Self Hosted WordPress with minimal plugins. Doesn't get in my way and I can write. No need to compile anything or create static files etc except a simple caching plugin.
Ask HN: Where do you write?
51–60 of 61 posts
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#52A good place to start off might be on an appropriate subreddit. It's low effort, pseudonymous, and you get an immediate audience. You can post it somewhere and get immediate (encouraging, good, bad, scathing) feedback.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#53I use Hugo and I host my blog out of an AWS S3 bucket. Pros: - Cheap. - Static and small. Hugo lets me really make everything tiny. - Learned more about AWS. Cons: - A lot of work because I had to setup Route 53, CloudFront, Certificate Manager and S3. - Learning about the permission model and setting up an IAM user with right permissions. - Figuring out how Route 53, Certificate Manager and CloudFront work together…
Also, gitlab pages will host your pages for free, there are many site generates you can choose from ( gitlab.com/pages ), including Hugo, you don't get any of the con, and it's completely free to use.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#54I use Hugo and I host my blog out of an AWS S3 bucket. Pros: - Cheap. - Static and small. Hugo lets me really make everything tiny. - Learned more about AWS. Cons: - A lot of work because I had to setup Route 53, CloudFront, Certificate Manager and S3. - Learning about the permission model and setting up an IAM user with right permissions. - Figuring out how Route 53, Certificate Manager and CloudFront work together…
Also, gitlab pages will host your pages for free, there are many site generates you can choose from ( gitlab.com/pages ), including Hugo, you don't get any of the con, and it's completely free to use.
Community Advocate with GitLab here, just wanted to share the link to GitLab Pages in case anyone is looking for it: https://about.gitlab.com/stages-devops-lifecycle/pages/
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#55Running a blog for my outlet: https://confessionsoftheprofessions.com
Started about 7 years ago and still haven't stopped. I did try a few times, but people keep emailing me.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#56The content matters. The tool doesn't.
Based on painful firsthand experience, don't waste much time optimizing for the 'best' way to share. Just create, share, adjust. You can always switch to another 'tool'--tools are cheap, plentiful, and don't matter much. You'll kill every ounce of creativity and momentum mucking around in the weeds looking for the best 'tools'.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#57Do you want to advance slowly in your skills? Then self publish.
Do you wish to advance painfully and quickly? Then find a traditional (online or paper) publisher and submit submit submit until you write something someone likes.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#58I just have a PHP site on my own domain and I also created a very simple PHP script to load and display markdown files. This way I write new posts as markdown files (so I get versioning and all), and there is no build step, I could edit files directly on the server.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#59I just do a bunch of markdown files in a private github repo. There are a lot of great markdown editors to make the writing experience pleasant (I use typora https://typora.io/ ), plus text analysis is easy given it is just plain text file.
What do you mean by text analysis?
Re: Ask HN: Where do you write?
#60Not so much a recommendation on where to publish, but I do suggest you form relationships and connections with other writers. It may seem like a solitary art form, but you can’t do it alone.
Thy said, the platform doesn’t matter. No one will find your content unless you cultivate an audience. There’s not much difference between Medium and GitHub and pastebin as far as your audience is concerned. If you want readers you’ll need an outlet that has them already (existing magazine, for example) or you’ll have to learn about marketing and promotion.
Good luck. Keep writing! The world needs your stories.