I FINISHED REBECCA BLOOD‘S new book, The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog. I liked it very much, and recommend it to anyone interested in the subject: bloggers, blog-readers, and journalists writing about weblogs. (Full disclosure: I have a book with the same publisher — Perseus. At some places this would disqualify me from writing a review. But not here at InstaPundit, where we don’t need no stinkin’ codes of ethics! And trust me, Perseus won’t be paying me off for this good review; they barely pay me off for my book.)

“Rebecca’s Pocket” isn’t much like InstaPundit, in conception, execution, or politics. But I’ve always liked it, and I like her book even more: somehow, to me, her voice comes through more clearly in longer increments.

Her comments on weblog etiquette, self-promotion (and the excesses thereof), flamewars, etc., are likely to be useful to just about everyone, and the history of the early days of weblogging (you know, like, three years ago) is very interesting. There’s also a lot of practical advice (even basic HTML and domain-management stuff) in the appendices. So go buy it!

I can’t help but feel that the publication of a how-to book about blogging marks an important milestone in the Blogosphere’s development, though I’m not sure exactly what it means, for good or ill. What do you think?

UPDATE: Wow. The book was ranked 5,209 on Amazon last night; now it’s up to 734. Did I do that? Regardless, it’s pretty damned impressive. You go, girl!