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Best Blogging & Blogs

How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul
With wit, wisdom, and the insight of someone who’s been there, Ruth Soukup shares how she grew her own blog, Living Well Spending Less, to over one million monthly visitors, earns a full time income, and still is able to write about the things she truly cares about. •Improve your productivity, learning to work smarter not harder, and take concrete steps to transform your blog into a business. Since launching in 2010, Living Well Spending Less has become one of the most popular personal finance blogs on the net, receiving more than one million visitors per month.
Reviews
"Many are common sense - such as "write awesome content" and "determine your main theme..." The chapter on social media was extremely helpful. Meaning, no awesome techniques or ideas that haven't already been talked about by 100 other authors in 100 other blogging ebooks. The bulk of my traffic has always come from search engines and, while social media is changing how we use the internet, I don't think enough emphasis can be put on the importance of search engines as a source of traffic for most blogs. I'd highly suggest spending your time reading stuff written by those whose sole purpose is teaching better blogging techniques...like the Smart Passive Income blog by Pat Flynn or ProBlogger with Darren Rowse."
"This isn't just a book you read through and say "oh, that was nice" its more like a manual that you can keep at your desk and refer back to you over and over again as you work through implementing all of the incredible strategies."
"This book is fantastic - I appreciated the straight forward, simplistic and easy to understand approach."
"I have found great ideas in this book that have really helped my blog."
"The information is so generic that it could apply to most anything."
"I found the book to be very helpful."
"If you start constructing your blog through wordpress.COM, you will likely spend a lot of time picking a theme and starting to write and organize your posts, only to discover that wordpress.COM does NOT support any ways to monetize your site. You will also waste a lot of time trying to move your site off of wordpress.com afterwards."
"I have been blogging for 18 months and there wasn't anything I didn't already know from just reading other blogs on blogging for free."
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How To Make Money Blogging: How I Replaced My Day Job With My Blog
* Experienced bloggers making over $1000/m (though the book will still probably be helpful, it isn't written to this audience). * 4 Steps to Start Blogging in 10 minutes. * Blogging Basics. * How to setup a Self-Hosted Blog. * The importance of a Customizable Wordpress theme. * 3 primary ways to earn from your blog. * How long does it take to make money from your blog? Bob Lotich used his passion for personal finance to create ChristianPF.com in 2007 and currently serves as the editor of a team of 10+ writers.
Reviews
"A newbie ... An oldie ... May never earn enough to enable a fella to ditch that part time job."
"As a new blogger, this book provided good insight to managing and monetizing your business."
"While there was nothing earth shattering in this small book, it did have a good, well-thought out plan for for making money from your blog."
"...Beginners, like me."
"An excellent intro for those considering Blogging."
"Although it has important advices for beginners, there are a lot of concepts and topics that are only superficially explained or mentioned, leaving the reader with more questions than answers."
"He did talk about his life a bit and how he got started making websites and blogs which is informative."
"He also has some excellent advice on how to get traffic,which is key to success."
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Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
Hailed as "astonishing and disturbing" by the Financial Times and "essential reading" by TechCrunch at its original publication, former American Apparel marketing director Ryan Holiday’s first book sounded a prescient alarm about the dangers of fake news. Whenever you see a malicious online rumor costs a company millions, politically motivated fake news driving elections, a product or celebrity zooming from total obscurity to viral sensation, or anonymously sourced articles becoming national conversation, someone is behind it. Media students and bloggers would do well to heed Holiday’s informative, timely, and provocative advice.”. — Publishers Weekly “This book will make online media giants very, very uncomfortable.”. — Drew Curtis, founder, Fark.com. “Ryan Holiday’s brilliant exposé of the unreality of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.”. — Edward Jay Epstein, author of How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft “[Like] Upton Sinclair on the blogosphere.”. — Tyler Cowen, MarginalRevolution.com, author of Average Is Over “Ryan Holiday is the internet’s sociopathic id.”. — Dan Mitchell, SF Weekly “Ryan Holiday is a media genius who promotes, inflates, and hacks some of the biggest names and brands in the world.”. — Chase Jarvis, founder and CEO, CreativeLive.
Reviews
"A great book about how easily the media can be manipulated, along with a history of certain aspects of media and media manipulation."
"Entertaining."
"Finally I understand what is going on in cyberspace."
"Marketing companies realize this and have weaponised the media through creating what appears to be news and important information but really is just a powerful method of advertising their product."
"Holliday has a clear view of the latest trends in marketing."
"It's not like this book is telling me something I didn't already know, why I don't read the "news" and especially op eds, it's because I'm being shown the truth in despicable realism, and the omni-potent shadow cast is long and cold. Not only are we fed it in the form of media but we are programed to share the disease through our social networks, giving away friends and family, like fire ant killer brought back to the hive."
"An honest account of how and why journalism has lost its essence and why we all suffer for it."
"Ryan Holiday comes clean and explains who the players are in the media king makers and why being bad is equivalent to TNT in rising in the rankings."
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Best Blogging

