We thought the best way to commemorate this momentous occasion, both for the For Dummies brand and for WordPress For Dummies, would be to host a giveaway! It has been awhile since our last giveaway, so we figured this was the perfect opportunity to bring it back!
First, though, here’s a little bit from Lisa about where she was ten years ago, and what led to WordPress For Dummies’ creation. There’s no doubt that the book is considered a highly valuable resource to WordPress newbies, and with the increasingly popularity of the WP platform, it will only continue to remain so.
Read ahead for a little bit of history, and enter to win some damn good goodies too!
Ten years ago in Austin, Texas, I had the privilege to get asked to speak at the South By Southwest Interactive Festival on the topic of WordPress. Specifically, it was a panel presentation titled “How To Make Money With Your Blog Design Skills.” This was 2006, after all, and WordPress was only three years old and considered a great tool for blogging. Tools like BuddyPress and WooCommerce didn’t exist back then, but it was an exciting time to be blogging and WordPress was fast becoming the tool to use. This was also the first time that the topic of WordPress ever graced the stage at SXSW, and I was thrilled to be the one to bring it there.
It was at this event that I was first approached to write WordPress For Dummies. The discussion about it happened after the panel was over with someone at Wiley Publishing, who recognized the emerging popularity of the blogging tool. It was a brief conversation over brunch when I expressed my interest in writing the book and talked about my experiences with using WordPress. I had never written a book before and was completely honest when I told them that writing a book was not something that was on my ‘to do’ list in life; however, I was deeply interested in the topic of WordPress, passionate about open source, and had a deep understanding of the tool, from both a user’s standpoint, as well as a theme developer. I had, after all, built a small business around building web sites for clients with WordPress as the primary tool. It was a great conversation and I was excited to have been asked.
I flew back home to Wisconsin the next day and went back to my daily business of building WordPress sites for clients. Weeks and months went by since that day in Austin in March of 2006, and I had decided that the discussion on the book was one of those one-off conversations you have at conferences where everyone is excited about emerging, cutting-edge technology. I told myself, at the very least, it was flattering to have been asked and, at least for the moment, singled out and noticed for my experience and knowledge about the platform. It wasn’t until October of the same year that I received an email from Wiley Publishing with the subject line of “WordPress For Dummies … still interested?” and by November of 2006, I signed my first book contract.
There is, literally, a For Dummies™ book for everything! In the past ten years, I have enjoyed the unique privilege of writing books on a topic I truly love. This year, in May, the For Dummies™ celebrates their twenty five year anniversary of making learning easier for millions and millions of people around the world.
For ten of those years, it has been my great privilege for contributing my small part as the author of WordPress For Dummies (all EIGHT editions!), WordPress Web Design For Dummies and WordPress All In One. I’m excited to continue my journey with my readers, with WordPress and with Wiley Publishing and the For Dummies brand for many more years to come!
Here’s what we’re giving away:
- One signed copy of the latest edition of WordPress For Dummies
- One signed copy of WordPress Web Design For Dummies
- One signed copy of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies
- A WDS pint glass
- Some nifty stickers
And if we get more than 250 entries, there will be a surprise second prize as well!
Rafflecopter
The giveaway ends Friday, May 6th at 11:59 AM ET, so GET YOUR ENTRIES IN WHILE YOU STILL CAN, and good luck!
Okay, I cannot ever pass up a giveaway. If I win a book, I will pass it on to a well-deserved WP beginner. But I want that pint glass! Cheers!
We figured that if the books didn’t reel ya in, that pint glass would! And we know our WP community will make sure those books go to a good home either way!
Huge fan of Lisa’s… have been for what feels like forever. WordPress old guard! 🙂
That’s what we like to hear!
Thanks for the giveaway.
Our pleasure! Best of luck. 🙂
Hey Elizabeth!
The most valuable thing I’ve learned about WordPress was “add_action”, and its related topics. It showed me how the various components such as themes, plugins, posts/pages, etc… can all work together behind the scenes (and actually play nicely together, even if written by different developers for different purposes).
While I would enjoy the swag, I would most appreciate sharpening my expertise of WordPress even more, so I can be a better serve the WordPress community
Great point!
Best of luck, Chris!
The most valuable thing I’ve learned about WordPress: It can be used as a universal language. I described how mail merge worked in Word, by saying things like “You know how WordPress Loops through your blog posts? That’s what we’re doing here. Looping through all the data.”
Hell yes–what a great (and non-obvious) thing to learn, that you can really only learn by doing it. Thank you for sharing! Good luck!
The most valuable thing I’ve learned about WordPress is how versatile it is. It’s more than just a blog, and it’s more than just a CMS. It is a valuable tool in a Web Designer/Developers toolkit. It’s also more than that, it’s also a caring, supportive community!
Yesssss! I think people are finally coming around to the concept that WordPress is so much more than just a blogging platform, which is fabulous, since WP can do so much more.
