Exploring My Digital Publishing Journey Across BlogSpot, SubStack, and BeeHiiv

Over the years, I've been deeply engaged with several content platforms to share my writings and connect with my audience. Currently, I use three platforms.


At BlogSpot.com, I have cultivated a vast repository with thousands of posts, leveraging its ease of use and excellent tagging system.

On SubStack.com, I focus on polished articles, engaging a dedicated community of subscribers and fellow writers.

BeeHiiv.com serves as my platform for distributing "le crème de la crème" of my work via email, aiming to reach readers who prefer curated content directly in their inboxes.

Which content websites do I currently use?

A keen observer will notice that I have been using BlogSpot.com for decades. 
There, I have thousands of posts in various forms of refinement.

Then, I have SubStack.com, where I post finished articles to be shared with the community of fellow writers and friends who subscribed.

Finally, I have BeeHiiv.com, where I want my readers to subscribe to receive emails with "le crème de la crème" of my writings.

BlogSpot vs. SubStack vs. BeeHiiv comparison (diagram)

Why is blogging and email architecture so complicated?

The architecture is complicated because no single app does everything well.

• I like to start articles on the go from the phone when I get an idea (not on BeeHiiv)
• I like to draft articles on the phone from a cafe (not on BeeHiiv)
• I have thousands of articles on BlogSpot and good traffic

What are the best platforms for digital writers?

• There is no clear answer; this is why I use all three.
• I would probably not advise you to start with BlogSpot at this time
• If I was starting for the LOVE OF WRITING, I would use SubStack
• If I were starting to build a massive mailing list for commerce, I would start with BeeHiiv

BlogSpot.com 

PROS:

• easy to cross-link by TAG
• easy to create a DRAFT on the phone
• easy to PUBLISH a quick note
• thousands of posts published
• tens of thousands of page views per month 

CONS:

• NO BULK EMAIL
• questionable appearance

SubStack.com

PROS: 

• possible to draft a post on the phone
• easy to send posts to subscribers via email
• the best appearance out of the box

CONS:

• NO label tag crosslinking
• restrictive for import of email list

SUBSCRIBE

BeeHiiv.com

PROS:

• the best support of emails and statistics

CONS:

• It is not a real blog, just an archive of emails sent
• the questionable appearance of the home page

SUBSCRIBE

Here are a couple books on blogging.
Please VIEW them on Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

"MONETIZE BLOG POSTS WITH E-BOOK: HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN SELF-PUBLISHING IN 21 DAYS"
by Victoria and Charlie Rock 

"How to Start a Blog Today: A Free Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide to Create a Blog in 20 Minutes"

by by Scott Chow

On Writing by Stephen King

 

View on Amazon https://amzn.to/3xTc7sx

Please SUBSCRIBE: https://ukidlucas.beehiiv.com/

Your own reading and bloging place of inspiration.

It is important to have your own creative place.

I needed a place to read and write blogs, but my computer desk wasn't inspiring. Like anyone elses's, my life is full of procrastination and excuses. 

In Europe, they used to make those wide parapets that just invited you to sit on. If I ever build my own house, I will design them in.

Sitting in front of two huge monitors is not creative, does not give you the "long perspective". The computer desk is good for editing, linking and posting. I write ideas on my phone, anyway.

I got this chair when my wife updated her home office. 

After trying a few positions I found one that puts me in the mood. 

The extra bonus is that the air vent is where my feet are, it is brilliant!

#book

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Matthew Dicks

Please SUBSCRIBE: https://ukidlucas.beehiiv.com

"Storyworthy" by Mathew Dicks

"Learn how to write,
story-tell,
or give up,
you will not make a mark otherwise"
~ Greg Isenberg

View on Amazon 

book

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Matthew Dicks

camping

Klymit V Inflatable Seat

by Klymit

Please SUBSCRIBE: https://ukidlucas.beehiiv.com

Spring Break blog readership

 I noticed that people do not read my blog during the spring break.

I would not otherwise notice this fact, but we decided to take vacation during the spring break after a very long and glumly rain season in Pacific North West (PNW). Supposedly, this is a thing to do here to get some sunshine and Hawaii is only a short “puddle hop” away.

