I was a little shocked if not surprised to hear that a tome called Mom Blogging for Dummies will be published in July. Firstly, I must admit I shed a few tears for all the trees that had to be felled to produce such a pointless book. And secondly, any info anyone needs about becoming a mommy blogger is freely available on the internet so what's the point of the book? My blogging pal Very Bored In Catalunya did a brilliant send up of what kinds of stuff you are likely to find within its pages such as: How to crawl up the arse of bigger named bloggers, How to over-decorate your blog with sparkly bling and How to win that all important Nutella gig.
Like Very Bored I have no intention of looking inside the pages of a book that will
The problem is that some mommy bloggers get addicted to the attention their mommy blog brings.
For a select few vulnerable souls, a life of PR-pimpage means becoming obsessed with the hits on your blog, and in some cases making up dramas to get more traffic to your blog. Some of the mommy bloggers who went attention whore mad include the one who (allegedly):
faked a pregnancy
outed her pre-school son as gay
acted like a pat down at an airport was an assault
traded a puff piece for thousands in dental work
Indeed, one of the main qualification for being a mega famous mommy blogger may just be to be able to start a good row on the internet. So just be aware: there is a dark side to mommy blogging. And really, shouldn't there should be a warning on this book: All in the garden of free Nutella is not rosy!
Wow. Just wow. I'd only heard of the pat down one before but not the others. Makes me a little bit afraid of all those people on the other side of the computer screen - how do we know you really are this Emma person and not some crazy middle aged bloke living in his mums garage in Bradford?
ReplyDeleteI'm guilty of enjoying that piece about the Scooby-Doo Daphne costume ;) Ah, crap!
ReplyDeleteLady Estrogen...Yeah he really rocks that orange wig doesn't he? I'd be pleased not to have to buy him the sort of boring fireman suit so many boys ask for for halloween. But you can't please some moms I guess!
ReplyDeleteI loved that Daphne kid too. But talk about blowing things out of proportion.
ReplyDeleteThis is brilliant. You are brilliant. I am in love. Want to start a torrid affair that will rock the blogging world? I've already stated my willingness to trade sex for traffic, right?
AND! I finally figured out how to post a comment to your site without breaking it! I have to press preview, not post comment. Go figure....
ReplyDeleteReadily A Parent....Yes! Let's do it. Let's start the first Mommy Blogging Lesbo Love Affair to get at least 2000 hits a day. I can offer you free Nutella to smooth lovingly on my body as an incentive?
ReplyDeleteThings are getting exciting over here! As a young teenager I had an opendiary account where I pretended I was a mother of eight,called myself lacy knickers, and went out with a different man every night and neglected my children. All to get comments from scandalised readers. Highly addictive! Very Juvenile! Great fun!
ReplyDeleteI've still got whiplash from rubber necking the April Rose carry on - it was fascinating. When I ready VB's post I thought the book was the joke - I'm speechless (not for long I suspect).
ReplyDeleteI fear I have missed the boat on outing my 4 1/2 yr old as gay, it seems that the affair thing has already been done, I haven't got the imagination to invent another child (hell I barely write about the one I've got), I enjoy a good pat down at the airport....
ReplyDeleteI needs me an angle...
oh hang on, maybe I would write about nutella if they paid for me to have my teeth sorted - nothing fancy just a few fillings and possibly a bit of root canal work - a couple of grand max... so long as I didn't actually have to eat the stuff!
@Nikkii - no the book is very, very real!
I'm going to review this book next week.
ReplyDeleteNot really. ;)
Oh my, the length some people would go to! And I though VB's post was a joke (sorry!). I'm shocked.
ReplyDeleteFor a second I thought it said Mom Dogging For Dummies and I thought what a fabulous idea, I'd buy that and then I read the title again more calmly... ah well.
ReplyDeleteSteve - you are so onto something here...
ReplyDelete*runs off to park her vauxhall viva in some country park in sheffield....for research purposes*
Mom dogging - ha ha ha ha!!!
ReplyDeleteBest I write something controversial here and start a fight with you and then tweet about how much you suck and then put a blog about it linking to our twitter fight and then perhaps we can engage in make-up sex?! Do you think that'll get more people reading our blogs??
You are a very funny woman x
I'm in for the first Mommy Blogging Lesbo Love Affair - great linky dont' you think?
ReplyDeleteLOL @ the MBLLA linky idea, Ms Styling You ^^
ReplyDeleteI must live under a rock. I had no idea any of that had gone on. Either that, or I'm too busy fabricating my life so I can live it out via my blog (WHAT a waste of time, I get exhausted just imagining the energy it'd take keeping the stories going and retaliations to irate commenters coming). All for traffic and attention? Really? REALLY? Astounding (I thought I was bad/needy!)
If you're the sort of person who changes relationship status on her Facebook profile every so often just to get some attention, then Mummy Blogging is for you!
ReplyDeleteReading your post, I'm left feeling naive. Again.*Sigh*
ReplyDeleteAt least I don't actually like nutella.
