So what's a Blog doing with a VBT?

Good question. One, we know that Angie has caught the blog disease big-time recently, and her invite for Scrapability to be included in her ideas for a VBT was issued slightly before she started off in her own blogging world.

Two, Angie is going to many other scrapbooking websites with large forums and communities and for some there are going to be challenges and prizes from sponsors, as those communities take part in the Book of Us Virtual Book Tour.

So how’s a little ol’ blog meant to compete? Answer - I’m not. Blogging is very different from that of a community site, where you have to troll through lots of threads and read lot’s of user’s responses, questions, and possibly personal habits before you get to that tiny bit which might interest you. Blogging is more personal, and of course, more towards journaling.

Angie says on her website that she intends providing interview answers and blogging on here. All for the good. And thanks to the excellent technology provided by my own blogging provider, Squarespace, I have the below in mind also (let’s see if Angie reads these, and comments, hmmmm….)

What Might Be Happening On Scrapability

The Pace

• Everything will be a bit more leisurely than the forums Angie is visiting around the Scrapability visit. Hey - blogging = leisure time, right? 
• And after such a hectic few days, a weekend break might be just what Angie and myself are after. So, pull up a cup of java, put your feet up in front of the computer, and learn a bit about your favourite author, and this very great book…

The Communications

• There is a discussion forum up online already. Please use it at your leisure to input any ideas etc.
• This Blog - Notice that a brand new blog has been created called The Book of US VBT. This blog is already feeding out as RSS and XML feeds to all the main blogging search engines. It also has catergories inserted, such as “The Book of Us” or “Announcements”, which allow Technorati and others to catergorise - right under the term Book of Us, or Virtual Book Tours. Editors of Blog Entries can choose multiple categories allowing even more publication of this type of thing.
• Angie has been created as a brand new editor for this blog. When she logs on for the day (April 30th, remember!) her blog entries will be documented under her own name.
• She can answer comments too. You, as the general public, can comment and discuss as much as you like.
• Angie, as editor, will also have access to my general storage space. This means she can upload files or photos / jpegs onto her blog entries if she so wishes.

Prizes, Challenges etc

• Angie may not have any in mind. But I do. As I was lucky enough to be included in The Book of Us, I happen to have a few spare copies of the book - the first in the UK. Angie has signed it to. So, if I get enough participation on this day, with comments etc, then a lucky winner will be posted an autographed copy of The Book of Us. Make sure you include your email address in the comments fields to be included in the prize draw. I will remind everyone on the day.
• I plan to blog right along with Angie on the day. That means that she might want to expect some blogging challenges thrown at her by myself, and hopefully linked with blogging, journaling or The Book of Us - maybe all at once! (Both Angie and I share a love of blogging and all the latest happenings on the WWW - so I hope we go out and explore some of these together on the day also). **But remember the pace - not too much - it’s a Saturday for pete’s sake!

Your Participation

• Blogs aren’t worthwhile without readers. Strangely enough, so aren’t books. The Book of Us is a great book - full of ideas, and inspirational layouts (even discluding my own, lol). But both this blog, and the Book of Us needs a participative audience.
• Please come and comment, and work with us on the day - even if you spend only a few moments. Get your name on the site, and you could win the book in question. And you will win my thanks also.
• If you want to subscribe to this blog - use the following URL to put in your RSS or MyYahoo, or Bloglines or whatever service you use. http://scrapability.squarespace.com/the-book-of-us-vbt/atom.xml

And Afterwards?

• Remember - all of this would have been fed out via Blogfeeds. So it will be on the net recorded for history.
• Additionally, I will hold the archive of this blog, and the discussion chat if anyone makes use of it, on the Scrapability site for as long as it exists. It will be moved to a separate folder, and available for everyone to see. As the first Scrapbooking Virtual Book Tour, and through a blog - this one will be a bit of the scrapbooking industry’s history.