Tuesday, March 16, 2010

By Any Other Name

I redid my blog layout! If you're reading in Google Reader you might need to click through to see. The pretty layout of black with green, blue and pink swirls disappeared (I think the site hosting the background picture died). It made me sad, but I've also been meaning to change my layout for a while, so maybe it was just the push I needed. Plus, I spent a couple hours in photoshop creating a cool little header. Pretty.

I was also considering registering my domain name so instead of www.kat-tastic.blogspot.com it'd be something like katokeeffe.com, which is much more professional.

HOWEVER, there are two things holding me up.

First, I would lose all my comments. Every comment on every post is saved to the site kat-tastic.blogspot.com, so if I change it, all my wonderful comments from all my wonderful blogging friends (you guys!) would be lost FOREVER.

Second, I'm not sure which domain name I would want.
KatOkeeffe.com?
KathleenOkeeffe.com?
KGOkeeffe.com?
A totally different pseudonym?

I'm not sure if I should register, say, katokeeffe.com because what if an agent or publisher thinks I should write under a gender neutral name, a la J.K. Rowling? Or a different name altogether?

On the flip side, now that blogger has this new page feature so your blog can look more like a real website, wouldn't I want it to be as professional as possible? And plus, if I'm going to register a name and lose all the comments eventually, wouldn't sooner be better? When I query The Temper (soon I hope!) I'd like to include my blog address so agents can check it out if they like. But is kat-tastic.blogspot.com too unprofessional sounding?

It's all very confusing. Maybe I should just query Kathleen Ortiz, a jr agent and foreign rights manager. She runs a publishing blog at kortizzle.blogspot.com. Not only do we share the same first name (and the same initials, ha!) but it seems like she'd get me.


What do you guys think?
Have you registered a domain name yet?
Are you planning to write under your own name, or a pseudonym?

7 comments:

  1. NIcely done, Kat.

    Domain name - wise, I think katokeefe.com is the best way to go, and don't write under a domain name unless you REALLY want to. It will make marketing and publicity millions of times harder.

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  2. Nice layout! And I agree with katokeefe.com for a domain name. Simple, straight-forward, easy to remember.

    So many questions...so many details.

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  3. If you're unsure of a particular domain, you can "lock up" a couple of Blogspot choices under Settings:Publishing in Dashboard.

    Just change the current domain to another one you'd like to reserve for future use, save, then switch back.

    Each domain you save in Blogspot is permanently registered to your Google user account, which is handy if you want to use a reserved domain for a future blog or to re-brand a existing one.

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  4. I feel your pain. And it's funny you are talking about changing your layout today because I've been thinking about changing mine... again. LOL.


    Also, I have a website under a registered domain name, but I set it up completely separate from my blog (mainly because I set up my website before I got the blog... yeah, I'm backwards).

    And finally, I use my name real first name and my maiden name.

    Phew... that was long. ; )

    Good LUCK whatever you decide to do!!!

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  5. I think agents understand that a blog is a blog and that the final decision on what name you ought to go by should likely be made with the advice of your publisher. I'd either go with katokeeffe.com or keep kat-tastic.blogspot.com

    Either way, your book will get published and I'll buy it and you'll sign it and then JELLY BEANS. Bha ha.

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    ReplyDelete