What a bizarre book. I don't understand wanting to do it all 'by the book' (ha!) when you start out anyway. Isn't half the fun just working it out as you go along? I'm still learning, most of us probably are, and where's the fun in looking up a book index?
ReplyDeleteBooo....!
I have never had any free Nutella. I would like some though.
ReplyDeleteI think if I tried to out my son now his wife would have something to say about it!! Great ideas though...hmmm.
ReplyDeleteTroutie.....I am glad I'm not getting free Nutella because I'd be as fat as a house because I'd eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner!
ReplyDeletei read that post about the airport security 'assault', at the time it pissed me off greatly, now I guess it's just one in a long list of mommy bloggers who.need.to.get.a.life. Argh!
ReplyDeletethe 'for dummies' series used to be cool, now it's sort of jumping on just ANY subject.
really enjoyed this post and definitively the comments lol. (i also predict that the teenage offspring of some mommy bloggers will soon surf mommy's blogroll in the search of some MBILF..)
Damn. I turned down the Nutella offer last year.
ReplyDeleteNow my children have to suffer unhealthy breakfasts with cereal and fruit and toast and juice.
Personally would rename it 'Not-ella'.
LCM x
Tehe to think people out there just do it for the love. Or is it really for the love of Nutella?
ReplyDeleteI've clicked on 3 Out of the above 4 links and I think the airport lady sounds sincere.
ReplyDeleteI'd shake for hours too if that happened to me, and I know I would, as my GP once said something out of order to me and I shook and cried and couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.
I later realised it was because she is in a position of authority. There is something worse about it when that is the case... for some reason... Maybe it evokes that "go to the headmaster's office" "wait till your father gets home" vibe....
I don't know...
But sorry guys, she sounds genuine to me, and because of all the extra attention, it would appear she deleted all posts bar that one...
I am not new to blogging but VERY new to Mummy blogging in the sense that I only joined BMB a few weeks ago and Tots 100 even more recently.
I have noticed it is incredibly competitive, and I so far am not sure what I think of that - jury's still out...
But I am sad that there's a "dark side" to it.
I like funny and informative, heart-felt blogs
Liska x
Liska...yeah maybe the airport lady is sincere and was freaked out by being body searched but the fact remains that being body searched is a legitimate form of security checking so unless she had never flown before why should she be freaked out if someone touched her vagina through her clothes without asking? Maybe she has never flown by plane before. It is not an assault. It is maybe unpleasant but people who fly take it in their stride because it is just a part of a security check. I just thought she was making a real storm in a teacup.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. If you read it, she says that she flies regularly and it does not sound like the normal frisk to me. It sounds above and beyond that...
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeletePopping in from AMB to follow you and check out your blog.
Love it! Will be back!
Trish
xx
I'm just new to this mummy blogging business and I can't believe two of my tricks have been mentioned. I am currently faking a pregnancy and was also just about to out my 8 month old son for having a bangle fetish.
ReplyDeleteWhere does one go from here for attention?
Romina Garcia...If you are serious about making your mark on the mummy blogging business I'm pretty sure your 2 year old needs to develop an eating disorder asap so you can blog about it. You could also put on 200 pounds and then do a blog about how you struggled to lose weight while the kids used you as a trampoline. Good luck you've got some great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to piece together what "The Dark Side of Mommy Blogging" consists of. From this post and the comments I think it consists of nutella, lesbo love affairs, dogging, more nutella, dental work and trampolines. Is that about the size of it?
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome. I'm going to pre-order that book right now!
Always find your blog VERY entertaining!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I've just given you a "Versatile Blogger" award. Feeling the love!? :D Check out the details on my page. http://craftygirls.blogspot.com
Well you just know that I'm going to click that link and get some tips.....
ReplyDeleteTwisting the Spanner....or you could buy my book Cocktails at Naptime - A Woefully Inadequate Guide to Early Motherhood ....if you are pregnant after a one night stand after too many Mar-tea-nis? http://www.finch.com.au/books/cocktails-naptime
ReplyDeleteHi, following from AMB :)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of the fake pregnancy one before! I loved that little Daphne kid, so adorable.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even get the Nutella offer, so I guess I am not that popular after all. Might pre-order the book on amazon now.
ReplyDeleteDamnit. And I thought I was just on the verge of a big Nutella deal myself. Now it's back to the drawing board. Maybe I should fake a story on how I've been told I'm half man or something. Wait. That really happened.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder the term 'mommy blogger' sends me scuttling for the hills... x
ReplyDeleteJust found you through a blog hop. I'm your newest follower! Please follow back - I'm at http://www.toeuropewithkids.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks!
New follower here! Found you on Martyr-hood. Now I want your book AND the Dummies book :)
ReplyDeleteMoms Have Style, Too!
Seriously!! I think I just found my new favorite blog(s)!! You Ladies are too much!! Am definitely following and will send a shout out on Twitter and Facebook : )
ReplyDelete~Melissa
http://www.mnmrheinlander.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/MSRheinlander
http://www.facebook.com/KUWTR