Blogging From Here On…
For the first time, I’m actually posting completely separate blog entries between here and Suite101. I’ve simply posted a reverse re-direct to chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Damage Time over there, while here –well, you’re reading it…
This arose because while I was on holiday, the issue of blogging cropped up –more specifically, what I do with this blog. I don’t really feel comfortable biting the hand that feeds by slagging off Suite101 on their own site.
Because while the monies I receive from Suite101 are minimal, there are at least some– including some hidden ones from things like review copies of magazines. For the time being, although it’s a content mill, I need to keep Suite going.
But to be frank, it’s a bloody horrible site. It’s ugly, the site crashes on a regular basis and the articles section has all kinds of weird writing rules that are supposedly designed to optimize SEO searches. Some of them seemed more to do with the eccentricities of some of the editors. Fortunately my editor is a good one, but she still has to abide by some of the rules. Worst of all though, is the lack of transparency in dealing with Google. By contrast, posting here is an actual pleasure.
But. But. Although some readers have suggested that I post reviews here instead of at Suite, the reality is that none of the alternatives seem any better. Amazon and Book Depository only generate money off actual sales of the titles — worse, Book Depository only pays when those monies total £40. Meanwhile, the pennies continue to trickle in from The Dark Side…
There are several issues; one is visibility, another traffic, while a third is output.
In reverse order; I can’t write two completely separate blogs on an on-going basis, but I can at least try to do a few, or to post content within them that is distinct. It may be that I blog at one place one day, t’other the next. Or it may be that I post the non-SF related content here, and keep the genre stuff for Suite with re-directs from here.
I’m not going to cover traffic in any great detail — it’s fairly obvious that hits on site play a part in revenue generation at Suite, but it’s unclear what the ratio is, because of Google’s secrecy.
Visibility also plays a part. This blog reaches sites that Suite can’t, although it still doesn’t do MySpace, so I need to re-direct to an extent.
A lot of my blogs are the written equivalent of semi-conscious musings, rather than coherent posts. But I think at the end of all these ramblings, I’ll probably alternate posts –by theme, rather than by day, so that the less SF-nal stuff like uni ramblings end up here, while the ‘proper’ blog posts, those to do with my writing and general SF stuff will just have a re-direct here.
I’ll probably have another master plan by this time tomorrow, though..
