new book was the
chance to help others learn about something that supposedly "everyone knows about" but not everyone does. I welcome the chance to help others make all of these Internet things make sense. That's my passion, my mission.