Ta Da! The Debut of My Author Website
When we step out in faith and use the talents He’s given us, we show that we trust God, that we believe He will bless our actions and cause us to succeed.
-Victoria Osteen
A few years ago I met with Bob Hamp, then Pastor of Freedom Ministries at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, to interview him for my book, The Epiphany of Joy. As soon as we sat down to lunch, the conversation quickly took a side path that led to the creation of this blog site. At his prompting, complete with an explanation of the geometric outreach potential of Facebook sharing and re-Tweeting (using Kari Jobe‘s Twitter account with 637,000 followers as an example), I excitedly set up both a Facebook account and a Twitter account to get the word out about my upcoming publishing debut.
For a quiet introvert (okay, nerd) growing up in the 70s and 80s, this social media thing was quite foreign to me. The closest I ever wanted to get to anything “social” was curling up on the couch with a book and the potential of a good nap between chapters. “Reaching out” was something I did when I tripped over something. Both Facebook and Twitter appeared as black holes on the event horizon of my career, sucking away every flash of time needed to write. I just didn’t get it. Wasn’t my publisher supposed to be doing all the marketing for me? Why did I have to toot my own horn, something I don’t care to do in the first place?
But times, they were (and still are) a-changing. In the eighteen years since I’d written and released You Might be a Writer, the publishing world has morphed itself completely, from a predictable little self-addressed stamped envelope of a caterpillar into a frantic, internet-driven Mothra. Sheesh! But if I wanted to make a go at this new lifestyle, I realized I had to merge onto the internet highway to increase my odds of actually selling my work. Even if I was driving a virtual Volkswagen Vanagon with an air-cooled engine.
Recognizing (and finally giving in to the fact) that, when it comes to selling books, I’m the one and only expert on my own product, I built this blog site, stood up a Facebook account, and dipped my toe into Twitter (which I’m still trying to wrap my arms around). Then Amanda Thrasher, CEO of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, my publisher, suggested I build a writer platform to complement their marketing efforts. The last time I built a platform, I erected a garden shed on it, so I knew I could do it. Then I realized she meant an online platform. Ugh! So I purchased Chuck Sambuchino‘s (awesome) book called Create Your Writer Platform, and took copious notes. And from this focused study my new author site, www.davidchughesauthor.com, was hatched.
Creating the site wasn’t as scary as it looked from a distance. Once I procured the domain (from GoDaddy.com) and secured an affordable hosting service (eHost.com), I selected a theme (it turned out the theme I’m using is essentially blank, allowing me to tailor the site to exactly what I had envisioned) and began to build. Since I’d cut my web-building teeth on WordPress and, to a lesser extent, on learning HTML and CSS for my engineering job, getting around eHost.com’s site builder was relatively straightforward. But what excited me most about building my very own site was adding an e-commerce store to it (and stocking it with my books!). Woo hoo! Now to design my T-shirts and coffee mugs . . . .
So please take a moment to visit www.davidchughesauthor.com, poke around a bit, and let me know what you think. I welcome any and all comments to help me improve the site, and if there’s something specific you’d like to see (such as more of the writing curricula content I’ve developed), let me know. My goal is to serve you, my readers, so this website is as much yours as it is mine. In fact, the only reason this blog site and the website exist is to serve you. I pray I’m doing it well.
God bless you!
David C. Hughes, Writer 