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Postive experience and thanks to WordPress

  1. danwalter
    Member

    Here is a blog that turned into a book -- and the fascinating thing to me is how writing and editing the book live online really helped keep the prose fluid.

    I use WordPress and I could check the number of individual pages views on a regular basis. So if I was getting say, 300 hits a day, I could check the number of people who went from page one to page two, etc. If 300 people found the first page and 50% of those turned the page, I could follow and see how many of those kept going to the next page.

    In a sense, I used the reading public as my editor. If 150 people read page two, and 135 read page three and 120 read page four, that was fine. But if suddenly there was a big drop off and only 40 people went on to page five, I knew I did something wrong to lose that many people and had to go back and reset the hook.

    Of all the comments I get (http://collateral-damage.net/reviews-are-coming-in/) I like the ones that remark on the fluid style.

    The blog I need help with is collateral-damage.net.

  2. timethief
    Member

    This sis respectful and honest response to visiting your blog site, which you may take note of or ignore as you so wish.

    You published a book and you are using a WordPress.com blog to drive potential customers to purchase that book to an Amazon link. That's fine. I have clicked into your site the header on your theme and the marketing the book HYPE all over your blog prompted me to click out. So though you may think you need to set a better hook, in my case, I'm the fish that spit the hook back at you, and swam away. The reason I am sharing this with you is so you may be able to benefit from it. Our lives are saturated with advertising HYPE everywhere we go, and I have simply flipped the "off" switch. Perhaps you might reconsider your approach on your blog and tone down the HYPE.

  3. danwalter
    Member

    OUCH! and thanks...

    I do respect your opinion.

    But: "you are using a WordPress.com blog to drive potential customers to purchase that book to an Amazon link. That's fine." You don't sound like that's a fine thing to do... Am I doing something uncool?

  4. thepurpledogpaintingblog
    Member

    I actually didn't mind the hype because what your book has to say is so very important. Congratulations on its completion. Best of luck.

  5. danwalter
    Member

    Thanks very much for that. Hype generally turns me off too, but I do believe (and have been told) that this is an important book, so I think I have to be a little flashy -- in my primitive way.

    I appreciate your thoughts.

  6. habituatedbuddhist
    Member

    I do think there is a difference between a blog - in which someone regularly posts new material, and a website that is aimed at promoting or disseminating static (unreplenished) material.

    I sometimes see sites here on WP that are really promotional websites, but set-up in a blog enviroment, presumably because of the ease and lack of expense in doing so.

    The other version I've seen is where someone sets up a blog to dump previously written material with no intention of actually blogging, but merely using it as a data dump. (some then go on to give blogging advise, which I find funny)

    Personally, I don't much care for the "blog-in-name-only" sort of blog and it turns me off to whatever the "blog" or "blogger" is promoting.

  7. danwalter
    Member

    I can see that. Although the book started out as a blog -- and as soon as I get it together, I'd like to revert to blog with contemporary issues and current events.

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    I think what I have posted would be appreciated more from a writer's standpoint, and I posted it here because I do not think it has ever been done before, writing and editing a book live online in real time. As I say it turned out to be a very beneficial process for me -- and I thought that it should be seen as a credit to WordPress.

  8. pattydixon
    Member

    That's some topic. Very intriguing book you have brewing there. :)

  9. danwalter
    Member

    Thanks. I'm hoping it'll make a difference.

  10. mosesfolliville
    Member

    Thats a very interesting way to edit! I like it.

  11. danwalter
    Member

    Thanks. Like I say, I don't think it's ever been done before.

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