Why I'm moving my Joseph of Arimathea blog to Wordpress

   In preparation for the San Francisco Writer's Conference (SFWC) next week, I got the complete set of MP3s from the 2016 conference.  This was a good investment as it eas only $199.00. From my experience in attending large medical conferences with many simultaneous sessions going on from 7 am through 10 pm and beyond, there is just too much to take in. There is a fatigue factor which requires [acing to avoid burnout and time is needed to relax and meet people, network and make contacts, etc., and to take a break now and then and get out into the city, etc. I learned years ago that getting a complete set of MP3s can help catch the sessions I wanted to attend but missed. In this case, I ordered last year's set to help me prepare me for the inevitable information overload as I am new to this world and especially the lingo of social media, marketing, publicity, publishing, self-publishing, etc.
   One of the first sessions that I listened to was about how to start and maintain a blog.  I got some very pertinent advice. I learned that most of the freebie blogs, like this one, own the rights to the content you post (Oops!). Blogging sites where you own your own content come with a fee, but it's not that much considering what is at stake. They also have much more functionality but a steeper learning curve. The consensus seemed to be that Wordpress is the most popular currently. Wordpress.com is a freebie and to be avoided. The real deal is at Wordpress.org.
   Not surprisingly, many of the presenters offered their services for helping to set up and maintain the blog.  Again, considering what is at stake, avoiding an amateurish presentation of yourself is worth a bit of investment.  I spent three years writing the Merchant of Arimathea, and I want it to get out there and be read.
   I wrote a great non-fiction book about ADHD published in 1998 that I believe is still ahead of its time (unfortunately). I naively expected the publisher to do all the promotion and was disa[pointed with the number of copies sold, though it did ok and is still in print. The overwhelming consensus from the experts these days is that your book is practically guaranteed to flop if you aren't vigorously promoting it yourself, and most agents and publishers are no even interested in a work if the author does not already have a platform that is promoting it.
   Yesterday I registered a domain name with Blue Host (hjosephhoracek.com) and setup a blog at Wordpress.org yesterday and as yet have no idea how to set it up.  When I go to the conference I will be looking for a consultant to help me do this. In the meantime, I'll stay here until the Wordpress blog is ready to roll.
   Any questions?