How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul
With wit, wisdom, and the insight of someone who’s been there, Ruth Soukup shares how she grew her own blog, Living Well Spending Less, to over one million monthly visitors, earns a full time income, and still is able to write about the things she truly cares about. •Improve your productivity, learning to work smarter not harder, and take concrete steps to transform your blog into a business. Since launching in 2010, Living Well Spending Less has become one of the most popular personal finance blogs on the net, receiving more than one million visitors per month.
Reviews
"Many are common sense - such as "write awesome content" and "determine your main theme..." The chapter on social media was extremely helpful. Meaning, no awesome techniques or ideas that haven't already been talked about by 100 other authors in 100 other blogging ebooks. The bulk of my traffic has always come from search engines and, while social media is changing how we use the internet, I don't think enough emphasis can be put on the importance of search engines as a source of traffic for most blogs. I'd highly suggest spending your time reading stuff written by those whose sole purpose is teaching better blogging techniques...like the Smart Passive Income blog by Pat Flynn or ProBlogger with Darren Rowse."
"This isn't just a book you read through and say "oh, that was nice" its more like a manual that you can keep at your desk and refer back to you over and over again as you work through implementing all of the incredible strategies."
"This book is fantastic - I appreciated the straight forward, simplistic and easy to understand approach."
"I have found great ideas in this book that have really helped my blog."
"The information is so generic that it could apply to most anything."
"I found the book to be very helpful."
"If you start constructing your blog through wordpress.COM, you will likely spend a lot of time picking a theme and starting to write and organize your posts, only to discover that wordpress.COM does NOT support any ways to monetize your site. You will also waste a lot of time trying to move your site off of wordpress.com afterwards."
"I have been blogging for 18 months and there wasn't anything I didn't already know from just reading other blogs on blogging for free."
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Best Auctions & Small Business

Product Research 101: Find Winning Products to Sell on Amazon and Beyond
This book is written for the new or struggling seller wanting to source wholesale or private label products. What you will learn: Basic steps for finding top selling products. How to generate product ideas and look for trends. How to validate demand. Tips for finding suppliers. Analyzing data to help you pick a product. It took me 5 months of research before I pulled the trigger on my first products to sell on Amazon. Some were wholesale products, others were ideas for my own products. Another hold up was I was a little skittish to follow the advice to source from Chinese suppliers. I learned of the pitfalls of private label that the gurus selling you the dream never talk about. I put this book together for all of you who have the brains to say “Hey, if everyone buys top 100 selling products wont that saturate the market?” I put this book together to help you find great products from many different approaches. Renae Clark is a serial entrepreneur.
Reviews
"This book has assisted me with how to find top selling products. How to generate product ideas and look for trends. How to validate demand. Tips for finding suppliers. Help choosing the right products. This book has assisted me a whole lot on Amazon."
"Great ideas if you want to start your own selling business on Amazon."
"good reading easy and learn't a lot."
"Has some good tips on verification and to how choose product for you to sell."
"I recommend the book if you want to learn with the sight of realistic expectations."
"Great book as an introduction."
"Great book and very informative about selling on amazon."
"Very general."
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Best Newspapers & Magazines Writing Reference

