I use BlueHost to host this site, and I can honestly say they are fantastic. I love them. Very reliable–don’t think I’ve ever had an outage–and their customer service is amazing; fast, very friendly, available pretty much 24/7 (I tried to get in touch with them on New Year’s Day once and didn’t have luck, but it was New Year’s Day, and they did contact me back bright and early on the 2nd).

I’ve asked them some amazingly stupid questions and they’ve assured me that it wasn’t a stupid question at all, that this stuff can be confusing, that’s what they’re there for, etc. Which, sure, they might have been laughing at me or rolling their eyes while they said it, but it still made me feel better, you know?

You can register domains through them. They have a WordPress program thingie (you can see how technically minded I am) as well as links/utilities for a number of site-building programs. They also have a built-in html editor, so if you have a CSS template, for example, you can edit it without having to buy DreamWeaver or whatever.

Plus they’re very affordable. I really do love BlueHost and am so glad I went with them, so I definitely recommend you check them out.

There’s nothing wrong with being an amateur–we all start somewhere–but you never want to look like one.

The most important thing, IMO, is that it look professional.

There’s a thread on Absolute Write about the stock image covers that PublishAmerica–a notorious scam/vanity press–uses. And apparently when you compare sales even for vanity or self-published books that manage to make it into stores, they still don’t sell, because the covers LOOK like vanity or self-published books. They’re obviously Photoshopped, or they have weird colors or fonts, or the books themselves look cheap.

According to two posters in that thread, you can put a stack of vanity or self-pubbed books face-out in the middle of a bunch of commercially published books which are shelved spines-out, and in most cases the vanity/self=pub books still don’t sell.

Readers know what they want. I think cover images are important–you want it to be eye-catching, you want it to reflect the tone of the book, etc.–but the cover looking professional is more important.

I have contemplated getting a webpage, but I don’t see a point, since I haven’t sold anything yet. I am however, looking at hosting. So that IF I sell, I can get a webpage up fast.

Then there is the question: Is a webpage even necessary? Look at Lynn Viehl, she has her blog with excerpts etc. So maybe a good blog is better than a mediocre webpage

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Too many of those – especially if they have nothing to do with the writer’s books – and the website looks cluttered. Worse, the writer’s material takes second place, as though it’s only there to attract people who might then click on the ads.

Thank-you. Need to go read now…

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On another note, if websites aren’t important, how important do you think a book cover is?

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Also, you can use Statcounter with WordPress.

When Statcounter gives you the code, copy and paste it here:

WP Admin > Appearance > Editor > Click “Footer” > Paste it before: