I am moving blogs! And turning the blog into a complete author website! With free short stories! And things! And a Twitter!
You guys have no idea how big of a thing this is for me. I started writing novels when I was a pretty young teenager, and I decided to go the whole professional aspiring author route a few years later. So starting out, I was very cautious about how much information I made public. The idea of launching a career seemed like a very important decision that needed to be timed just right.
So for almost five years (!) I blogged away at *Headdesk* developing my bloggers voice, my writing craft, my understanding of the publishing industry, and my connections with people involved in the industry. Through that I become a lot more confident. But I still knew I wanted to wait for the appropriate time before attempting to launch.
When I say launch, I'm not necessarily expecting my career as a novelist to take off just because I got a shiny website and started shopping a manuscript around. Launching, to me, has always been about reaching a stage where my career could take off--where I've reached the level of skill that it's just a matter of time and persistence. There are a few milestones I wanted to make first. Things like being close to graduation, having finished MIRRORPASS, and having started a new novel were all important to me. I wanted to have some experience under my belt and enough momentum to keep rolling.
I'm pretty sure I was driving all my friends and family crazy. But there you go. I waited, they waited, and now, finally, it's time!
That brings me to the other rather important thing about this new website. Content.
I don't know about you guys, but personally, I love reading. I love following an author online and then reading their book. I love following aspiring authors and reading excerpts from their books. I love it when people put up short stories, and snippets of dialogue, or bits from old, trunked novels, because these things catch my eye. And it's always exciting to see a book coming out and already know that I like this author's writing and that I can trust I will like this book.
I always liked these things, but felt limited from doing them myself. With this new website/blog I wanted to build a platform where I could do those things. So a big emphasis of the new site/blog is to reward all the people who've been interested in my writing in the past (hey, Sefi! Hey you guys from my Intro to Audio class! AWers! Mom!) but never really had a chance to read much of it. Now they can.
I won't be self-publishing anything. And I won't be offering anything in e-book or downloadable form. But the site will have plenty of content for everyone who has been interested and kind enough to follow me before I got big.
So what's the site called?
TheFirstReader.wordpress.com
Because, obviously. First readers. People who followed me before I was worth following. That's what the site is geared toward--building an audience off the audience I already have.
So. Any more details worth sharing?
There are a few, such as the launch date, and the launch contest. (THERE IS GOING TO BE A LAUNCH CONTEST GUYS.) But those remaining details are going to come later this week. Muahah.
Also, you can go ahead and try that new site link, but nothing is going to happen. You'll get a little box asking you to log in and you'll be unsuccessful in doing so. I'm sorry. It's going to change soon. I promise.
For now, enjoy this mockup of the new site banner. And see you later this week!
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| Look. The wings! Are MIRRORPASS-ish! Gah! |
Truly and always and launching soon!
-Creative A
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