Had head blown away with knowledge from Brian Messenlehner at recent Lehigh Valley Meetup! Can’t wait to learn more from rest of team! The most valuable thing I learned about WordPress is that you are not alone when learning it, the community is so willing to help!
That’s awesome! Good for you for going to meetups; they are super helpful. 🙂
You guys always do amazing work and these books are just physical representations of how great your efforts are in sharing with the community.
Thank you, Jason!
I’m still learning but i’m amazed about the posibilities of multisites!!
Hey, you’re not alone! We’re all still learning.
i learn new things about WordPress every day . Now i`m learning about WP security and performance optimization 😀
Hell yeah! That’s rad. Security is so crucial!
I added both WordPress for dummies books to my MUST HAVE Wishlist for later, as I heard wonders about the Authors work on them!
Happy Bday you ol’ folks!
this is cool 🙂
We like being on MUST HAVE lists!
Hmm…most valuable things I’ve learned…Well, I’m probably the last one to do so, but I just discovered multisite in the past six months and now use it to power private staging sites on my WordPress sites. Pretty cool for folks on run-of-the-mill shared hosting who don’t have access to staging sites through their host.
Isn’t Multisite incredible? What a great option that makes handling several sites easier.
The best WP tip i ever learned was the you can copy a link, highlight any word or phrase in the WSYIWYG, and simply paste the link and WP converts it into a linked phrase. It’s SO satisfying!
Seriously, this is my favorite WP trick, and one that I wish was everywhere! You wouldn’t think such a small thing would be a timesaver, but it’s so convenient and overall feels like it makes things a LOT quicker.
The most valuable thing I have learned about WP is that it needs to be checked DAILY (at least ) for updates if you are using additional plugins.
Hey, keeping those things updated is crucial for security! It’s great that you’re on top of it!
One thing that I’ve learned over the years with WordPress, is that it pays to know how everything fits together – like having to install WP manually, edit the wp-config.php file, and fixing a problem by changing rows in the database, has made me feel like I can really work with the software – I love that it’s open-source, and I’ve learned a lot from following WebDevStudios posts and tutorials. Thanks!
Absolutely–the more you know, the more power you have to utilize WP to its maximum ability.
And hey, thanks! We’re so glad the tutorials are helpful. 🙂
The most important thing I have learned about WordPress is the community of developers/designers/et. al all want to share. Meetups & WordCamps & ‘WordPress for Dummies’ all exemplify this friendly sharing environment where everyone wants to help someone else.
Roy, that’s absolutely true! I think WP can seem really intimidating until you realize that everyone is willing to share their knowledge and experience.
The most valuable thing I know about Wp is to stay up-to-date with your HTML & CSS, as many templates require custom ized tweaks.
Heck yeah. Helps you make it everything you want it to be!
Easily the most valuable thing I’ve learned about WordPress has been been to get involved in the community and attend meetups, WordCamps, etc. There are so many WordPress folks out there and they are ALWAYS your best ally.
Second would be how to customize template files. Third would be learning to save those customizations so you don’t lose them if there is a major theme update!
“There are so many WordPress folks out there and they are ALWAYS your best ally.”
? ??
What a great edition to the series. WP has grown so much thanks to efforts of authors like you!
Lisa sends her thanks!
You dont know it all!
It’s ever-changing, so how could anyone? 🙂
The most important thing I’ve learned about WordPress is to always start a project with creating a child theme. That would have saved a big headache on my first project, had I done it.
We learn best from our headaches (or at least I sure do).
Hi,
Thanks for the giveaway.
I’m still learning but I’m amazed about multisites!
And, … Happy Birthday!
Thank you! And hey, we’re all still learning.
My WordPress for Dummies is falling apart! I would just go for meeting Lisa Sabin Wilson sometime. Congrats!
Get yourself to an event! https://webdevstudios.com/category/events-2/ We share the details of where we’re going here.
As a novice I love the ease of being able to design a site with WordPress due to all the great resources available.
Absolutely! It’s amazing how much there is out there in terms of tutorials, etc.
The pint glass did it for me!
We’re excited to include it. We love these things!
Hey I really want this 🙂
Making child themes, using custom post types, and the Advance Custom Fields changed the way I used and felt about WordPress
Good luck! Fingers crossed! Remember that you can enter more than once–up your chances by entering again before Friday!
Thanks for the giveaway.
I’m still learning but I’m amazed about multisites.
Happy anniversary!
Thank YOU for being a part of it!
This “dummies” make you web smart !
Hahah, yes!
The one thing that changed everything for me and which applies beyond WordPress is local development. As I stopped doing cowboy coding, I was able to add version control, task-runners, CSS preprocessors and more to my workflow.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Thank you for this giveaway!
Um.. a contest is not a “giveaway”! Jeez.
Hi Jane!
It’s not a contest, as no one did anything to really compete with the other folks participating. Rafflecopter is essentially the equivalent of putting names in a hat and drawing them out at random. 🙂 Thanks for your feedback!