Food Blogging For Dummies Giveaway {rach reads & reviews}

by Rachel Gurk on April 12, 2012 · 153 comments

I was super excited when Kelly from Just a Taste asked if I would like a copy of her new book to review.

Food Blogging For Dummies. I’ll let you put two and two together regarding why I need this book.

Also, Kelly’s blog is fabulous, full of great food and awesome photography, so I knew she was very knowledgable and capable of writing this type of book.

In other words, I trust her opinion.

And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. There is a TON of great info in this book. It is jammed-packed with everything you need to know about blogging about food. I can tell it is one of those books that is going to get worn to pieces from all the use it is going to receive.

I’m not pointing any fingers…but you need this book.

Yeah…you.

Week 2 of my book review series! Yay! Here we go…

The book’s stats:

Complete Title: Food Blogging for Dummies
Author: Kelly Senyei
Photos by: Kelly Senyei
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-118-15769-5
List Price: 24.99 for paperback
308 pages
Author’s bio: See Kelly’s bio here.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Whetting Your Appetite (The Many, The Proud; Finding Your Niche; Setting Up Shop)
Finding Your Voice (Is This Thing On?; Setting Your Content Menu; Branding Your Blog through Consistency and Frequency)
The Soup to Nuts of Design (The Lay of the Land; Your Blog’s Roadmap; Getting Your Garnish On)
Eating With Your Eyes (Food Photography Basics; Gathering Your Equipment and Tools; Styling and Photographing Food)
Marketing and Monetization (Super Marketing; Bringing Home the Bacon)
The Part of Tens (Ten Things to Know before Starting Your Food Blog; The Ten Hardest Foods to Photograph)
Index

Note: I realize some of those might sound a bit cryptic, but Kelly has covered everything in this book. From naming your blog (if you haven’t started a food blog yet, take it from me–this one is important!), to content, to length of posts, to frequency of posts, to widgets, badges and buttons. So much more, too!

Things I loved:

The huge amount of information provided.
The photos–from reading Kelly’s blog, I knew these would be great, so no surprise there.
The layout. It is a very user-friendly book.
The familiar faces! I saw Marla, Kalyn, Amanda, and more! Kelly uses a lot of examples to really make clear points.
Charts and Graphs. Not only because I’m a nerd, but also because it shows how much time and research Kelly put in while writing this book. It also shows that it is factually based, not just her opinions.
Fun little icons denoting Tips, Things to Remember, and Warnings. These make the book easy to navigate.

Things I wished were different (because I’m always going to give you my honest opinion!):

I wish I had this book in my hands the day I decided to start a food blog. It would have taken care of a lot of headaches.

Some things I learned just from QUICKLY flipping through it:

The optimal placement for a knife in a photo.
I learned more about Google Recipe View.
That I still have A LOT to learn.
I got some fun prop ideas for photos.

Interested? Purchase here. Or enter to win below!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS: One winner will be randomly chosen to receive a copy of Food Blogging For Dummies.

UPDATE: Giveaway has closed. Congrats to Erin B! Enjoy the book!

To enter (REQUIRED): If you are a food blogger, tell me what you would like to learn or improve. If you aren’t a food blogger, tell me why you would like this book. A gift for someone? Interested in starting a food blog?

~~For Extra Entries (MAKE SURE to leave an extra comment for each or they will NOT count):~~

~~1. Subscribe to my RSS feed or add your name to my email list (please confirm when you get the email asking you to do so).~~
~~2. “Like” Rachel Cooks on Facebook (My NEW Facebook page! Please double-check to make sure you like this one and not my former page).~~
~~3. Follow @rachelcooksblog on Twitter (notice my NEW Twitter handle!).~~
~~4. “Like” Just a Taste on Facebook.~~
~~5. Follow Just a Taste on Twitter.~~
~~6. Follow me on Pinterest and pin this post. (If you aren’t on Pinterest, let me know and I’ll send you an invite!)~~
~~7. Tweet about this giveaway, using this: “Win a copy of Food Blogging For Dummies by @justataste on @rachelcooksblog’s site http://wp.me/p1AwA6-Nr #giveaway”~~

Up to 8 chances to win! Giveaway will close on the 19th of April (Thursday) at midnight EST and I’ll announce the randomly chosen winner Friday morning (4/20). Winner will have 48 hours to respond before I choose another winner. Book will be shipped by the publisher.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of the book to review, but no other compensation. All opinions are, as always, 100% my own. Some links in this post are affiliate links.

PS: Congrats on the wonderful book, Kelly!!! I can’t wait to delve in deeper. I have my highlighter ready!