High Performance Paperback: 7 Simple Steps To Get Full-Throttle Performance From Your Paperback
Leverage your Kindle book to boost your paperback’s rank Use price synchronization to maximize paperback sales The 7 Simple Steps to promoting your paperback. My Kindle ebook recently became a #1 best-seller, and this book has laid out a step-by-step guide for me to position and market my book to become a best-selling paperback. " I highly recommend Ray and Jim's High Performance Paperback: 7 Simple Steps To Get Full-Throttle Performance From Your Paperback . After following Jim's tutorial, the paperback version of The Holy Grail of Book Launching was ranked #1 on Amazon in 5 categories!"
Reviews
"Amazon and Createspace are gifts to indie authors, but navigating them and using them to optimal advantage can be confusing. Coming to the rescue are two Bestselling authors who've been there, tested that, and it is our good fortune that they are reporting back."
"The authors give some prerequisites for before you implement their tips, strategies, and suggestions - and the first one is that you need to have already launched your Kindle/digital book."
"I am just about to launch my own paperback through amazon and I admit I was terrified by the idea at first."
"Ray Brehm & Jim Molinelli have written an excellent how-to book for taking a best-selling Kindle ebook and launching it into best-selling paperback status."
"Short but precise."
"This is a practical book how to publish and market your paperback with great success."
"* Claim your book in Author Central. * Include the #1 Bestseller badge on your cover. * Set up your paperback in the Matchbook program. * Price your paperback. * Set up your book in the appropriate categories to hit #1! This is a great little book that will help you to make more money and, in fact, the first sale you get will cover the cost of the eBook so there is nothing to lose."
"Most authors miss the golden opportunity to leverage their Kindle success to pump up the debut of the print version of their books."
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Best Podcasts & Webcasts

Vlog Like a Boss: How to Kill It Online with Video Blogging
This complete guide will show you how to: - overcome the 3 major fears that hold many people back from making videos - create your most engaging vlog every time with the Authority Video Formula - achieve your on-camera talent (and no, you don't need to be a natural!). "Mastering the art of the 'jab' through vlogging means learning from Amy Schmittauer. "Amy Schmittauer is the most authoritative voice in the how-to vlogging space. "The art of vlogging looks deceptively simple, but Amy does a masterful job of navigating through the many, many subtleties that turn a decent vlog into a great one." "With Vlog Like a Boss, Amy has served up a slice of vlogging reality for both beginners and experienced vloggers that'll help anyone take their online video strategy to the next level. Amy breaks down topics in marketing, blogging and video well enough to have a five-year-old vlogging like a boss in no time!" In this book, YouTube sensation Amy Schmittauer unpacks the precise steps she herself followed to conquer online video so that you can do the same. "When I need help vlogging, Amy is the first one I contact. "Amy combines 9 years of video experience with 30-ish years of being a human into the ultimate resource for anyone looking to start vlogging or any business looking to increase their online presence with video. "Amy's ability to create engaging videos that deliver a polished message while being fun has transformed my video creation process.
Reviews
"I know he'll not only enjoy reading this book, but will walk away with so much more, than just how to be a better video blogger."
"Amy always delivers...yep, I'm one of those who watches one video after another on her YouTube channel---1. because she has SO many. VLAB was so comprehensive, that I feel 100% confident in starting my vlogging journey!"
"Amy is a Boss."
"Such a great how-to guide!"
"Thank you Amy for writing a book in a fun, informative, actionable format."
"I am completely new to vlogging so didn't have any idea what the process was."
"Thank you, Amy for such a great book :)."
"Amy walks you through the in's & out's of getting started with vlogging."
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Best eBay

eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies
A complete update of the bestselling eBay business guide Covers getting the necessary eBay selling tools, how to do product research and set up payment systems, and tips on setting prices, creating good listings, and organizing sales Helps you find things to sell at prices that will make a profit, create listings that get attention, take great merchandise photos, and promote your items on social media sites Offers advice on providing customer service, safely storing and shipping your merchandise, and handling necessary bookkeeping and tax chores Includes how to analyze data and establish the needed resources to become a Power Seller. Billions of dollars flow from buyers to sellers through eBay, and this book's complete guidance shows you how to get your share! — discover great places to find deals on merchandise and learn which ones to be wary of Show off your stuff — design a killer website and showcase your merchandise with professional-looking photos How to survive shipping — tips on organizing, packing, shipping, and insuring what you've sold Feel the power — see how to attain PowerSeller and Top Rated Seller status Keep it legal — with records that make business and tax reporting easier.
Reviews
"I found out that there's a lot to do for an ebay, but the book was very helpful."
"Perfect book to get off and running with selling on eBay."
"Well written book with a good index for finding stuff."
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Best Computer Hacking

Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"The main reason I bought the book is that it closely reflects the status quo of the technical interviews in large tech companies. For many of the problems, unless you know the solutions beforehand, there is no way you can code up a decent one within an hour. The book mentions an example, a good candidate whom the author knows very well but just cannot pass the coding interviews. I am guessing the assumption is that the coding problems we do nowadays on the interviews somehow achieve minimal number of false positives. One solution reduces the problem to checking for substrings. The author claims the time complexity is O(m+n), which I believe for Java is actually O(mn). Overall this is good book for preparing for coding interviews."
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
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Best Internet Web Browsers

Amazon Web Services in Action
Amazon Web Services in Action introduces you to computing, storing, and networking in the AWS cloud. The book will teach you about the most important services on AWS. Amazon Web Services in Action introduces you to computing, storing, and networking in the AWS cloud. Overview of cloud concepts and patterns Manage servers on EC2 for cost-effectiveness Infrastructure automation with Infrastructure as Code (AWS CloudFormation) Deploy applications on AWS Store data on AWS: SQL, NoSQL, object storage and block storage Integrate Amazon's pre-built services Architect highly available and fault tolerant systems. A simple example: WordPress in five minutes PART 2 BUILDING VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE WITH SERVERS AND NETWORKING Using virtual servers: EC2 Programming your infrastructure: the command line, SDKs, and CloudFormation Automating deployment: CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, and OpsWorks Securing your system: IAM, security groups, and VPC PART 3 STORING DATA IN THE CLOUD Storing your objects: S3 and Glacier Storing your data on hard drives: EBS and instance store Using a relational database service: RDS Programming for the NoSQL database service: DynamoDB PART 4 ARCHITECTING ON AWS Achieving high availability: availability zones, auto-scaling, and CloudWatch Decoupling your infrastructure: ELB and SQS Designing for fault-tolerance Scaling up and down: auto-scaling and CloudWatch. Today he runs a business with a focus on consulting and developing of AWS and web technologies together with his brother, Andreas.
Reviews
"I have used Microsoft Azure before but not AWS and was looking learn AWS also. This was not enough for me to rate the book 4 stars though as the content is very good, and this is the first substantial book on AWS available. If you are looking to learn AWS or expand your knowledge of your existing AWS setup this book is a solid choice."
"You end up having a general idea about what a certain element does but since it is described so superficially you never really get to command the knowledge required in order for you to actually use it when designing an architecture on your own. At the end I decided to give it 3 stars because it did what I wanted it to do (although on a very basic level, as I said) and apparently it's also the most up to date book on the topic right now. I just found one notable difference on chapter 5, if there were more I didn't notice, meaning they were small enough that I could guide myself on the site without needing further instructions from the book."
"The book won't make you a certified AWS DevOps Engineer, but will get you well on your way to moving you infrastructure to AWS, or spinning up particular services as you need them for day-to-day work."
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Best Social Media Guides

