I signed up last year on a whim. I did land one small job that tripled what I’d spent, but since then there has been nothing worthwhile.

A lot of really technical jobs are posted, and nothing on a regular basis. Here’s what has posted in the past two weeks:

Medical Writer…

Telecommuting Medical Writer – some mtgs PA…

Technical Writer…

Telecommuting Healthcare Financial Writer…

Report Writer-Ft. Worth, Contract…

Content Developer: Online Teaching and 1:1 Computing Specialist – occasional tvl…

Right now we are dealing here with the smoke from the NC fire. So basically we are staying inside as much as we can.

Wait til they’re teens, they’ll sleep all day and be up all night (I have two) when not in school.

If you are still interested in voting, you can see my entry in the contest.

@ Kenna: You’re welcome, too.

@ Heidi: That is encouraging news! I really hope you get the gig.

@ Jessica: Hmmmm….I was on the site over the weekend and I didn’t have a problem getting on it.

@ Angela: Even when they’re nocturnal, they are so precious, aren’t they?

@ Sirena: You’re welcome. That reminds me; I still need to go and vote in FWJ Idol!

Thanks again.

It’s all about personal preference. I’ve been a blogger for more than 4 years now and it is my humble opinion that choosing the right network is important at least at the beginning.

Why?

Because feedback is a big source of motivation for bloggers like myself. I do not like to feel as if I’m calling out into the void even though there are those out there who like to read me. You see, it doesn’t satisfy me if I learn from some Site Statistics that the information I have is read on occasion.

On to my opinions on the services you mentioned. Blogspot and WordPress are two popular and technically amazing providers. After all Blogger is the firestarter of the blogging pyrolatry we have today. Although it has changed a bit for the better recently when they implented a “profile search” option, Blogspot is still a lonely place for the stater. There are gazillions of users and blogs out there in the Blogspot network and although some are really successful, only a few manage to reach a stable audience.

Unless you put decent amount of time and energy into networking with other bloggers, the word is not really easy to spread. If you are new to blogging, Blogspot offers a quick launch but it will take a real while until your work starts triggering some interest.

WordPress is more or less the same and is mostly preferred because of its highly versatile templates and customizability. If you already have your own domain out there, WordPress, in my opinion, is one step ahead of Blogspot. However, the audience problem is still out there.

Livejournal is a different matter. It *does* have a community. I really do not have that much of an experience with it but personally don’t like its interface and although it is also customizable, I just can’t seem to be fond of it. For me, it has an unprofessional edge and with due respect to all Livejournal users, I find it suitable for personal blogs rather than professional ones. Then again, if I had an online memoir, stories I’d like to share with and wanted to just have fun, Livejournal would be my first and foremost choice.

Orble.com definiely hit my spot! I found them via a job posting here on FWJ and it was originally a poster at Problogger. They were looking for Music bloggers to liven up their Music channel. I applied for the fun of it and was surprised by the easy-to-use interface and the friendly atmosphere. This is an Australian blogging network with more than 10.000 readers every day. It has various channels like Music, Movies, Technology etc. that you can write for. Moreover, the staff and active writers are extremely responsive if not downright friendly.

Note that Orble is around 2 years old and they are recently lifting off the ground hitwise and AdSense incomewise. It is true that in an already established service like Blogger you will have more networking options if you take the reins in your hands. Nevertheless, it is more likely that it feels like trying to make yourself heard in a crowd of thousands of people shouting out loud.

If, on the other hand, you are going to blog for your portfolio and for the future employers, then you might forget about all my gabble so far and choose whichever service you have mentioned.

I hope that was helpful.

I really like blogspot, I can minpulate it to the look I want and add features to it that are helpful for others to just click. I just didn’t know if that site was appropriate for reviews, but then I thought ‘millions of people use this site’. I have a personal blog spot so I might just stick with blogspot. Thanks hun!

Honestly I’m not looking for a free book handout…just somewhere to talk about a book. If it’s one thing I don’t get to do is discuss books with a friend who shares the same passion as I do.

I know for one thing I want to start out with a site counter and not limit myself to just books, but possibly other literature suchs as magazines and the like.

@ Ann G – what is the addy for your site?

I actually use a website and not a blog for my book review site. I prefer Blogspot, but I know others who like WordPress best.

I can tell you what some publishers have told me. Right now the market is flooded with book review blogs, and some publishers are starting to refuse to send free books to sites that do not get at least 5,000 readers per month.

My site pulls in about 3,000 to 4,000, so there are some books I no longer review because the publishers didn’t feel I got enough traffic.

That’s something to consider when starting out. Before you start querying publishers for review copies, try to build a solid readership.

That’s a big list for a Monday, Jodee. Hope you had a great weekend!

I remember lots of late nights when mine were little. (I think the oldest one was nocturnal for the first 18 months or so.) Do you have a new son or daughter?

Yep, I am on that list too. I don’t remember applying for anything that mentioned sleep apnea in the job description. But, I send out so many applications to anonymous craigslist addresses, so I figured it was one of them.

Did anyone else get swamped by some guy looking for “contest entries” for Sleep Apnea articles? I’m still trying to find out how he got my email address as his email doesn’t match any of the job applications I sent out. As I just had a close friend die from sleep apnea a couple weeks ago, the email came at a really bad time.