Book Blogger Hop #32 (8/23 - 8/29): How did you get started setting up your blog?

Welcome to the new

Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffec-Addicted Writer!

He took over this hop from

Jennifer @ Crazy For Books.

I'm so glad he decided to

continue with this weekly feature!

For more information, click HERE.

What to Do

1.) Post on your blog answering this week's

question:

Book blogging is more than

just reading.  Who helped you

set up or run your blog?

Or did you do it all yourself?

2.)  Enter the link to your post in the

Linky list on Bill's blog.

3.)  Visit other blogs on the list and

comment on their posts. 

4.)  Be sure to find out next week's

question when you visit Bill's blog!

My Answer

I got into blogging due to a suggestion from a co-worker, back in July or August, 2010.  I did everything myself, except for the header, the blog buttons, the template, and the background.  The last two are from the Blogger interface, although I did combine them into one cohesive look. 

Sharing the writing of blog posts with one or more bloggers has never been an option for me.  I've always preferred to run my blog myself.  Admittedly, it's very time consuming, but maintaining creative control as much as possible is very important to me. 

Since I didn't have much experience with computers when I started out, I did some online research first.  I soon got tired of that.  I knew I really wanted to get myself a book -- a printed one -- that would help me learn how to set up a blog.  Also, I picked Blogger as my blogging platform, simply because it was free. So this is the book I chose:

Amazon US/Amazon UK

This was a very, very helpful book.  It was full of great illustrations and steps that walked me through setting up my blog with the Blogger interface.  This interface has since been updated by Google, so anyone wanting to start out using it would have to get a more recent edition  of this book, which I haven't been able to find.  Fortunately, the new interface is not that hard to use.  Once you've learned the information in this book, you can easily transfer it to the new interface. 

After I was pretty sure I had a handle on the basics, I actually got started.  I went through several Blogger templates, finally settling on the "Picture Window Template".  Of course, with the help of the book, I did some customizing.  I also picked out a background I knew I could love, because of all the blue!  The creator is merrymoonmary, and the image is still available on Blogger.  If you'd like to see it, just click on her nickname.

Another helpful resource for me has been the feature Book Blogging 101, at the blog Parajunkee's View.  Rachel, the creator of the blog, always has wonderful tips, especially for beginning bloggers.  So I'm very much indebted to her, as well! 

This week's post is extremely helpful for us book bloggers.  Just click on this link to take a look: Essential New Tools for Book Bloggers.  Recently, Rachel has added a section to this post, titled "Book Blogger News", which is very interesting, as well. 

I published my very first post on Sept. 22, 2010.  My blog's original title was Twilight and Other Dreams.  I changed that to the present title because I saw right away that people would think this was just another Twilight fan site.  Besides, that title was too limiting.  I wanted to write about several genres, in addition to paranormal romance and urban fantasy.  So, after some thought, I came up with the title the blog now bears, which I think more accurately reflects the content of the blog.  My inspiration came from the Shakespearean play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

The problem of the header bothered me for a long time.  I wanted to have the title embedded in the header, like the ones I had seen on other blogs.  I  did try making some headers myself, with Picasa, but I was never completely satisfied with any of them.  I needed the flexibility of PhotoShop, but I have yet to learn how to use this expensive software, and I know it takes time to do so.  I wanted results, fast!

Here are a couple of my early headers:

The present header was created by the very talented Jennifer Johnson, a graphic/web designer I met through her gorgeous blog, Sapphire Romance Realm.  From there I connected with her web design blog, Sapphire Blog Designs.  What fascinated me about her work was the use of all that blue!!  So I contacted her, and paid her to not only design a header, but also a blog button, in two different sizes.  Of course, I love her work, and highly recommend her to anyone who wishes to have any design work done on their blog.

I've learned a lot from other book bloggers, as well.  The use of widgets to advertise upcoming releases was something I picked up right away.  I also discovered how  to embed a Shelfari widget -- which I saw on some blogs -- at the bottom of my blog.  I'm very grateful to all these bloggers, who are too numerous to mention. 

As for the content of the blog, that has changed over time.  I used to publish chapters of my fan fiction here, but have stopped doing so because this is primarily a book review blog, on which I also present blog tours, author interviews, giveaways, and other things I hope visitors and regular readers will be interested in.  All the fiction writing I've previously posted on the blog is available through a link at the top, underneath the header.

In May of 2012, I started signing up for blog tours, so as to provide some variety to the blog.  I also want to continue to vary my blog content in other ways.  For instance, I used to write "literary musings", and haven't done that for more than a year now.  I'm thinking of returning to them.

Blogging has been -- and still is -- a very rewarding experience for me, and I hope to continue doing it for a long time to come!



 What about you?

How did you set up your blog -- by yourself, or with some help?