Surprises

There are a couple of things I didn’t expect when I started my Author Website.

One of these is the subtle impression that readers and publishers see me as more authentic. Maybe this should have been obvious, all the years when I was putting off making a website because it sounded all complicated and techy. It seems people really do click through and take a look when they see your author bio. I had always included my social media tags before, but I suppose it’s true that a website makes a more effective display of samples and credits.

The other is that I’m suddenly selling more writing-craft articles. In trying to create regular posts for my website, I’ll start writing little opinion-pieces on tag-lines or story-generating ideas… only to find that this or that will probably work as an article for a writing-resources site. One piece that I’d already posted on this WordPress, I’ve had to take down because it sold; more are in the publishing pipeline; others will probably appear on here eventually, but it makes sense to offer them to paying publishers first.

Here’s one article which I wrote for my own blog right here, but which I ended up sending on another journey: https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/a-letter-to-the-editors-of-literary?utm_campaign=reaction&utm_medium=email&utm_source=substack&utm_content=post .

Having a website that needs to be filled is good for my writing routines, because there is always something relatively undemanding for me to work on if I’m not in a very literary mood. And there’s nothing to stop an easy-to-write blog post from developing into an opinion article, a page of writing advice or a piece of authorship-related humour.

The only bad news is this: I’ve not been filling up my WordPress as quickly as I’d intended, because I’m finding other markets for my bloggings. But that’s good news too: I’m finding new markets for my writings about writing.