I am very proud to announce that my new book, “Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards”, is now available and can be purchased online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other retailers. If you are in the United States, it is being stocked nationally at Barnes & Noble locations, as well. You can check stock status at the closest store to you on their website.

“Managing Online Forums” is the result of my years of experience running online communities and forums. The book is definitely appropriately titled: it is truly a forums management book, but with principles that can apply to other types of online communities, like blogs, as well. From creating the infrastructure of the community and setting and enforcing policies to dealing with troublemakers and managing staff. This isn’t a programming book or a software book, this is all about managing the actual forums.

Here is some of the advance praise that it has received:

“O’Keefe provides an impressively insightful, comprehensive, and cogent blueprint for building a loyal and responsive community online.”
–Ryan Leslie, Founder, NextSelection Lifestyle Group, recording artist, producer, and online video pioneer

“Patrick is one of the true leaders in online community building, and his knowledge isn’t just theoretical, it is based on ‘in the trenches’ experience – and those experiences will prove invaluable as you look to leverage community in your endeavors.”
–Jeremy Wright, CEO, b5media, and author, Blog Marketing

“Online forums make up the very foundation of the social web. Unfortunately, there are few resources for the growing number of people who work behind the scenes to make them successful. In this comprehensive book, Patrick O’Keefe brings his real-world experiences to bear in the form of strategies, tactics, and ideas that fill a knowledge gap that has begged to be filled for too long.”
–Lee LeFever, Principal, Common Craft

Here is a look at the chapters featured in the book:

Chapter 1. Laying the Groundwork
Chapter 2. Developing Your Community
Chapter 3. Developing Guidelines
Chapter 4. Promoting Your Community
Chapter 5. Managing Your Staff
Chapter 6. Banning Users and Dealing with Chaos
Chapter 7. Creating a Good Environment
Chapter 8. Keeping It Interesting
Chapter 9. Making Money

It also features three helpful appendices at the end that include online resources, a glossary and blank, general templates that you can use as a basis for your own user guidelines, staff member guidelines and contact templates (pre-written messages for you and your staff to use when contacting members).

For more information on the book, including a full table of contents, advance praise, interviews and reviews, an excerpt, downloadable document templates, an example forums setup and more, please check out the book website.

Thank you for reading and for visiting ManagingCommunities.com.

Sincerely,

Patrick