I'm not crying sour grapes by posting this, but I wanted you to see what amounts to the first negative review of our book, Realty Blogging. It's written by Joe Zekas, the guy who runs an incredible site called YoChicago. Everyone has a right to their opinion and here's his...
I delayed buying this book, hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it proved to be.
It's a muddled brain dump of both good and bad advice about blogging, but with a focus on all the wrong things.
The single biggest problem is that it panders to the standard real estate agent thinking that there's a magic bullet out there that will give the agent an edge over his or her competitors. The current magic bullet is blogging.
Left out of the books is any serious discussion of what should have been the starting point: a blog can't attract an audience without a focus on delivering something of value to a targeted audience.
The authors pay modest homage to this concept, but virtually everything they write undermines it. They encourage agents to write about anything and everything, and tell them what they want to hear: you can be an expert simply by claiming to be one and having a blog.
Agents should spend the time learning something substantive that consumers want to know instead of reading this book.
The popularity of this book will do much to undermine any potential value that real estate blogging has to those agents who want to pursue it as a way of developing, honing and communicating real expertise. An army of idiot brokers will, on the advice of the authors, be babbling on with no focus and will discourage anyone from even looking at the occasional good real estate blog.
Real estate blogging, if the authors of this book find an audience that follows their advice, will be just as useless a field of garbage as real estate agent Web sites have become.
It's a given that Amazon customer reviews help (or hurt in this case) book purchases on the site. I'd like to get your reaction and, if you feel so inclined, ask you to write a review, or at least leave a comment on his. Hey, maybe you feel Joe's sentiments are on-target. If so, say so. On the other hand, if you feel the book has merit, say that as well.
Paul
Sorry to hear about this, but things happen when you publish your thoughts and opinions. Not everyone is going to like us or agree with everything that we say or do. I havn't had the pleasure of reading your book (yet), but every comment that I've seen has been stellar. I hope that your not taking this singular negative commentary personally.
It's not worth the time or effort of a popular writer such as yourself.
Hi Paul,
Joe Zekas left here primarily because he felt there was a lot of Fair Housing issues on this site. His negative comments seem to come natural for him. He seems to find fault with a lot of things.
His take on the book is his opinion and it only seems fitting for him to give this type of a review.
This did not surprise me.
I'm not taking it personally. I'm certainly open to differing opinions about the book and, frankly, wondered when a negative review would be written. It's cool.
However, I believe we delivered a quality product based on our experiences and understanding of how to use blogs as a marketing tool. I'm proud of the work we did and stand pat on the belief that it serves a good purpose.
@Ines - yes, it does say that. Maybe not in big, bold letters, but it does say that.
Paul: Out of all the reviews you've received on the book... and this is the only negative one? You've not a thing to worry about! Don't worry be happy.
On the other hand, I want to commend you for approaching and publishing this review and being right out front about it. That is the best way to handle criticism.... and you did a great job.
I own the book, I've read the book..... and it's well worth the money and you have gotten fabulous reviews.
Majority rules!
Gee Paul, I had to go check and make sure it was the top pick on My Hand Picks page for real estate books. Like many introductory and instructional books, the purpose is to explain and create enthusiasm. More detailed investigation is usually expected and readers go on to gather more knowledge.
Realty Blogging accomplishes the mission admirably. Thanks,
Jim
Hi Paul - I am one of the group that did the reviews on your book here on Active Rain, and I must say I'm really sorry to read that negative review from Mr. Zekas. As Jay said above, he seemed to be very negative about a good many things during his very brief stay in on AR.
I've read and re-read your book many times, certain chapters look like they've been through the mill. I would have to guess that a good many members here on AR have benefitted immensely from your book, either through the reviews we did and/or from buying it on their own.
I've read several books on blogging, and yours by far, was the most helpful to me in many ways.
Thanks for sharing this with us, and sorry it happened.
Ann
Paul, there is no doubt that your book is a good starting point for a real estate agent wanting to step out above the crowd. Your blogging service is another step that can be taken by someone wanting to invest of their time and talents.
Perhaps what you should do, for Joe and all of us former readers, is write the second book, the one that advances the ideas and takes it to the next level?
Paul- You know I love the book. I would imagine that Joe did not really read the book - but maybe skimmed it? The one part of the review that makes no sense is that the book did not promote having a target audience... There was an entire chapter devoted to this. Am I wrong?
I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion - but leaving a public review without all the facts - well, it does not seem right. At least not right to me.
His first line..."I delayed buying this book, hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it proved to be"...sort of tells you that he didn't have much hope for the book to begin with and that perhaps he read it with negative bias already in mind.
There are a couple of quotes that come to mind:
1) There's no such thing as bad publicity.
2) It doesn't matter what you say about me, just spell my name right.
Mr. Zekas also liked posting negative comments on my blog, mainly unwarranted. It seems like negative attention is his method of driving traffic to his own blog.
His point in his post is that many agent believe that blogging can be a magic bullet. Unfortunately it takes a lot more than justs blogging to be a success in real estate.