Beyond Blogging Review: A great book about successful bloggers

Summary: Beyond Blogging is a well written book with inspiring stories and actionable items for bloggers who want to take their blogging to the next level. Rating: 3/5

The book is available as print version (paperback, $22), Kindle-edition ($22) and downloadable eBook that comes with an additional workbook ($47). Check the book out, get the free chapter and find other good stuff at the official site: beyondbloggingproject.com.

Beyond Blogging - The Secrets to Blogging Success, Volume 1

Beyond Blogging - The Secrets to Blogging Success (Volume 1) consists of interviews, stories and case-studies of 15 A-list bloggers, revealing the strategies and work these people have put into their blogs, effectively making their blogging a solid foundation for profitable business.

I think it's a great book with inspiring stories and the hard work these bloggers have put into their blogs shines through. The writers, Nathan Hangen and Mike Cliffe -Jones have done a great job on finding all the bloggers (each with their own story, each with their own unique abilities), picking their brains and putting it all into this book.

15 Interviews and Case-Studies

From the Beyond Blogging you can learn

• How Gary Vaynerchuk took his passion for wines online, turned a family wine store into a multimillion business and eventually became one of the most influential figures in the online world.
• How Pete Cashmore built Mashable into the top 10 blog in the world it is now, potentially making it one of the most profitable websites in the world.
• How Darren Rowse established himself as “the” Problogger, becoming the most well known source of information for bloggers around the world

And 12 similar stories and lessons more from the likes of Chris Guillebeau, Chris Brogan, Chris Garrett, Penelope Trunk, David Risley, John Chow, Shama Kabani, Michael Dunlop, Jonathan Fields, iJustine (Justine Ezarik), Steve Pavlina and Brian Clark.

Beyond Blogging goes through this impressive list of the blogging superstars and gives us a look deep into the hearts of their blogs and businesses. We’ll learn how these bloggers started their blogs, how they have come where there are now and how they have not only built successful blogs, but also how they turned blogging into business, effectively making money doing the things they are most passionate about.

The authors of the book, Nathan Hangen and Mike Cliffe Jones (also known as MikeCJ), have done a good job capturing the stories, the personalities, their individual strengths and weaknesses, and their blogging advice into the pages of this book. The book is well written and easy to read, filled with useful information for anyone interested in blogging and/or online business.

What else is in the book

Reading the book and learning what drives these people and how they focused that drive into blogging and business was an inspiring read for me. The burning passion for what they do is what all these 15 bloggers have in common, and the book does a good work delivering that passion to the readers.

It also shows how much work these bloggers have put into their blogs. It's not like they "just made it". All bloggers have worked day and night on their blogs. They all found their passion and have went all the way with it.

That is what makes this book a great read; it is not your typical blogging guide or "how-to" manual, as the core of the book is the people, the bloggers, and their stories. With the book, we can get 15 behind the scenes documentaries into the blogs and businesses of these successful bloggers.

This opportunity alone makes the book worth reading, as if you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results. Tony Robbins has been quoted to say something like that, and he’s right, you’ll just have to know what and how to "copy".

To assist in this, and help the readers in building their own blogging business, the last 40 pages of the 200+ pages, pull together the lessons learned from the interviews and case-studies to form the a 5 step blogging blueprint.

The blueprint doesn't go into details of how to do something (e.g. setup a blog, etc.), but it focuses on "what to do" instead. The blueprint goes through the planning, strategy and execution on how to take your blogging to the next level, first building a platform for the success and going all the way to having something to sell to earn a respectable income.

The key in the blueprint, and the whole book, is to treat your blogging as a business and acting accordingly. It takes strategic planning and hard work to go beyond blogging, and without knowing where to start and what to do the whole process might be overwhelming, but the step-by-step plan breaks this into bite-sized chunks that you can start implementing right now.

With the electronic version of the book, you also get an extra Beyond Blogging workbook, which walks through the 5-step process with instructions and questions, giving good actionable steps to take.

How this book can help you

If you are interested in making a living online, perhaps planning to build an Internet business, from scratch or taking your existing offline business and unleash it to the World Wide Web, reading the book will help you get started on the right track, following others who have successfully done it already.

For those already into blogging, this is a perfect opportunity to learn from the masters. The path to blogging success has not been explained to this detail before, through the stories and examples from the people behind and front of their blogs, making a living through blogging and the platform they’ve built for their businesses and themselves with it.

As said, Beyond Blogging is not your typical blogging guide, even on the blogging blueprint part. This book won’t teach you how to blog on the technical level, how to setup a blog and all that, but it does give you a lot of information on blogging as way to make a living.

The book won’t tell you exactly what you must do, but it helps you to find your own voice, your own passion and gives you a push to the right direction with it. If you are looking for the shortcuts, the bright shiny objects that will turn everything into gold, this book is not it. But it will help you realize that the closest thing to a silver bullet to success is what you see in the mirror.

Reading the book is just a beginning. It will not do the hard work for you (it is, just a book after all), but it will give you clear understanding on what it takes to make it and lays down the path for you to follow. Where that path takes you, is up to you and you alone. When you’re ready to take the first step and begin walking that path, this book will be a great guide for you.

Is the book any good?

In order to write the review in time for the release, I received a free review copy of the Beyond Blogging from Mike and Nathan. I liked the book and was ready to recommend it to you. But since I liked what I saw on the review copy, I went and purchased the final copy when the doors were open.

After buying the eBook myself, and re-reading it, I felt ready to finish the review and have no problem using my affiliate link to recommend it. I think it's a good value for 47 dollars that gives you the downloadable electronic book and the workbook.

The print version, which is on sale for $22, was not available back then I bought the eBook, but for you - I'd say the value is even better on that one. The workbook is great, but I think $25 is too much just for the workbook, when the book is available for $22.

Anyway, the book gave me a lot of information, including the 5-step roadmap and the workbook to walk me through it. If I don't put it into action, I got to read a good book with inspiring stories, but not much else happens.

It takes a lot of hard work the "6-figure blogging success" to become reality. If you are ready put in the work and effort it takes to make it big, this is the book you want to read and I can recommend the book to you. Without taking action, it's "just" an awesome book and a great read.

At minimum you’ll get a entertaining book sharing the stories of successful bloggers, but also an opportunity to take what you learn and start working with the blueprint to build your own business and take your blogging to the next level.

So is Beyond Blogging -book worth a read? I think it is. Check the book out, get the free chapter and find other good stuff at the official site: beyondbloggingproject.com.

Summary

Rating

To get your own copy of the Beyond Blogging -book, visit the official site at beyondbloggingproject.com now.

p.s. If you would like to promote the book yourself, here's the affiliate info.