I almost slept with Anthony Weiner while I was listening to Casey Anthony confess that she killed Caylee.
See what I did there? I hooked you in. Now you want to know all the details of how I almost slept with Anthony Weiner and you are just dying to know how I got the scoop on Casey Anthony’s confession that she murdered her daughter.
I learned how to do that by reading Margeret Andrews new book Sticky Readers: How to Attract a Loyal Blog Audience by Writing More Better.
Of course I didn’t actually almost sleep with Anthony Weiner, he’s a Liberal and I am not, and we all know Casey Anthony didn’t kill Caylee.
Margaret says you have to grab your readers with a hook (chapter 1). She says you don’t want to bore your readers with posts about going to the grocery store or cleaning the toilets, which sadly is half my blog posts.
In addition to utilizing the tips in chapter 1 I also learned from Chapter 3: Get Personal; Chapter 5: Include a Universal Topic or Theme; and Chapter 6: Choose a Debatable or Controversial Topic. I did all those things in my first sentence because I read Margaret’s book.
Sure I skipped over Chapter 2 Details, Details, Details (Be Specific), but you don’t really want anymore details about Anthony Weiner’s weiner, so you’re welcome.
Already I’m writing more better.
Seriously, Margaret’s new book Sticky Readers: How to Attract a Loyal Blog Audience by Writing More Better, is a must read for bloggers and writers everywhere. Even if you are already a Pulitzer prize winner you need Margaret’s book. In fact if you are a Pulitzer Prize winner you probably need it more than anyone because Margaret has included a chapter about writing funny and we all know anyone who writes a Pulitzer Prize winning book is not funny.
This isn’t one of those books that tells you how to become the next internet guru, Margaret doesn’t tell you how you can make gobs of cash with Google Adwords, she doesn’t make promises she can’t keep. She does tell you what is wrong with your blog and how you can fix it. And she does it all while entertaining the reader. I get a lot of books to review (I paid for this book myself so this is not a paid review) and most of the time they are boring. So boring I can’t get through them. Not Sticky Readers: How to Attract a Loyal Blog Audience by Writing More Better, I couldn’t put my iPad down last night. It is that good.
If you want to write more better get Margaret’s book, right now, and read it. You can get it at Amazon and download it to any device using Kindle.
Thank you for the review. Margaret’s book sounds excellent. I will suggest it to Abby because we all know she needs all the help she can get.
That’s true. While Pricilla’s English is impeccable, Abby’s is atrocious. 🙂
For the sake of keeping you bruise free I will not tell Abby you said that.
She would butt you….
But I will also not tell her I agree with you.
Dear Pricilla,
Abby looks marvellous, I presume she is the pictured nanny-goat. Quite apt under the circumstances.
David Hodder.
Great review to, I’ve no doubt, a great book. Shame I can’t buy it. Can’t get it in the UK and I can’t make purchases on Amazon.com.
I bet Margaret could help you out with that. I wonder if she has a PDF version of her book?
I updated my post last night to include the UK and Germany links. And I replied back to Babs with it over on my blog. But here it is again in case any other Brits are interested… https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055IMOIS
Does that mean you updated the book to include the link you forgot to add in the first edition?
I wish! That’s a whole ‘nother process!
Naughty Margaret (nannygoats) you do not reply “BACK”. The mere fact that you said you “replied” means that that message will automatically, by definition, transmit to your original correspondent. Though perhaps in America it is different from the English language that is used in England, the country where English originated!
David Hodder.
OK, so let me get this straight. You give me grief over “reply back”, but you let “whole ‘nother” totally slide?? (see 2 comments below this one).
But more to your point, yes, we Yanks have managed to completely bastardize the poor English language. It’s like we have a different word for everything!
Ta!
🙂
Dear Margaret (nannygoats). Oops! Me very naughty missing? ‘nother? I did see it but let you off because of the preceding apostrophe, though I do agree with you because of the previous word “whole”. Many thanks for your honesty about the bastardisation of the English language. I do have to admit, sadly, that I do find some of the messages posted by Americans a little difficult to understand at the first reading, but persistence usually sorts it all out. Having said that, though, you should see some of the dreadful compositions submitted by English writers, they really are disgusting, and this day and age with the level of teaching available in the UK there is absolutely no need for such rubbish (trash even). It is such a shame that with the use of wonderful devices such as our computers, ignorant people are free to nauseate us by foisting their bad language on us. Some messages are virtually unintelligible, but they still get posted. Talking again about “reply back”, a large number of people say “return back”. Logically, if something is being “returned” it is, by definition, going back from whence it came, so does not need to be further defined by the word “back”. The other thing that irritates me is the expression “for free”. Free is a state or condition and not a quantity. The quantity concerned is “nothing”, so the expression should be “for nothing”. And let’s face it, we don’t hear anyone calling America a “for free” country do we? It would be absolute nonsense if they did. Anyway, you said what the Americans (“Yanks”, you called them!) have done to the English language, the Australians (“Ozzies” or “Ossies”) have done real damage. Past tenses like “snuck” instead of “sneaked” and “dove” instead of “dived”. How does one tell the difference between “dove” (dived) and “dove” (the bird)? By the way, over the last 14months, I have become completely Apple orientated, having a 21.5″ iMac desk top computer, an iPad, an iPhone4 and last but not least, a really lovely (and loveable) 17″ MacBook Pro laptop, with none-reflective screen, 4Gig of RAM and a whole 75Gig of Hard Drive. (Please excuse the slang “Gig” for “Gigabyte”). Not bad for an “Old Fogey” of 76 years of age!!!