In any case, I appears that during the spring break in early April, the readership is significantly down. I was expecting about 20,000 visits, but I only got half of that. 

I guess, that instead of sitting at their desks and daydreaming, people actually go out and do sailing, diving and mountain climbing!

My new on the go, cafe writing setup

I promised myself that I would start writing a lot again. 

Counting on having laptop with me every time is not feasible, even carrying a tablet (iPad or Kindle Scribe) is hard. 

One thing I always have is my phone, so I came up with this Bluetooth keyboard solution for the back pocket of my jeans, and it works great.

The keyboard is sufficiently similar to my Mac keyboard and the setup is small enough to carry everywhere.

Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Uf8vcX

Samsers Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Uki's Amazon store items.

One year later

It has been almost a year since I wrote anything besides technology articles on my blog.

It may be related to the fact that I have not read any real books, which is unlike me, considering the thousands of books I own. 

I do read every day and study a lot. 

I make good use of YouTube, but somehow, I have lost my drive for writing.  

I have been trying to decide what platform to use for writing, such as Blogger, Medium.com, Google Docs, etc. I have several documents (books) started, but I fear they will never see the light of day. 

On the other hand, blogs feel eclectic and irrelevant. Nevertheless, here I am writing this.

I am writing tonight with the lights out, using my large Android tablet and a pen stylus, and I must say it is fast and flawless. 

Let's hope I can get back to writing as a habit. Maybe these blog notes will become material for a book someday.

Things that make us who we really are

Today, I want to write about the unexpected things that uplift us when everyday life gets depressing, difficult, and lonely. 

Looking at people around, one is getting the idea that others are happy, busy, and successful, or at least are pursuing happiness. 

Meanwhile, you are unsure of your future, beat up by the past, and with a great pile of unpaid bills waiting at home to be opened. Yes, that is me, too. 

So many times, I have failed people around me and lost contact with people I should have kept close. 

I did not do or provide what I should have. Most of the time, I can only manage to struggle some more. 

All of it is crushing my self-esteem and the will to persevere. 

It is even hard to keep good sleep hours and diet. 

It's not that I am lazy—quite the opposite. I keep doing what I am supposed to do a little earlier and longer, hoping that it will make a difference and I will have a happy break. 

My job resume keeps growing, and opportunities materialize, but it is human nature to forget the blessings from the past. We live in a vicious cycle—it is a rat race.

Today was one of those days. 

There is nothing to complain about, really. I worked all day, never even making a dent in what I would like to have accomplished. I could have been proud of myself if I had a drop of objectivism, but I don't. 

After work, I went to Barnes & Noble for coffee to study a little more.

By chance, I stumbled upon a book signing session in the bookstore tonight. 

The author, a lovely black lady, has interviewed countless happy couples worldwide who have been together for 25 years or longer. I sat in and listened. I've got hope and warmth. 

I got the book signed by the author and a cup of hot chocolate. 

I decided to go and see a movie.

The movie was surprisingly good. It was about great love and heroes. People do need heroes. We have been conditioned for thousands of years to gather together at night around the fire and listen to stories about heroes. It is a fabric of our lives, what makes us human. 

Back in the day, it was our tribe, our friends, that would tell and re-tell the stories of the past, that would laugh with us at our mistakes and highlight, often exaggerate, our adventures, which with time became the stuff of legends. 

We don't have much of that today. People, even those dear to us, are hardly ever willing to sing songs about us, and there are no more heroes in our everyday lives.

However, we have movies and books that are full of heroes. They keep us going, they keep us from becoming total zombies as everyone down deep wants to be the knight on the white horse, chopping heads off the bad guys and winning the great love of a fair lady.

Surprisingly, tonight, I was inspired by a totally unexpected YouTube video I found on Facebook of a British lady, Hollie McNish, reciting a poem in what many would consider an awful, deep-steet Brit accent. 

I was absolutely captivated. I had not heard the power of the spoken word for years, an art I had totally neglected. I simply had forgotten how powerful words can be. 

People have oils and charcoal, paintings and sketches—I love the visual arts, too, but most of all, I love words. 

Her performance made me realize how much I have missed the art of storytelling, the poetry of words. 

