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 