Again, many thanks for your reply, it is very much appreciated.David. (I do prefer being called by first name only, but as there are probably a lot of “Davids”, I suppose it does need to qualified. I do go on rather a lot don’t I?). 🙂
I love the bait and switch! I was fortunate to discover Margaret’s blog soon after I started blogging. Her writing gives me something to aspire to. I have to read this book!
I thought the bait and switch was a good move, it hooked you in didn’t it? See, Margaret knows exactly what she is talking about. She is one of my favorite blogs and one I have been reading since I began writing. She really knows her stuff.
Too bad there’s not a version for the Nook yet. I’m waiting for the paperback though, because I actually want to hold and caress it. Not Anthony Weiner’s weiner, the book.
I’m reading mine on the iPad, I think you can download it for any device.
This is true, you can download it for any device that accepts the Kindle app which includes iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, PC,etc. But I’m using Jayne as my motivation to get this dang thing out in paperback.
I’m waiting for the paperback as well! I want to flash it to all my friends, and say, “Hey! I know this chick!” I don’t, but nobody knows that and Margaret will pretend she knows me!
Jen! Have I ever told you how much I love you? Wow – thank you so much for the wonderful review. This is exactly the kind of review I need on the Amazon site because it’s got helpful information in it, and wouldn’t sound like a solicited review by me, so if you’ve got the time and the inclination would you put this review up there?
I was going to leave a review there last night but they have this strange thing about waiting 48 hours after you have purchased the book. I suspect they want you to read it. I’ll try again today and if they won’t let me I will do it Sat morning.
I love you too.
I was not aware of the 48 hour thing. Good to know. Thanks!
Now I’m afraid to read it because I fear Margaret is using me as an example of crappy writing. I talk about grocery shopping all the time and wrote about cleaning toilets in the last month or so. Yikes!!!
Hah! I was sure when I read her “fake” examples of bad blogging that she was
using my blog as the reference. Don’t be afraid, she didn’t use you as a bad
example and it’s a great book. Even though you are one of the great bloggers
out there you will find something of value in her book. And it’s funny. Oh,
and she mentioned Tribal Blogs. She forgot to link it but I am sure it was
an oversight and that she will fix it in the next edition.
You are so right! “Crappy” and “yikes”? tut tut.
David Hodder.
[…] Is this book any good, you ask? Redhead Ranting wrote a review of it in her blog post entitled: “I Almost Slept With Anthony Weiner While Reading Sticky Readers“. […]
Just downloaded it to my Kindle, but will read part on my laptop, too, and maybe some on my Droid. Going to a family reunion in Hotter’nHell, Texas this week, and Sticky Readers is my reward for being such a good sport. Great review – Thanks!
I’m going to run (with scissors) to my Kindle to read this book! Can’t wait to read it!
Well… first I had to buy it. Mission accomplished. NOW I can start reading it.
Great book and great review. I downloaded the kindle app for my laptop. Read it “cover to cover” last night. Very good read, and I picked up some thoughts for a post I’m working on. I need to work on my embellishment technique. I have “funny” in my life, I just don’t always express it well.
Oh, I also love the cover! Very cool!
Great review!
And congratulations, Margaret! How so very cool!
Thanks for the tip.
(This is not a Weiner joke)
Rude?
I just added it to by Wish List. Once my credit card bill arrives and is paid off for my Kindle purchases for the month I’ll be able to order this one. 🙂 Very excited to read it.
You will love it. It’s one of the funniest how-to books I have ever read and
it really has some great insight and tips to write better.
It is very clever, brief and extremely entertaining, and probably the best advert for what appears to be a very useful book. So much so, I may well try the book for myself. As I have a Kindle, I will check out the information there. Also, I live near BRISTOL in England, but fortunately did not grow up there, because quite typically “more better” is widely used by a lot of native Bristolians, who do not have any idea of how to use the English language. In other words “they casn’t speak proper see!”. Another common “Bristolianism” is to pronounce the word “does” as dooooose. I ask you! Thank the authoress for a brilliant summing up of the book and making it so interesting – it has certainly got my attention.
David Hodder.
Wowza, sounds good, based on your reccomendation I am gonna check it out!
I absolutely LOVED this book.
My sister loaned me a copy of your book, I just finished reading it, and I naturally raced to your blog to check it out as well. The aforementioned sister recently started a bicycling blog, and I wrote a few articles for her. After reading your book, I realize there are so many things I could (and should) have done to improve my blog presence (better use of white space, especially). Your book offers so many great suggestions that I intend to incorporate into my future blog writing. Your book should be REQUIRED reading for all potential bloggers. I’ve seen bloggers make ALL the mistakes you outline in your book, and as a blog reader, I must confess those mistakes truly do repel readers (grammar and mechanical errors are the WORST). Thank you for your insightful, helpful, and humorous advice.