I need to start a new blog to showcase my books. The thing is that I am a computer moron. I could probably figure out how to start a new WordPress blog, but that isn’t going to cut it. I need a self-hosted blog… maybe… whatever the hell that is.
To go back to the beginning, my older daughter… yes, the one that is getting married in two months… helped me start this blog for two reasons. Firstly, so that I would stop bugging my family with every crazy, crack squirrel-induced idea that popped into my head, but there was another reason, an important reason.
My wife gave me a book called; Getting Published, The Complete Idiot’s Guide. Because I want to get my books and stories and poems out there. One suggestion in the book is that a successful blog is actually a selling point to publishers, because it means you can write words that get the attention of at least a few people. I think I did okay with that.
Here’s the thing… (ooooh, two things in one post… bonus score!) There is too much stuff on this blog that is weird, and not enough focus on my writing. I mean, I love my blog. But this isn’t the place to direct publishers and agents, and I am starting to send my stuff out to them. I need a blog… with a clever name… where I can focus solely on my writing, and professional people can go to it and see that I am serious.
So, if you know anything about blogs and blogging, or computers, or self-hosted blogs, or if there is some other type of website that would be good for this, please tell me. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that WordPress is slowly dying. My stats have gone down the last two years in a row. Not the day to day numbers, but overall. I think WordPress never removes followers that have long since vanished from the face of the blog world, so maybe we wouldn’t notice the slow demise.
Not only am I sending my books to literary agents, but I also plan to start sending my short stories and poems to magazines and websites and contests and publishers. I am trying to attack this from both ends. Any advice on any of this would be most welcome.
Remember, every time you help a writer get published, it is a victory for all of us who think words matter… and also, an angel gets to dip their wingtips into heavenly ink, to give them awesome eagle wings!!!
Pouring My Art Out 
I think the moving would only make sense if you get to keep all the readers. If you have to make people actively click on something to re-follow, your new blog will start off with only dozens or maybe couple of hundred readers, no more, and if there is one thing spam followers are good for, it’s making a blog look more popular than it is.
What if you just stay with this one and spin off the crazy to a new blog instead?
I am staying with this one, I just need a place where agents and publishers can get an idea of my writing talents. I will send them here, too.
Looks like you got the good stuff there. Personally, if I was to go self-hosted, I would go by way of wordpress.org. You still have the support from here, and it is apparently really easy to use. There are other companies that will charge something like $2.99 a year for a self-hosted site, but they offer you just that – the site. You have to pay for space, pages over 5, a huge fee for registering the domain and then exorbitant fees for each email address associated with that site. Plus you have to pay for help and support. When I was building websites about 8 years ago, I went with one of those and it was the biggest regret I made.
Thank you, sir. That is the second suggestion for the dot org.
Will you be moving your entire blog, or just using it for the books?
I hope to keep this one too.
Cool. I don’t cope well with change. That’s why I prefer notes
Change is… ummm… always changing?
Well, that’s a change
For a change… and do you have any spare change?
I changed my change
I changed a diaper yesterday.
A diaper piper
but not a griper
it would make you hyper
like I was bit by a viper… on the windshield wiper
Was that the sniper viper who only got riper?
that’s the one
His name was Roddy Piper
I’m guessing he got Rowdy. You win. I can’t think of anything that rhymes without using one we already have.
I am more hyper… did we use that yet? or riper? typer?
I used hyper and riper. Not typer though.
there you go then
I moved my blog from here to WordPress.com and could transfer everything from here to there and have a selfhosted professional website. Take a look x much love barbara x
Thank you so much.
I see the memymagnificentself one… which one is that? (I did warn you that I am a computer moron, right?)
Go to WordPress.org and you can build your own website… or get someone to build it for you like I did. It’s really great, you get to choose your theme and how you want to showcase all your work.
And I can move stuff from here over to there, right? Thanks. That might be the way to go.
You can add a plugin called jet pack and it allows you to migrate your old blog posts to new website + be able to continue with all your readers. You have to write a last post on your old blog redirecting them and some people have to follow you anew. It’s great and I don’t regret it for a minute x barbara
Thank you. You are too kind.
I can keep the old blog too, right?
Yes
That does seem to be the way to go then. Thanks again.
It’s my pleasure x barbara
YAY!
I think you are right to build a website / blog that is focused on your writing and is presented in a way that the boring professionals will be able to relate to. I love, love, LOVE your blog and wouldn’t change a thing – but you are right, it absolutely isn’t the place to send publishers, agents et al. I know nothing about self-hosted websites or any technical nonsense, so I suppose the best I can offer is some cheerleading action. GO, ART! GO ART! (Have you asked Babbage? He is good with technology)
I am asking everybody, sooner or later. And thanks. Now, if you can do the cheerleading in that outfit with the white shirt and not much else…
Now that I can manage!
wheeeee… and oh my… and …ooo000ooo…
I can work a timer on a camera phone…but I couldn’t give any advice on websites; the WordPress.org route sounds quite popular.
As of this week, I can also work a timer on a camera phone *proud*
That’s excellent news; I hope it was something arty and tasteful, and not just gratuitous nudity…?
Oh yes indeed, it was very arty indeed. Nothing gratuitous about it at all – in fact I would say that it was essential art.
Was it you in front of ‘the thinker’ doing an impression of ‘the thinker’?
It was certainly a thought-provoking pose, I’ll give you that.
ha
She is all about the thinking.
🙂
…ooo000ooo…
…ooo000ooo… am I missing something here?
….maybe…
dang it
I shall leave it do Babbage whether or not to disclose the shocking truth.
oh my
Not on this blog, though. This is a family blog.
It is supposed to be.
I hate to stoop to this level… but… if a guy takes a pic of his junk we call it a dick pick, what is the female version of that> Twat shot?
You don’t hate it at all!!! My phone isn’t showing me notifications so I’ve completely lost track of what you’re replying to…by ‘we’ you mean Americans or just your household?
I forget what we were talking about…
wait… the phones have timers?
Apparently so. A genius little application.
nobody tells me nothin’
That seems to be the clear winner so far.
Hi ya, what sort of book or stories are these? I can set up blogs and social media accounts and that’s about it…
The links are there in my sidebar. I have a series of action/humor sci-fi, two children’s books, a murder mystery set in WW2 London, a bunch of short stories and poems, and some unfinished novels.
Wow! If you look though on my site or through my last few posts you will find links to my new project. A sci fi / fantasy hub which will hopefully highlight the work of people like yourself.
Have a look and see what you think! 😊
I like the artwork! I would love to contribute something. You may need to remind me. I am busy and a little forgetful. And I am sorry I don’t visit your blog more.
It’s ok, life is busy for me too, the idea of the hub is this single place to put your stuff out – so use it as and when you want! 🙂
That is so awesome!
I’m glad you think so!
I really do.