The True Story of Fake News: How Mainstream Media Manipulates Millions
You will see the powerful and deceptive methods of manipulation that affect us all, as numerous organizations and political activists cunningly plot to have their stories seen, heard, and believed by as many people as possible. The depths of lies, distortions, and omissions from traditional mainstream media will shock you; and now they’re colluding with the top tech companies trying to maintain their information monopolies. Mark's YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 400 million views, and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News , the Washington Times , and other media outlets around the world.
Reviews
"I believe a person that is not ready to be awakened may experience severe soul pain and Mark forgot to put "Trigger warning" on the cover but still I believe for awakened people this is going to be great laugh and joy to read pages and see how death of media complex is unravelling and humanity awakening while people that still caught in nets of news manipulators may feel really bad but after few weeks I believe healing effects of truth will be refreshing."
"The book mentions how our leftists media is trying to persuade us to accept insanity like there being more than 2 genders, and how the media is pushing fake hate crimes committed by leftists in attempt to frame Trump supporters as Nazis,white Supremacists,KKK members, and racist."
"A lot of people don't know history and how much the media has been involved with the CIA and FBI and the rest of our federal gov't to create stories, manipulate events, etc."
"The news media has become so untrustworthy, the majority of sane Americans have seen this before even reading Marks book!"
"Great book and well written!!!!"
"Excellent book; this will not disappoint."
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Best Online Internet Searching

Howl's Moving Castle
To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. In a career spanning four decades, award-winning author Diana Wynne Jones (1934‒2011) wrote more than forty books of fantasy for young readers.
Reviews
"This is an easy read for any age, but not because it's light on story - DWJ writes with an understated imagination that creates a rich world while making it look effortless."
"The characters and story line are complex and keep you guessing."
"This is a fantasy tale about a witch and a magician and the little girl who gets caught in the middle of their struggle to the death."
"The Story Goes... Actual rating: 4.5 stars. Three words to describe this book; Whimsical, hilarious, magical. I really really loved this book, it was magical and funny and adorable and it had such an oddly cute romance, I just feel like gushing about it on and on but I will attempt to hold myself back. One day will working in her hat shop Sophie is cursed by the Witch Of The Waste and turned into an old lady...yeah."
"Some of the characters were removed or combined to make the movie flow better, I guess, but I really like Michael, the eternal gentleman that just kind of became Howl's apprentice on a whim and the sisters that are more elaborated upon."
"I am a HUGE Miyazaki fan so I love the Studio Ghibli movie Howl's Moving Castle."
"I was very happy to stumble upon this while browsing through possible books to buy for my daughter."
"As we read the story, he liked how Howl could make different places appear by turning the knob and opening the door."
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Best E-Commerce

Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain
The second edition includes: A broad introduction to bitcoin--ideal for non-technical users, investors, and business executives An explanation of the technical foundations of bitcoin and cryptographic currencies for developers, engineers, and software and systems architects Details of the bitcoin decentralized network, peer-to-peer architecture, transaction lifecycle, and security principles New developments such as Segregated Witness, Payment Channels, and Lightning Network Improved explanations of keys, addresses and wallets User stories, analogies, examples, and code snippets illustrating key technical concepts. With experience ranging from hardware and electronics to high level business and financial systems technology consulting and years as CTO/CIO/CSO in many companies — he combines authority and deep knowledge with an ability to make complex subjects easy to understand. His expertise includes Bitcoin, crypto-currencies, Information Security, Cryptography, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Linux, Open Source and robotics software development.
Reviews
"Deep complex book for programmers."
"This is an outstanding introduction to the technology behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrency."
"Good technical introduction to bitcoin."
"Fantastic book if you want to learn what Bitcoin is and how it works."
"detailed, comprehensive, and masterful."
"great book very technical."
"He also tackles ways one might lose their bitcoins, and the ideas that are quite different from the centralized payment systems and banks we've become familiar with: one of these being the transference back to the asset owner of the responsibility for security--with suggestions as to how to go about securing them, even providing ways of leaving them to the family even in the event of death of the owner."
"One of the best technical books about blockchain technology I have ever come across."
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