New Site, New Problems!

If you’ve ever worked on web design, programming, or similar projects, you know that, no matter how well you prepare, problems always come up.

Since I deployed the site (about an hour before writing this), I’ve already had to troubleshoot missing images, missing menus, inactive links, and icons that appear as letters and numbers (that last one was really odd!). And I expect we’ll continue to see these types of bugs pop up over the next few days, maybe even weeks. It’s the nature of a full-site deployment as we did.

If you see any bugs, please report them through our contact page or by emailing contact@spdstorystudio.com.

Here’s a list of the currently known bugs:

• • The mobile site is completely broken, but couldn’t be tested until it was live. This is our top priority right now in fixing.
  • Clicking on some links, especially in breadcrumbs, lead to unformatted pages. The pages still include the relevant information but don’t look as refined as the rest of the page.
  • Some images have a weird hover-over effect.
  • Some links don’t pop when you hover over them (the text should be bold).
  • There are missing sidebars on the blog posts themselves.

Okay, But What’s REALLY Changed?

If you’ve been around for any length of time (i.e., pre-2019), you might know that we used to focus heavily on fiction writing and stories. While both are still significant parts of the site, it’s significantly expanded.

First, the main page (aka the Storyteller side) will focus on four pillars of content and services:

• Web Design & Maintenance
• Technical (On-Page) SEO
• Fiction Writing
• Copywriting & Copy Editing

The secondary page (aka the Storylovers side) will focus on stories in all their forms, including but not limited to:

• Reviews and previews of podcasts, videos, movies, TV shows, and more
• Book recommendations
• Book reviews and synopsis
• Free story content

This change, specifically splitting the site in two, will make navigation much more accessible, and you’ll always be able to find exactly what you’re looking for. 

What’s In The Pipeline

New (and Refreshed) Content

If you’ve clicked around the new site, you’ll notice that this is the only new content since 2019. Right now, we’ve got a lot of new content in the works.

The first of this new content will focus on the four pillars of storytelling, as I mentioned above. We’ll be putting together a Digital Marketing 101 series aimed at teaching those new to web design, SEO, and copywriting/editing how to get started. 

At the same time, we’ll be working on refreshing (i.e., updating) a lot of our content for fiction writers, as we already have so much of it. We’re looking at the Full Draft series to start. The best part of this? We’ll be packaging the newly updated content into a FREE downloadable ebook for our mailing list! Even if you join now (be sure to select fiction writing!), you’ll get access to the ebook when it’s complete later this year.

And finally, we’re putting together a small team of writers to create content for storylovers. Expect to see that towards the end of 2022.

Blog Format

Let me get this out of the way: I love the current blog format. However, I think it’s a bit clunky, and some of the custom code we did for it breaks with every other WordPress update (go back to some of our old posts with the current format. You’ll see the date is formatted really poorly).

So this has led me to create a new format for posts that’s more user-friendly (and easy to manage!). By the time the first Digital Marketing 101 piece comes out, you’ll see it in the new format. The refreshes will also get the new design as I update them.

Storyteller’s Mindset & Writers Helping Writers

Despite not having an episode since the end of 2018, the Storyteller’s Mindset is still popular! And yes, it’s going to make a return. You can expect new episodes in the second half of 2022 with a new co-host. 

As for Writers Helping Writers, a Facebook group we created, it’s not coming back in the form it once was. However, there will be a community built around SPD StoryStudio again in the not too distant future. And while it won’t focus solely on fiction writing, it will still focus on storytelling in all forms.

Merch for Storytellers (and Storylovers!)

That’s right! With the first drop right around the corner, SPD StoryStudio will sell clothing and accessories for storytellers and storylovers! From our “I Write” t-shirt (coming soon!) to our steampunk-inspired accessories, you can expect a little bit of everything, with new drops quarterly (starting in 2023).

We’re So Excited!

With all of these changes, everyone here at SPD StoryStudio is so excited to see where we can take storytelling in the future. From new blog posts and downloads to rebuilding our community, we’re looking forward to having all of you along for the ride.

Don’t forget to join the mailing list so you can know when all this happens!