Have you completed the steps I’ve outlined in the last four blog posts? 1) Picked your official author name and purchased the domain? 2) Decided on your internet service provider and webhosting, and ready to install WordPress? 3) Put together a list of your design preferences? 4) Prepared the text and images for the pages on your new site? If so, then it’s time to install WordPress.org. Login to your webhosting service provider and follow their instructions for the installation of the WordPress software platform. For most webshosting companies it is a one-click installation. WordPress recommends BlueHost as a webhosting company for their easy one-click version. Be aware when using one-click installations: you may experience attempts to attach a lot of bloatware, or unnecessary third-party programs, to your installation. You do not need to install Jetpack or Mojo Marketplace. Depending on your webhosting company, the instructions for installation of this free open-source code software varies. You should not have to pay any additional charge to your webhosting company for this program. Read what you are doing, pay attention, and look for any check boxes that are automatically clicked before you hit install. The only program you want to install is WordPress. WordPress’ tutorials offer a quick and efficient way to set up a basic design and utilize important features by familiarizing you, the new user, with dashboard commands and operations. We recommend that you follow the tutorials before installing the software. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with WordPress for Beginners and…
In WordPress, the Blogroll is a widget that appears in a side column on your blog page. How does a blogroll work? It provides a list of links to blogs (or other websites) you think your readers might be interested in. A blogroll is your personal endorsement of websites – the places you recommend someone visit for related content. To add a blogroll to your… [Read More]
Filed Under: audience building, blogosphere, blogroll, Blogs, connectivity, Golden Rule, letters, links, network, sidebar, themes, virtual endorsement, widgets
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Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan (Melville, 2012), will unashamedly tell you that she’s lived with her parents four times. Her newly-released novel, a coming-of-age about post-college angst, is spliced with details from her own experience and speaks volumes to the plight of so many twenty-something’s undergoing a quarter-life crisis. Stein’s protagonist, Esther, is a recent Northwestern graduate suffering from the post-grad blues. While… [Read More]
Are you ready to pick a WordPress theme for your new website and blog? If you’ve been following our Saturday social media for authors blog series and completed the first six “baby steps”, you already have a domain name, webhost, and content management system ready to go. Hopefully you’ve found time over the holidays to do a bit of window shopping and figured out how… [Read More]
Writing a query letter that hooks an agent or acquisitions editor for your non-fiction book concept is the golden key that opens the door to publishing. So how do you hook ’em? Think of your query letter as a sales pitch for the book. Accept the fact that those who read your initial correspondence are trained, so to speak, to judge books by their covers and make their first impressions based on marketability…. [Read More]
Filed Under: acquisition editor, agent, elevator speech, Hollywood 30-second pitch, Pitch, Query letter
Ready to begin blogging in 2012? Have you completed Steps 1-5? If so, it’s time to install WordPress.org, following the instructions provided by your webhosting service provider. If BlueHost.com is your provider, it is a simple, one-click installation. Word Press’ video tutorials offer a quick and efficient way to set up a basic design and utilize important features by familiarizing you, the new user, with dashboard commands… [Read More]