Thursday, February 25, 2010

How to Create a Simple Writer Blog - Guide to Literary Agents - Peta Jinnath Andersen (Guest Post).



How to Create a Simple Writer Blog - Guide to Literary Agents - Peta Jinnath Andersen (Guest Post).

Twice in one day! This must-read is a guest post on Guide to Literary Agents, hosted by Chuck Sambuchino. Again, we continue the trend of "less is more". This post is a basic intro to a complex subject. Admittedly, it leans heavily toward WordPress, while I myself am a Blogger guy. But, it's all good. I would recommend anyone who reads this intro to check out available intro posts for Blogger, as well as the lesser known platforms. Sorry I don't have any links available now - but I'll be keeping my eyes open.

Within the last few days I highlighted a post by Eric on Pimp My Novel who advocated the author blog as the center of a writer's online presence. I agree with his point, though I have to admit I don't have one (yet). But I also don't have my first novel even half finished. And I have a day job.

'Nuff said for now. Check out this post here.


Check out Chuck's entire blog at www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/


-Steve

3 comments:

Angela Ackerman said...

Hi Steve,

I just wanted to let you know I answered your question about targeting writers as apposed to the eventual Kid/YA target readership on my blog. I hope the answer helps!

Happy Easter!

Angela

Peta Jinnath Andersen said...

Oh, wow, I'm up on your blog twice! Thanks, Steve - I'm so glad my posts are helpful.

I used Blogger for a couple of years, but got sucked in by the ease of WP, and not needing to code everything myself. My next couple of posts for Guide to Literary Agents are less WP oriented, though - there's one about backing up your blog coming up, and it covers WP (.com and ,org), Blogger, & LiveJournal.

What is it you love about Blogger?

word verifictation: fardveri

Steve said...

Hi Peta,

I enjoy the easy integration with my Google account, and the fact that Google seems to be expanding the availability of free add-ons - including entire services such as Feed Burner (very very nice) which they purchased and now provide free.

In terms of blog design, you can go to the intro page and pick a nice looking template, and if you're design-lazy and minimally esthetic like myself, you can pick something good-looking "out of the box".

The template driven customization options are easy - just drag and drop the gadgets you like to s spot where they seem to look good.

I like setting up Blogger, because you can set something attractive and functional with very little effort.

And, of course, this is all part of the Google philosophy - give away high end services that others might charge for. I know there's an agenda there - but generally it appears to be win-win for Google and its users.

-Steve