Category: Building a Platform

Open post
A laptop and smartphone display code and a large yellow envelope as smaller envelopes scatter across a world map, suggesting fast, global digital communication.

The Importance of Whitelisting

Most of us don't think about whitelisting at all, myself included. An email has found our inbox, so we think that everything is all hunky-dory. And in an ideal world, that would be a fair assumption. However, the moment anything changes, communications that have been finding the inbox can suddenly be moved to spam… or some other folder that removes it from view.

And that's exactly what happened with the move of my email list to a different email management system in 2026.

I always knew that I would need to rebuild my "trust" with the delivery systems. This would have happened regardless of the system I moved to, simply because the email header information would have changed, and systems like Gmail need to reassess it. And this is where whitelisting plays a role.

In today's post, let's talk about the importance of whitelisting and why it's important to advise subscribers to your newsletter to whitelist your email address or domain even if they are getting your emails direct into their inbox.

Read More

Open post
Silhouetted hands pressed against a glowing green field of cascading digital code—evoking themes of digital entrapment, cybersecurity, or being trapped inside a virtual world.

Why I’m not on Substack

Substack has become a popular site among writers. It's a combination of a blogging engine mixed with a social media community. But it's because of the email list concept and monetization that the site has gained favor.

It's provided a way for newer writers to build a mailing list without laying out the expense of having a custom domain. And it's provided a way for writers to make money off their content as they write it.

I have to admit that I can see why it's gained popularity among both new and established writers. But despite its popularity, it's one site that I'm unlikely to adopt within my own platform.

Let's take a look at the functionality of the site and why I've chosen to use other systems for the same functionality.

Read More

Open post
A woman’s face partially obscured by projected streams of binary code in blue and green.

Finding an Editor for ‘The Eagle Order’ Addendum

In a recent blog post, I spoke about my venture in finding a new copyeditor, seeking a new partnership for my novel The Eagle Order and the other books in the series. In that post, I detailed the reasons why I said, "No," to certain editors who applied for the position—and it was a range of reasons.

Because of the nature of the post, I decided to share the post not only with the writing community, but with my editing networks too. There were people who laughed at some of the reasons, amazed at how "off" things were. But I also encountered significant pushback regarding my comments about no website.

Many editors came forward, insisting that having no website hasn't harmed their business in any way, and that I was discounting experienced editors because of my viewpoints.

I will concede that this is indeed the case: I am discounting experienced editors because of my viewpoints. BUT on a first glance, how do I know for certain that they were experienced editors and not just someone who knows how to use AI tech to make them look good on paper?

In today's post, I want to take a deeper dive into the no-website arguments and explain why I feel that having no website could be working against you if you are a service provider.

Read More

Open post
Colorful envelopes flying into a trash can from every direction.

Private Message Marketing Reeks of Scams

If you’ve been around on the internet long enough, you have likely received unsolicited messages via direct messaging, be that through social media or email. It seems to be a rite of passage, telling you that your profile is starting to garnish attention. But after you get a few of those messages, you start to see the patterns of those who are pretending to be interested in what you are doing, only to try to sell you something.

I don’t know what it is about the publishing industry, but we seem to accumulate a lot of these. Some of them are obvious scams. And some of them are from people who are just starting out in whatever support role they have chosen to take on board to support writers. But those who are starting down the new business road, they clearly don’t understand marketing or how their tactics are making them look like a smarmy used-car salesman.

In today’s post, I want to discuss this type of marketing tactic and explain why it reeks of a scammer. And I want to explain why we should avoid using it ourselves, regardless of what we’re selling (be that books or services).

Read More

Open post
Three monitors display cascading blue binary code against a glowing digital overlay above a nighttime city skyline, creating a futuristic scene of data flow and technology.

A free website is still a website

If you’re not sure exactly what you want to achieve with your website, start with a free one. There is nothing wrong with a free website. Using providers like WordPress.com, you can create professional sites with little effort, without it costing you the earth.

Free websites from providers like WordPress.com, Weebly, and Wix all have a few things in common.

All of them have no contracts or fees when starting out. They will allow you to choose a domain name, but they will give you a subdomain URL in the form of chosenname.provider.com This is not a bad thing, because at least you are building your brand recognition with your chosen name.

They often use user-friendly page builder tools, though some are more user-friendly than others. And there are often a number of themes that you can choose from for your websites. No technical skills are required to get your website up and going—you just need the content.

However, the free options also possess similar cons too.

The options and resources available for your websites will be limited. For example, Wix and Weebly don’t allow you to embed signup forms on your website to external providers. On WordPress.com, you might not be able to have an embedded form, but you can use a popup signup form to common email list providers.

The free sites also tend to offer limited technical support, and they might require you to pay for add-ons or upgrades to become fully usable sites. They will restrict how much customization you have access to, limiting how much of your branding you can incorporate into your site.

And the biggest con: the cost of a free website is the advertising that providers put on your website. Sometimes, you can influence what ads are shown, but more often than not, you can’t.

I know I’m sounding a little negative about free sites here, but seriously, they are a good option for newer and emerging writers. I started out on a free website from WordPress.com with a custom domain mapped onto it. If it wasn’t for business decisions that I made years ago, I would likely still be using that free website, nearly a decade after it was first created.

Read More

Posts navigation

1 2 3
Scroll to top