Suddenly, I felt at home again, knowing who I am and what makes me happy. 

With my mind's eye, I could see the fireplace, a low table, pages of paper, and a fountain pen with a golden nib gliding effortlessly, telling stories and composing poems. 

I could see the old wooden table at the window, the snow outside, the evergreen trees of the mountains, the typewriter, and pages of the book coming out of it with a lovely tap-tap of keys pressed. 

I could see a table in the outdoor cafe above the oceanside, a notebook.

I could see an old, stylish guest house I had visited in a small resort town in the Polish mountains. There was a piano, a library, a low cafe table, a comfortable sofa, the rain outside, deep thoughts, and writing.

I want to write about good things in life. 

I wrote these words, and I can go to sleep happily. 

Good night, my dear Natalia. I love you.

Tools for Writing This Book

After trying several writing software tools,

we found it frustrating that only Google Docs allowed online real-time sharing between multiple reviewers and various devices.

Even with Google Docs, editing on the tablet is far from satisfactory.

When we are "on the go", the Twitter, Facebook and recently Google+ to be useful repository of our thoughts, Uki maintains a saying:

“I’m writing an books 140 characters at a time.”

Finally, we decided to write our thoughts down as blog posts.

Self-promoting your book

It is only a part of the effort to write a book, the major work will be in promoting it, very often publishers will ask you about your own strategy of promoting your work and if you don’t have any, they may not want to publish you.

Use social media as outlined in “How Can I Build Online Legitimacy?”

Daily routine for a writer

Keep quick notes of your idea, since they come in the least convenient times like while driving you may need to cary a voice recorder

Take notes of all conversations, shows and books

When pressed on time, write a skeleton chapter and come back later to refine it

I have seen very successful authors writing daily amount as a single chapter, usually couple pages in length

Many podcast authors write 30 minutes worth of audio per week

Remember that “Writing is re-writing” as Mark Twain said.

Are eBooks a New Form of Journalism?

Regardless of being an avid print book lover, I switched to reading eBooks using Barnes & Noble Android Nook. 

I love the experience much better than the paper. You can carry several books with you, and you can share quotes with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc. 

The cost of eBooks is also lower than for paper editions. Right now the author can write a book and publish it as soon as he or she is ready, no more writing for months to publishers and getting dozens of rejections. 

Publishing is free and can be very profitable (70% of sales). 

I have been working in magazine publishing for many years, and the editors often change the original text to fit their magazine’s needs. If you have something smart to share, write an eBook, and get published today, don’t wait!

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

✓  take a road less traveled - don’t compete

✓  re-post experts 

✓  blog about good articles

✓  ask smart questions

✓  ask for comments

✓  show up - even if virtually

In addition to outlined best practices when composing the post keep in mind the following: Promote yourself among the people you don’t compete with. I have seen very successful food vendors promoting themselves among business and technology crowd. You have to “speak their language” but you should not let them think you compete with them. If you find the right market they will be happy to promote you.

It is a good practice to re-post experts’ posts with short value-add comment. There are plenty of people who will just repost the tweet. I like to use tools like TweetDeck that allows me to edit the tweet before re-posting. I like to add couple of words to enhance what was said before. If my readers see my and other peoples’ re-tweets, I want them to choose mine to quote.

As you read an interesting articles on the subject pertaining to your business, it is a good practice to post a short comment, add your thoughts, complete and enhance on your own business blog and ask for readers comments along with reference to original article. Smart questions, especially these not answered in the article work like magic. 

Thanks to the fact that we practically live in the virtual world you can participate in events from around the world. You should follow all major events around the world that pertain to your business:

✓ anticipate the event with excitement, help organizers promote it

✓ do some research on speakers, promote them

✓ avoid promoting competition, but be curious

✓ during the event follow the participants

✓ re-tweet smart comments and little “gems” of information

✓ add value by providing opinions pertaining to the subject

✓ add bio info about speakers as they speak, people love it

✓ follow up with people and send thank you for the event

✓ #FollowFriday the best contributor

Tracking URLs

✓  keep track of URL clicks via bit.ly

Finally, remember that URL shortening services like bit.ly keep track of the popular topics, so you should try to make links to your website a destination.