Our New Blog Theme

We decided to buy a new blog theme since the previous one was seven years old and the designers had stopped keeping it up to date several years ago, so as WordPress developed, certain key features had ceased to work.

Chalita Majang
04/12/2020
Blogging, General, My Reviews, Promotion and Marketing, Publishing, Ramblings

Musings on our new blog theme — Buying a new blog theme

We decided to buy a new blog theme.

The previous one was seven years old and the designers had stopped keeping it up to date several years ago. Therefore, as WordPress developed, certain key features had ceased to work.

The result was that it was becoming tedious to update.

I, and my colleagues and friends chose the new blog theme that you see before you at this moment. The designers have produced it especially for authors and publishers just like me 🙂

We set our new blog theme up quite quickly, although that is not to say that this new theme is without its problems, not the least of which is the slow response from the support desk and the lack of a clear, easily referenceable manual.

Blog Support

In these days of Covid-19, support must be difficult, since call centres are all closed, or should be, I imagine. Either that or they are running at one-third to a quarter capacity. Anyway, the support team does answer eventually, but it can take days, which seems like years, if you are anxious to get a new blog theme up and running!

If they had a comprehensive or even just a decent manual for the theme, I am sure that my friends and I could have sorted it out for ourselves much more quickly. However, the guide, such that it is, is on line and nothing more than a bunch of hyperlinks. After clicking on a few of them, I don’t know where I am any more.

My biggest mistake with the new blog theme was to impose it directly on top of the old one. I advise you to open a fresh instance of WordPress somewhere, and practise there until perfect. That way, you won’t lose your blog for a couple of days, like I did.

What a panic that was, I can tell you!

The new theme is huge though. My blog is quite large anyway for a one-man band, Owen Jones, the former owner, had created nearly three thousand entries. Two thousand of them were posts and pages! Still, I was stunned to find that the blog had swollen to 4.4 GB after applying the new theme!

Theme Features

To be honest, I have only set up the barest blog from the resources available in this theme. I am aware of what else it can do, but time has so far prevented me from learning how to implement more. Features, such as the direct sale of books (without paying Amazon, Apple or anyone else); the rental of blog space to advertisers such as authors, publishers or just about anyone; and so much more.

In fact, I have just decided that the next feature I want to implement is ‘the shop’. I am going to call it ‘Megan’s Market’, where I intend to sell readers’ and writers’ paraphernalia. It will also be able to handle the sale of ebooks, my own and those of others.

I hope that you will support me in these ventures, especially the direct sale of ebooks. If you are a regular visitor, you will notice me adding these extra features to our new blog theme over the coming month(s) 🙂

On the other hand, if you would like to purchase your own copy of this theme, called ‘Publisher’, or one like it but geared in a different direction, the owners are currently, as I write, offering a discount of 45%!

Here is the link: New Blog Theme

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Chalita Majang

Chalita took over from Owen Jones as the owner of this blog, because Mr. Jones wanted to devote more time to writing, while Chalita wanted to get into blogging and help readers and writers to follow their passion for books.
Chalita is new to blogging and reviewing books, but she is learning quickly and is eager to help.
'If I cannot help directly, I know that I can always call on Owen', she says. 'Owen has vast experience in reading and writing books, and has more than a thousand books registered in his name at the British Library'.
The dog, Angun, which means Grape or Grapes in Thai, was an eighteenth birthday present from a friend. She was a lovely dog in every way imaginable, but was killed shortly after giving birth to and raising her first brood of puppies. She is sadly missed, and hasn't been replaced.
'A new dog just wouldn't be the same', she said sadly.
Anyway, times have changed, and Chalita now has a demanding job in Bangkok.
'I will be devoting as much time as I can to running the blog though', she said earnestly. 'And, if I see that people like my style of blogging, then I will rearrange my life a little in order to devote more time to it. I love reading and interacting with people anyway, so that wouldn't be a hardship. I suppose that I have to wait for the older visitors to get used to my style, and to try to attract new people who will come here for me.
'If you have any ideas about what you would like to see on this blog, please drop me a line' :-)
In the meantime, the format of Megan Publishing Services will remain roughly what it is now - a resource for readers and writers and a showcase for the books of Welsh writer Owen Jones.
Owen Jones has written fifty-odd novels in various genres mostly set in Wales, Spain and Thailand (the three countries where he spends most of his time). Similarly, many of his books have an element of the supernatural or paranormal, but not all of them, since he has a 700,000-word fictional biography, a spy thriller and military drama. Mr. Jones is strong on series. He only has a couple of stand-alone novels.

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