As I was scanning through my daily blogs, I came upon an interesting blog post over at BookEnds about social networking. At the end of the post, Jessica asked her readers what was it about author websites that people either liked or disliked. And that got me to thinking about my own website.
As long time readers might recall, I had a website professionally designed and maintained. And it was a pain in the tuckus (how do you spell that???) It literally took weeks to get updates done. Now, I grant you, the web guy had other clients, so I tried to be patient, but when it took weeks and many, many emails (most of which went unanswered) to get the simplest changes done, I'd had enough. It was enough to wait for non-time sensitive things (book releases, sales to publishers, that kind of stuff), but having to chase him down for time-sensitive things - like contests - got to be too much. I later found out that my computer guy (who is a wonderful, wonderful person and still my go-to guy for computer issues) actually fired the web guy. Apparently I wasn't the only one who got tired of hunting him down and hounding him to get things done. Mind you, he was paid to do this kind of stuff, and he didn't come cheaply. I got tired of throwing my money away, so off web guy went into the sunset.
And there was much rejoicing.
But, I needed to get a new website, soooo... long story short ("Too late!" the audience roared.) I have my website through GoDaddy, and I do the updates and everything myself. It isn't fancy, but I don't think it's horrible, either.
After reading that BookEnds post, though, I wonder - does a writer really need a website and a blog. Is one better than the other, and if so, which do readers prefer?
My blog gets updated more often than my website. I try to keep it entertaining (jeez, I hope it's entertaining, really), I try not to simply push my books on everyone (buy, buy, buy!) I try to keep it a mix of life, writing, and that all-elusive perfect cup of coffee (which, sadly, remains just out of reach.) In short, I enjoy my blog. I enjoy posting, I enjoy getting comments (you like me! you really like me!), I like commenting back. In all, I just like it.
Maybe I shouldn't admit it, but I prefer it over the website. Updates are easier, so they are more frequent here. I don't have to fight to get this picture to fit, or this font to look right. It's. Just. Easier.
But, it isn't for me. It's for you. (No, really. It is. Honest.)
So, I'm curious. Which do you, as a reader, prefer? Website or blog? Or is it necessary for a writer to keep both?
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