It’s a huge consideration!

Last time we discussed why aspiring authors need a blog in order to build a solid social platform  that will sell their books.

Today let’s take a closer look at how to create your very own blog.

There are 2 basic options: Hosted or Self-Hosted

Hosted Blogs:

PROs:

• Are easy to maintain
• Are free
• Are becoming easier to customize

CONs:

• Less design creativity
• Less commenting control
• No advertising allowed on WordPress.com
• One influential, disgruntled reader could get you banned.

Self-Hosted Blogs:

PROs:

• Control: You own this virtual “real estate” and get to decide on the infinite variety of     plugins that suits you and change it as much as you like.
• Money: Yes, you can make money via your blogging efforts if you self-host
• Commenting: You get more control over this process and can customize it with any number of enticing, community building plugins that will spread the word about your site.
• Ownership: You’re free to publish whatever photos, videos, and written content your heart desires without the risk of becoming banned because somebody got offended.

CONs:

• Are more trouble to maintain
• Involve cost ($150 – $5000, on average)
• All the choices can be overwhelming and incite analysis paralysis!

NOTE: There are many blogging platforms, but I’m going to stick with WordPress and Blogger for this series because it’s they’re easiest to use and most popular platforms worldwide.

This is the second in a series of posts targeted at helping aspiring authors to get published by building an awesome blog that will serve as the foundation for their social platform. Are you a writer or do you know one? Please share! This series will put writers on the fast track to getting published.

Are you an aspiring author or have you already published a book? Please share your best advice and experiences down below.