Title: The New Media Frontier Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ.
Editors: John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton.
Publisher: Crossway Publishing
Authors: Multiple
Pages: 254

This book was right up my alley. A book about blogging for Christians. I admit I was really psyched up for this one. I also admit I felt a little let down. It is by no fault of the authors or publishers for my disappointment but rather just the facts of Internet life. The tools and the players on the Internet are constantly evolving, so unfortunately what you write today may not be the latest news in a month or so.

That said, this would still be a great book for someone just starting out with blogging or looking to move forward in their blogging. They start out with a brief history of how we got here and then a little about where they think it is heading. From there they point out a few of the dangers, three biggies and then move right into the basics of blogging.

The chapter entitled Beginner’s Toolbox: Blogging starts you out on the basics such as read first – blog later. Great advice, read blogs lots of them, especially on the subject you want to blog on. Get a good feel for what works and what falls flat. Know why you want to start a blog, a very simple question that you should ask yourself before you start. ( I should have asked myself that one as well, oh well, hindsight!)

They then move on to tools of the trade, blogging software. Whether you want to go for a free blog or spend a few dollars and go with a hosting service and your choice of blogging software. (Psst, WordPress is the way to go!) They even give some advice on choosing your blogs name. It is good advice, a bad name can kill a blog before it even gets started. The next chapter covers pod-casting and video blogging. Two areas of blogging that I shy away from as it puts me out there a little too far. Never the less, they give some solid advice to those looking into that form of blogging as well.

The next section of the book covers many different ways of blogging, from evangelical to politics. They give you a quick breakdown in the subsequent chapters of the many different ways to blog. I will admit that I had a few stumbling blocks here as well. I felt that some advice was being repeated in chapters and there was at least one chapter that felt like an advertisement for the authors blog. He did pass on useful information but his constant referal to his own blog get distracting for me. That is one of the downfalls of multi-authored books. You will sometimes find repetition and there will always be someone that you either don’t agree with or that just makes you want to take a nap.

Final word: This is a good book for beginners. As I stated earlier, if you are just starting out I recommend reading this book before you put yourself out there. If you have been at it for awhile now, nothing in here is really new or going to change your world but it may give you some ideas. I am going to give this book 4 stars out of five. I would have given it five if not for those few qualms I had. They may not be issues for most, especially newbies!
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The book The New Media Frontier was provided to me at no cost for review purposes by Crossway books and Active Christian Media.