Spontaneous Combustion

I’m a spontaneous guy. Just ask my wife.

Sometimes that puts me in an awkward place. After all, part of my day job is to be a project manager. The spontanaity works well to recover from any problems that might arise, but is sort of at odds with the actual ‘planning’ of my projects.

Still, I get the job done (and done well, I have been told).

But that’s not the point of this post. Actually, the point of this post (and yes, I do have one) is the evolution of this website.

I have tried to build a site that is informative, visually appealing and useful. That has been more of an evolutionary process than anything else.

Take, for example, my efforts to create a mailing list/newsletter sign-up/community sign-up. I had the great fortune to speak to Matthew Wayne Selznick for Get Published (by-the-way, his interview will drop this Sunday). We were talking about a few things and Matthew asked me if I had a mailing list.

I had to confess that I didn’t.

We talked about why mailing lists are important and how they need to be valuable to the subscribers for them to sign up.

I couldn’t argue with him and decided that I need to create a mailing list for this site.

I jumped right into it and, without really considering the logistics of the task, created a new email address and posted the address in my last post.

Wrong way to do it. Like the old saying goes, ‘Failure to plan is planning to fail’. I didn’t plan and nothing came from my efforts.

I learned that there are wonderful widgets for WordPress that make the whole task work quite well. So, I took a step back and did the research I should have done in the first place and did it right. I’ve also given a lot of thought as to what kind of value I can provide my subscribers.

How does this sound – exclusive access to short stories that have either never been published or published in a limited way. First dibs on new audio and chances at ARC’s and other content. Essentially, better access to any other creative endeavours that I may have. Special offers and the like.

I already have several short stories for the feed.

If that sounds interesting to you, the proper subscription widget is now available for your use.

If I don’t make it worth your while, let me know and I will remove you from the list.

I hope you like it.

Now, to get planning my first self-publishing endeavour.