I've talked about it before, and I think it's time to actually get around to doing one. A blog is nice, but it's not the same level of professionalism that a website brings to your business. Not to mention as I diversify I need a place that more clearly showcases the different aspects of what I offer clients, whereas the blog is a mixture of professional and personal posts. I need to make the distinction between the two, and to that end, I'm looking ahead to creating a website.
I'm not going to worry about it for the month of August, but I think I'll take a look in September and see about either hiring someone to build me one, or doing it myself. Nothing fancy, just a few pages to showcase a clients list, my resume, contact list, and services offered. I've firmly established myself as a content writer over the last 18 months, and I'm beginning to rack up some serious credentials as a journalist, and on top of that I'm racking up experience as a gaming journalist, not to mention I've served as a writer on a RPG which is finally releasing in August, where I get to claim 6 months of writing and editing experience. On top of that I've also been actively helping other writers get established in the field, with my list topping a dozen writers now since the first of the year. Nothing against you guys personally, but it's time for me to start charging for consultations, because that's just another aspect of business.
I've also debated two other business ideas. One is starting a freelance writing community site. The other is to start a short-story critiquing site for burgeoning writers who are looking to get started in the industry, but don't want to have to wait 2-3 months on critiques like other organizations do, such as Critters. On the record, I love Critters, and I think they do a great service to the industry, but they have gotten so large now that it takes literally 3 months (or around there) to hear any feedback on your stories, and when you add to that the 2-3 months most magazines take to get back to you on a story, you are looking at 6 months of downtime before you realistically know how your story is doing. That's unacceptable for working people who are trying to realistically get established in the field.
I've also debated about starting a fantasy and science fiction e-zine for the English speaking European market. I have to look into this with a little more detail over the coming months, and it's absolutely not something I will be doing this year, but I'm looking at actively pursuing this because there aren't a lot of high-quality fantasy and science fiction 'zines on the European front. I would also be funding this venture out of my pocket, and as with any business venture you want to research the industry as much as possible before you invest any money. Still, it's an idea that's brewing.
So....these are all business ventures which are on top of the other irons I already have on the fire. As you can see, I keep myself pretty busy outside of freelance writing and working on fiction :) In any case, the first step towards any of these is getting the website going sometime in September, at which point I'll be making this blog my "personal" blog, and using the other blog as my professional blog, in conjunction with the website itself. Part of my research for the month of August is seeing if I can find someone willing to do the work for a relatively inexpensive rate, as well as researching a few more sites to find what I feel is a good design for me, or determining if I want to do the work myself. It's not that I can't...it's just that I'd rather pay someone else to do it if they are affordable, and focus my efforts on other areas.
That's the mid-day update :) Time to get back to writing.
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2 comments:
The biggest hurdle with web design is making sure your site looks the same across all the major browsers. If you have any doubt as to your ability to develop (code) the site, use a template site as long as you can publish it to a custom domain. This is where WordPress comes in handy.
Good luck.
That was what my wife suggested. She's actually got more coding experience than I have, so we may end up working together on the project. I still might pay someone else to do it...haven't decided yet, and will largely depend on our budget for September, since we are already going on a seaside holiday that month as well.
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