Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Changes are a-coming to Novel Novice, friends!

I am currently in the process of updating a LOT of content on the back-end, preparing for the big switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org … which will allow me to do a lot more customization of the look & feel of this site, embed widgets & things like Rafflecopter forms (rather than linking to them), and enable auto-archiving & indexing of reviews, author Q&As, and other features.

In short, it’s going to make things a LOT easier for me to manage — and a lot easier for YOU to navigate. Win-win.

The new site will also include a soft branding refresh. The Novel Novice logo isn’t going anywhere — but the look of our graphics will be changing as we move away from photo-heavy graphics (like the current site header, above), and move towards a clean, color-scheme based design. Here’s a tiny preview:

I’m really excited about this change, and the tools it is providing that will allow me to really enrich Novel Novice and make your experience here that much more robust.

That said — you’ll notice a few minor “disturbances in the force” around here in the short term as a result of this change. For starters, Book of the Month isn’t coming back in February. I’m tentatively shooting to have it return in March, but it might not happen until April — it just depends on how long all the back-end updating takes on my part. It WILL come back though, rest assured. (Although the exact look & feel of it will likely be changed as part of a larger content overhaul – more on that shortly.)

It also means Novel Novice will be down for a day or two while the site is migrated from .com to .org — tentatively scheduled to take place January 29th-31st.

I’m also working on some updates & new plans for how I manage and produce content for the blog after I’m back up to full speed. As I mentioned earlier, that will likely include some small changes to how the Book of the Month features are executed, as well as some of our other content.

We’ll still be your favorite place for book reviews, author interviews, contests, new releases, and other great features that you’ve come to know and love. I’m hoping that by making these larger changes, I’ll have more time and freedom to offer more enriching and enjoyable content for you guys. (Including a return to more regular additions to our desktop wallpaper library, and other fun seasonal features.)

Over the next few days and weeks, you’ll start to notice some small changes around here as we get ready for the migration to WordPress.org — things like graphics being changed or deleted, categories being added, new tags on posts, etc. Don’t worry — all the meaty content won’t be disturbed!

I hope you guys are as excited about this change as I am — I really think it will make for a fuller, more engaging experience overall.