Big changes are coming to my three websites and my Substack Newsletter. I have realised I’ve been spreading myself too thin. And frankly, it isn’t working. I have decided to be ruthless and almost – not entirely – start again.
Why I am closing some blogs
I have three blogs, and that is too many. One that’s probably for the chop is my ScifiWard website. I may get rid of this one too. I don’t have enough time to do all three justice – so I will focus on one. And that will be the original The Word of Ward website.
This won’t happen immediately, as there is a lot of good stuff on there. Blood, sweat and tears have gone into that site. But I’ll start migrating content across soon. That will hopefully boost The Word of Ward and generally free up time.
I started this site mainly as a way to win clients. That is no longer an issue. I might move some stuff elsewhere, though. We’ll see.
Why I am stopping some Social Media
This is a pretty easy decision, as a lot of social media sucks. I don’t use Facebook much anymore and X / Twitter / Musk’s personal rant-hole is increasingly awful. I find myself being slightly sadder and more annoyed every time I visit. I live in Asia but am from the UK, and all the right-wing nonsense and lies spread there are just depressing.
I have about 4000 followers, but I suspect most are bots. There are also a surprising amount of hot young women who follow me and thousands of others, but only have a few followers themselves. I’m starting to think they might be disingenuous and up to no good.
I will focus instead on Threads and LinkedIn.
Why I am changing my Substack from Science Fiction & Fantasy to History
I’m quite enjoying Substack, but while I am getting quite a few reads, I am not getting many subscribers. So there isn’t a lot of point. I am also finding a lot of science fiction fandom quite annoying recently. There is a section of the fandom that believes that if it doesn’t like a particular franchise series or show, then that series or show shouldn’t exist. There is also so much stuff coming out that it is hard to keep up.
If I was going to go more niche and just focus on classic or less popular scifi then I would do that on the site. Probably.
More importantly, I found a lot of success with my History stories on Medium, with multiple articles going viral. So, I will focus on that instead. I mentioned starting a history-based substack last month.
Similar levels of writing – just more focus
I only write one post a month here, so maybe I’ll keep it going and update how it goes. Or not. The main point of all this comes from a lot of well-known online writers who have vast followings on social media and elsewhere, who are all quitting and focusing. This seems like a good idea.
I am not aiming to be a famous online writer – I need to pay the bills while I write a book – but the idea of trying to focus more is a good one. So, I thought I would share.
