Tag: blogging

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IWSG

#IWSG August 2014: Buyer’s Remorse

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

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I can’t imagine what it’s like to buy a home for the first time and the thought of it gives me the willies. I thought I was doing something pretty special a few years back when I bought a .com domain name for my blog, but that was just kid stuff. I’ve recently made the move to self-hosting and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. In the cyber world and blogosphere, self-hosting is like buying a home on the web and realizing the upkeep and maintenance that comes with that.

I put it off for as long as I could, but I knew I was limiting myself by not going to self-hosting. It’s not essential to self-host in order to be a great blogger, but for my specific blog needs, self-hosting was my only option and now I’m faced with a whole new reality.

  1. The financial investment. Many people may think that the few dollars a month it costs to host a website these days isn’t a big deal, but when funds are tight, everything little bit matters. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I’m not poor or struggling to get by, but my family of two lives on a very strict budget and this move to self-hosting has been felt.

  2. The learning curve. I have some many things to learn and unlearn to be able to run my site smoothly. I’m a quick learner, but my execution is a bit slow. I only hope I get a good grasps on thing before I ending doing something damaging in the long run.

  3. Deadlines. I knew I had to make this move and was smart enough to do while I’m on vacation, but my vacation is coming to an end. I want to have a clear handle on things before I go back to work so I don’t become overwhelmed and get backed up.

  4. Editing and coding. I used to love coding, I even studied it in college, but then I quickly lost the thrill. Guess what, I’m back to coding and I’m not sure if I like it or hate it, but I know I’m not going to be stuck in the middle. Like it or not, it’s part of the package. I guess I need to add this to my learning curve and pick up a refresher book on HTML and Java.

  5. All in all, after getting over the initial terror and anxiety, I’m actually excited to see where this will all lead. If I manage things well, perhaps I’ll even be able to find more time to write…in the end that’s what this all boils down to anyway. I’m an author and this is my blog, whether self-hosted or not.

Do any of you self-host? Did you start out that way or was it a transition? I’d seriously love to know.

After listening to me whine, here’s something that you may or may not be interested in and that may put a smile on your face. I’m putting my indie published, sci-fi novella, Legend of the Boy, on sale as an Amazon countdown deal. See my side panel for details. Summer’s coming to an end. Live it up while you can.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts: Sarah Foster, Joylene Nowell Butler, Lily Eva, and Rhonda Albom!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #155).

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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AdventuresNBlogging

Adventures In Blogging: The SheWrites.com Experience

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I’ll be writing about my adventures, from my point of view, while offering my opinion on whatever the current matter happens to be. I hope you will enjoy it, if for no other reason, because you’ll get to see just how crazy my mind and reactions can be sometimes.
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The SheWrites.com Experience

Having an opportunity to share my thoughts and or ask questions to the SheWrites.com community was a wonderful experience. I thoroughly enjoy reading and commenting on such periodic columns as Reality Check. I’ve learned so much from other authors who’ve been willing to share and put themselves ‘out there’ in efforts to improve themselves and help others.

 

When my chance arrived to contribute, I decided to pose a question and open myself up a little. I asked the question: Does redundancy work in social media? <-click here to see the original post

A few people where kind enough to leave some help comments and insights regarding this matter, and this is what I’ve surmised.

1. If you try to have fun with social media, it’s not that bad. Sure you want to promote yourself, but sometimes just connecting with someone else and not focusing on yourself leaves a bigger and better impression. Have fun!

2. Be yourself and be real. If you’re writing about something you are truly interested in (which you should be), let people see that. Show and share about your interests and appeal to others who are interested in the same kinds of things.

3. Good quality over quantity. If your ideas are well-developed, interesting, and well-written, people of similar interest will be drawn to you, whether quickly or slowly. Write and share good stuff!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
AdventuresNBlogging

Adventures in Blogging: Word Count vs. Page Numbers

adventure

I’ll be writing about my adventures, from my point of view, while offering my opinion on whatever the current matter happens to be. I hope you will enjoy it, if for no other reason, because you’ll get to see just how crazy my mind and reactions can be sometimes.
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Word Count vs. Page Numbers

Aside from the fact that books have gone digital, I wonder whether there is any reason to have page numbers other than to distinguish one page from another in a print copy. It has become quite clear to me that page numbers are utterly insignificant to the actual length of the story. In this advanced age, what is the proper way to measure the length of a book?

Average reading time: Based on what as an average would this be viable? This concept actually works in terms of audio books because you know exactly how long the recording is (the listen time is given). That’s not to say that when you’re reading you read at the same pace as professional narrator, whether that be slower or faster.

Page Numbers: I’ve already stated that this doesn’t work, but here’s why. Not all books are formatted the same. Depending on page size, font type, font size, margins, bindings, etc…, there are just too many different variables for this to be a standard.

Word count: While this doesn’t take into the consideration the miniscule differences that would occur in formatting overall, the word count is probably the best way to determine or have an idea of how long or short a story really is- and pictures/graphics don’t confuse things.

Why isn’t the word count included in basic book stats on retail and social sites?

File size: I have no idea why file size is listed on retail and social sites. Let’s be honest, if you’re reading a digital copy of a book, you probably have an e-reader or compatible device that’s well equipped to contain that book and many more. If not, you could always delete some other stuff you’re finished with. Again, how does the file size really help to determine the length of the story? If there are images/graphics, intros and acknowledgements, plus extras (which most ebooks now have), the file size isn’t going to be indicative of the actual length of the title story you purchased or borrowed.

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So, what do these two books have in common? I haven’t given it much thought, but I know you can’t find a word count for either of them online (unless I’ve missed something, though Smashwords.com is on board with this)…

but more on these in a minute.

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Now, this whole idea came to me a while back when I read a book that seemed to be a fairly good length, but once I finished it, it seemed like a very quick read. It’s true that when you’re really into a book you can fly through it, but this was not the case. After reading a few more books thinking that they would either be longer than they were or shorter than they were, I began to look back at the books’ formats.

Most of the books I read range between 250 and 350 pages, but now and then I read an epic or scan a short story- I never considered that there could be a major difference in the length of what I was reading outside the two parameters I just mentioned.  After going back and looking at these books I realized that they all used different fonts, different font sizes, different paragraph and chapter spacing and more. While most of these books were in the 6 x 9 category, some were not, which again added to the deception…

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little carried away here. There’s no conspiracy to trick me into reading more or less than I want to, but surely you can understand why this issue has begun to slightly bother me.

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Here’s an example of why I think page numbers and file sizes are virtually worthless. Pay close attention to the differences in page numbers and file sizes.

Discovery of Witches– pages: 594, digital file: 1085 KB, listen time: 24 hours and 2 minutes, word count: unknown

Eternal Curse– pages: 272, digital file: 1529 KB, listen time: unknown, word count: 82,330 (provided by me, the author)

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What would be your guess as to what the word count for Discovery of Witches is? How long do you think the listen time would be for Eternal Curse? It’s not so easy to figure out; is it?

Is this solely my issue or does anyone else feel the way I do? Doesn’t anyone else wish the word count were offered up instead of or along with the page numbers or file sizes?

The books used in the example up top were chosen merely to show a contrast in the information publicly available. The information provided here came from Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords