Julie's Journal

I recently got a copy of Stephane Grenier’s book Blog Blazers that he sent me to read. He interviews 40 of the top bloggers including Seth Godin, Jeff Atwood, Aaron Wall, Eric Sink, Neil Patel and 35 others, all wrapped up into a nice and handy book to have around.

I really enjoyed reading it, and it sits right next to me on my desk so I can reference different things when I need to.

It’s really neat to read the answers to the questions Stephane ask the top bloggers of today, and it gave me a lot of insight into marketing my own blogs. You will be really surprised by some of their answers!

Example questions

• What makes a blog successful?
• Do you spend time and money on marketing?
• Who do you think are the most successful bloggers on the internet today?
• Which 5 blogs do you read daily?
• What is your best monetization method?
• What’s the one biggest opportunity that came to you because of your blog?

If you’re a blogger you really need to check out this book. It will be the best $16.95 you’ve ever spent to becoming a better blogger, and you don’t even have to order promotional pens with your blog name on them!

[tags]Stephane Grenier, Blog Blazers, blogging[/tags]

QUEEN OF THE ROAD: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own (Broadway Books; June 10, 2008; Trade Paperback Original; $13.95) by Doreen Orion.

I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the online book tour for Queen of the Road. One of the great things about the tour is I’ve got a great prize package worth over $130 to give away to one of you! But first things first, I want to tell you about the book.

The book starts when Doreen (self-proclaimed Princess of Long Island) is approached by her husband Tim (Doreen-proclaimed Project Nerd) who wants to buy a bus and travel the world for a year. Doreen reluctantly agrees, and in her book she writes about all their trial and tribulations of living on a bus and traveling to 47 states, for 22,000 miles, with 200 shoes (I’m still not sure if that is pairs-100 pairs=200 shoes), 2 cats (Shula and Morty), 1 poodle (Miles), and a husband (Tim).

This book is AMAZING, and I read it in one sitting. I laughed, I cried, and I really got a feel for what living on an RV is really like. My husband and I have tossed around the idea, and Doreen’s story wasn’t enough to change my mind. Yes, she does tell the story of almost getting sucked out of the bus door while going down the highway, and the damn thing breaking down every 100 miles or so, but hey!? That’s the making of a great book, or an excuse to make a cocktail right?! (Listen to her podcast Mobile Martinis)

The part that touched me the most is that Doreen and Tim didn’t kill each other. In fact their relationship grew stronger, with both of them understanding each other a little (or a lot) better. Give it a read, I know you will enjoy it just as much as I did.

The Queen of the Road Giveaway

Everyone who comments on a tour post (including this one) will be entered to win a grand prize of:

1. Mom Logic Tote bag, eye brightener and mouse pad.
2. Wrist water bottle from Swiggies – $13 value
3. Gift certificate for free flashcards from GoosieCards – $29 value
4. Rose Pin – $10 value
5. Natural, dye-free dog tug from Purrfect Play – $18 value
6. Book, “Uncovered” by Mark Goldwich – $13 value
7. “Attitude of Gratitude” Tank Top Med from EmpoweringThings – $19.39 value
8. “Be Natural” tee shirt from JB-JustBe – $15 value
9. Cats on Cards Pet Rescue Stickers from PurrfectPlay – $7.95 value
10. 2009 Park-It Guide for NYC from ParkItGuide – $13 value

The Queen of the Road Blog Tour Stops

For more chances to win:

• Nov 28 Dorothy – Robyn – Louise
• Nov 29 Christine – Beckie
• Nov 30 Michelle
• Dec 1 Tara (blog 1 blog 2) – Stacie (blog 1 blog 2 blog 3) – Ginny – Kat
• Dec 2 Julie – Angela – Wendy (blog 1 blog 2) – Elizabeth
• Dec 3 Renee – Christine – Dennise
• Dec 4 Kimberly
• Dec 5 Alisa – Aimee – Toni
• Dec 6 Connie – Jackie
• Dec 7 Cathi – Sheena – Laura
• Dec 8 Maria
• Dec 9 Jane – Lisa – Yvonne (blog 1 blog 2)
• Dec 10 Kailani – Tara

Good luck to all who enter and you can click here to purchase Queen of the Road, and if you’d like a free signed bookplate from Doreen visit her site Queen of the Road for more details.

[tags]Queen of the Road, Doreen Orion, RV, traveling[/tags]

You may remember me posting about all the books that I sell on Amazon last summer. I’ve done really good with that, but at some point it just gets to be a pain in the butt going down to the post office every.single.day to ship out all the books I sold the day before.

I still had about 300 books in boxes in the garage, and since we are unemployed (i.e. broke) we decided to have a book sale today. I posted it on Craigslist last night, and drove all over our neighborhood putting up signs. We got up this morning and spent about an hour putting them out on blankets in our driveway all nice and neat for the hundreds of people that would surely show up.

Just as the last box was unpacked a nice couple pulled up in their truck. The man asked Michael, “How much?” in which Michael responded, “$1.00.” He said, “No, for ALL of them!” I stood there thinking, what the hell, and Michael did the math in his head at lightening speed and came up with a price. They said, “SOLD, start packing them back up into boxes.”

I was floored, but gladly starting putting them back in the boxes, all the while thinking how I just freed up 6 hours of my Sunday. Hell, it took more time setting up for the book sale, than the whole sale lasted.

As we were packing up the books and talking to the couple, we learned that they own the big gymnastics academy here in town and they have girls that come and live with them from other countries to train for all the big gymnastics competitions. They were buying the books to create a library for the girls to learn English and the American culture! I was so moved by their story and I would have TOTALLY donated the books to them, had we not been so damn poor right now.

I do have their business card though, and I WILL be donating more books to them as I finish reading the ones I have. LOL! We got rid of over 300 books today, and we still have close to 1000 in our various book shelves around the house. I’m not sure how well all my Seth Godin and Christopher Moore books would go over with the young gymnasts but you never know. Then again those are books that I would never get rid of.

[tags]books, book sale, gymnastics, gymnasts, Seth Godin, Christopher Moore[/tags]

I have yet to get into audio books, but my friend Amy talks a lot about them, and how much she enjoys listening to them on her daily commute to work. I decided to look around for some online and came across a nice service that offers free audio books. Well, they are not free forever, but you do get your first 14 day membership trial for free. Has anyone tried Audible.com before? What do you think of their service?

[tags]Audible.com, free audio books[/tags]

I’ve been messing around with different ways to make some extra money, and I came up with an idea to start selling Book Thongs. I first spotted Book Thongs at my local Barnes & Noble. I thought they were so cute, that I decided to make my own. Now I’ve expanded on that idea, and have been making them to sell here on my blog.

I’m starting small, and so far I only have 6 made to sell. You probably won’t see me starting my own mass-producing Book Thong business with promotional pens to hand out and all, but I am having a great time making them. I hope you like them!

You can read more, and see pictures here: Julie’s Book Thongs

[tags]book thongs, book thong, bookmarks[/tags]