I try to avoid writing reviews of books I don’t deem worthy of reading. But I feel that it is important to steer you away from Scott McNulty’s “Building a WordPress Blog People Want To Read.”
McNulty is one of the few people actually earning a living blogging, and he is certainly an expert on the topic, having a wealth of information to share. But that wealth is not shared well in “Building a WordPress Blog.” The book definitely contains valuable tidbits, but this information is easily lost in book’s poor editorial vision.
The very name of the book is misleading, or at least confusing, as it touches on the two different, interconnected aspects of blogging. One is how to use a particular blogging engine (such as WordPress or Blogger). You might consider this the “programming” aspect, although blogging aims to take the programming out of programming.
The second aspect of blogging is how to approach the activity in a way that makes people want to actually read a given blog. This has something to do with the “programming” – how to control the blogging interface – but it has more to do with having a clear blogging vision, developing a good, blog-specific writing style, and understanding the nature of the “Blogosphere.”
All of the best blogging advice I have read (and given) encourages people to start blogging as soon as possible, playing around, learning first-hand, and then regrouping to advance with greater success. Therefore it is surprising that McNulty doesn’t arrive at his “Publishing Your Post (Finally!)” chapter until more than halfway through his book. (The “Finally!” is his, by the way.)
McNulty only arrives at this chapter after first presenting technical details that will be beyond the scope of most photographer-bloggers. And unfortunately, he presents much of this information too technically, too in-depth, with not enough down-to-earth clarity critical to the “average” blogger.
Because I am personally interested in gaining blogging skills beyond the “average” blogger, I thought all of McNulty’s in-depth information might be right up my ally. For example, in Chapter 2 he addresses “Installing WordPress,” which many more basic users will never need to do, but which is something I am trying to understand. Unfortunately, I was lost. And while I’m not a genius, I feel do feel that if I was lost then you, My Readers, will be lost as well.
Just as important, if you don’t find yourself lost, then I can’t imagine that you will find value in the book, as it will be too basic for you. And here in lies the biggest problem with “Building a WordPress Blog.” The very topic of blogging demands that educational material is approached extremely basically (for “basic” users) or very technically (for advanced users). McNulty seems to aim more for the advanced users, but herein he faces another problem: The technically inclined will find the latest, most relevant WordPress training right on the WordPress website, which is geared (with its open-source mentality) to provide training among its wealth of online resources.
Finally, even though “Building a WordPress Blog” is copyrighted 2009, it refers to an older version of this open-source blogging engine, which will continue to evolve faster than books can be published. This ensures that some of McNulty’s most basic tips are slightly confusing, as his screenshots don’t jibe with what I’m looking at on my screen.