Have any of you guys considered putting up web sites so that when you send inquiries out to editors they can get to see a little something about you? I am considering doing something like this, but wanted to see what others have done. What sort of content has worked best for you? Any sort of content that has just really been a bad idea?
For the longest time I had an on-line resume at telhajj.com but it hasn’t been up for almost a year. I had it geared toward getting a day job as a technical writer, but now I want to gear it more toward freelance work. I am not turning any work down, but I am probably more interested in short fiction or non-fiction (travel, memoir, etc), and not game reviews. But that’s just me–if you’re freelance writing web site focus is on game reviews by all means post.
I don’t mean to make this thread too narrow by focusing on writing. I am really just wondering what other people are doing with their little corner of the web as I gear up to update my site.
Well, I’m kind of new to the freelance writing thing. In fact, I’ve only written for CGM for money. Lots of volunteer stuff, though. If I find the time, I may approach other publications with my credentials.
I just started a blog on strategy gaming and I’ll eventually have a link there to my online reviews and a list of my publications. A more thorough personal profile too. The link is at the bottom there.
I haven’t done much to get word of the blog out yet. It’s still in its formative stages, and I may do a little more with it if I think I’m making progress on my writing and opinionating. Plus I want to learn a little more HTML first. I’ll shell out for my website then, instead of just using blogspot.
I just started it, and I’m still on vacation, so no. Plus, I don’t have a lot of readers (I think) so I feel no real obligation yet. So, no oppression.
As my life (and readership) pick up, it may get that way, but for now I am seeing it as a chance to flex my writing muscles. Greg lets me get away with a lot in my DIY editorials, but I like writing about games that people have heard of. ;)
What’s funny is I never even considered number of people reading when I factor in oppression. :) I updated a flight sim news web site many years back with another guy. It was a hassle.
I have my own Web sitek, which I pretty much created to act as a faux-blog. I despise blogs because they’re organized as random thoughts of the day, and any discussion that occurs just disappears into the vacuum after a week or so.
My site is split into both a persistent content aspect (articles, reviews) and then the forums (phpBB) which are there for discussion and are thus searchable archives.
I have a tiny but reasonably active community (10-20 active posters), although I do feel pressure to post updates to articles series that I do on game design etc.
As for your original topic, for better or for worse if you put your thoughts up on the Web people will be able to see them, so you can both attract and repel potential business partners or clients.
P.S. What kind of technical writing did you do, and what kind of education did you need to get into that?
Well, like I said I created this thread looking for inspiration Troy. Maybe I should just go and put my old web site back up until I am feeling moved. It’s interesting what you’re saying about readership. I realize that just the thought of having an extra task on my plate is too much for me to bear—even if there is nothing driving updates (like an audience), I would feel compelled to make them.
Bacon: I write documentation for software companies mostly. I haven’t stopped doing that, but I am looking to start a freelance business. As for school, I believe there are undergrad courses at most of the colleges in the area that teach tech writing. I have a plain old English BA and it’s mostly been enough.
He’s a web designer and programmer, so the site has links to examples of his work. He also writes fiction, though, and is currently posting a new novel a page a day every day.
I really like the graphical design of this site. Just awesome. Not sure about the wisdom of self publishing a page a day to a novel on a web page. As a reader, I would never read it becasue I could never be sure if the author would finish it. As a writer, how do you revise something that’s being published everyday?
One page at a time. :) I think he considers it a work in progress, but puts enough polish on it to share. It’s also motivational in that it keeps him from NOT writing for any period of time.
I actually did this for a while with a novel I wrote. I had done two drafts already, so it was complete. I was basically creating the third draft and posting it a page (1,000 to 1,500 words per page) at a time.
real inventive name, I know. Anyway, I’ve been really busy lately with this and that. When I get a chance I’ll write my code for the blog and have straight at it. Any thoughts from anyone?
I deeply apologise for having a poncey splash page. Last minute realisation that a change I’d made to the backend had borked something with my index, so I had to throw something together in the interim. Just haven’t time since getting back from the hols to make something good.
Nice work Richard! I am feeling inspried. When I first looked, I thought your idea for a journal was good because it looked like you only updated it once in a while. Now that I’ve dinked around on the site, it looks like you’ve got a blog by any other name there… My word man! How do you find the time to keep it up to date? I like your bio, the links to all your work, and the look and feel of the site. Did you code it yourself or is that a package you’re using? At any rate, it’s all top notch. Very professional looking.
Jason, you are one prolific game reviewer, man. Did you code your own site, too, or are you using some sort of package? Your blog is down at the moment or I can’t figure out how to access it. I am getting a lot of good ideas here people! Keep up the good work.
There’s not a lot to do at lunchtime around Bath ;-)
I like your bio, the links to all your work, and the look and feel of the site. Did you code it yourself or is that a package you’re using? At any rate, it’s all top notch. Very professional looking.
I designed and built the site from scratch. The backend for the main thing is Drupal (www.drupal.org), the Journal is powered by WordPress (www.wordpress.org)
