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Create a Literary Website
If you're a writer, you need a website. It's one of the best ways to reach a large market and develop a fan base. Writers sell books from their websites and interact with readers there. Many authors have newsletters or blogs to keep readers up to date. Producing a website takes a great deal of time and sometimes money (this website, for example, is not free). However, YOU can create a website for free, if you are savvy. And there are tons of cool items to have on your site. As we come across things we think you'll enjoy, we will post them here.
START WITH FREE I agree, free is good. An excellent website that has a large number of freebies for webmasters is: http://www.websitefreebies.net At Website Freebies.net, they tell you where to get a free website, e-mail, search engine registration, and more useful and cool Free things. From the start, invest as little money as possible. When you know what you're doing, then you can spend some pocket change. Website Freebies.net connects you to so many things, that it's hard to include them all. For example, they have code for this 3D text generator. Whatever you create using this generator, you can save. Go ahead, try it. Like it? Then you can add one of these to your own website. The HTML code (what you need to copy and paste) is at the Website Freebies.net website.
Type in your name, for example. Select some colors and a font. Click preview. That is what you can copy and paste. If you want text that looks like this (animated text), 
you can get it at: Cool Text offers this service for free. You can select the font and colors and create as many animated words as you wish.
FREE DOESN’T MEAN EASY Though free websites appealed to me, I didn’t want to take the time to learn HTML code, find graphics, hassle with the inevitable mistakes of learning code and undoing those, etc. Luckily, I found Website Wizard. Humdinger’s website is hosted by Website Wizard. I used no HTML language initially to create this website. Later, I learned how to add some of the cool additional elements, such as the quote banner at the top of the page and the Joke Machine on the Comedy page of the E-zine (but even then, it was just dignified cut and paste). What about Website Wizard? For $30 a month (no extra fees), I receive: Website Hosting: Humdinger’s website is far, far larger than most people wish to have. Still, I have plenty of space on my website. Free Templates: I created my logo, website and newsletter format using Website Wizard’s free templates. Image and File Hosting: I store graphics at Website Wizard (but ALWAYS maintain a backup of everything and you will thank me, thank me, thank me! one day).
E-mail: I must have Thousands of e-mails stored in files for the e-zine, so the limit must be gargantuan. Newsletter Distribution: Website Wizard takes in newsletter registrations, organizes them, and stores the names and e-mail addresses in my list for me. When I’m ready to post my newsletter, I just paste and click send. Excellent Technical Assistance: Not only do the Website Wizard staff know what they’re doing, but they are patient with the technologically challenged. I should know! I’ve asked them a gazillion idiotic questions and they never laughed (in the e-mail, at least). Reliable Service: So far, I haven’t found my website down (unavailable). What you can’t expect from website hosting: That it won’t take a very long time to construct your website. It will. Whatever system you use, you’ll have to learn the way the company does things, how their tools are organized, and the tiny details along the way (some good, some bad). I believe Website Wizard has a free trial still. You can check it out at:
All this, once a month in your e-mail box, for FREE: Literary News, Articles about Writing, Articles about Marketing or Promoting Your Book/Future Book, Freebies for Writers, Grammar Points, Creative and Inspiring Ideas, Writing Humor Click here to subscribe to Jack of Genre: Newsletter for Writers.
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