Journal + Website Update

The Latest Issue of the Journal Is Now Available

The past month has been filled with teething problems for the print version of the latest issue of the Journal of Vampire Studies. On January 23, I announced the following:

I am pleased to report that I got the required proof approval that same day and approved the eproof accordingly. I then set the publication date for January 26: today! If you can figure out why I chose that date, you could win a prize. First one to email me the right answer, wins! Note: not open to VSA committee members (sorry, guys!).

In terms of availability through the usual outlets, an IngramSpark Support member told me: “The title is now in distribution. It takes 2-6 weeks for a title to appear on retail websites after distribution is enabled.”¹

The other alternative is fraught with risk. You could order it directly through me. I’d get a quote from IngramSpark, you pay me the funds, then I place the order. The catch is: there’s no tracking and I can’t refund you. So, your options: (1) wait, (2) roll the dice and take your chances, (3) check out the online version at https://archive.org/details/journal_of_vampire_studies_3_2023.

Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour.

Website Update Complete

Between January 19 and today, you would have seen this gracing the main page:

That’s because I’ve been tinkering with the blog’s layout. Here’s a partial screengrab of what it used to look like:

Blog screencap. I tried saving it on Internet Archive, but it doesn’t seem to have retained all the elements. Click here to view it.

The three primary purposes of updating it were: (1) clean-up, (2) decluttering, (3) repurposing. In the first instance, this site holds a lotta dead links I should have removed a long time ago (see the Sidebar section, especially).

Similarly, I wanted to free up space on the blog. There is a lot of stuff on it that isn’t really needed. Indeed, I suspect the background image, alone, has been significantly slowing the load time. So, out that went. As you can see, I’ve gone for a much more streamlined, minimalist look.

That brings me to the repurposing angle. Until now, this site has purely been a blog. Now, it’s my official author website (but still a blog). Rather than let it lay dormant, I want to keep it active to keep you abreast of my little projects and activities. With that in mind, I’m now going to take the opportunity to share/document all the changes. Now’s your chance to leave.

Still here? Ok, here goes…

Site Banner

I’m talking about this bad boy.

Gone. No longer needed. Part of the “clutter” clean-out.

Navigation Menu

Home

That stayed. Easier to click that to redirect back to the homepage than, say, clicking on the site title.

Segments

Meant to cover “special” items in the site, similar to special feature magazine sections. They were: Guest Posts, Overlooked Books (“I trawl through Amazon to find non-fiction vampire books not-yet-released. But sometimes, I’ll stumble across a book which was added to their listings after my searches—overlooked, see?”), Upcoming Books (not mine, other people’s) and Vampire Library, which was all about non-fiction book recommendations for learning about vampires. As they weren’t things I tarried on with, they can leave the navigation menu (but, as you can see, the links are still active if you really want to check them out).

Facebook

A designated page for all the Facebook groups and pages I either ran or was a member of (ones relevant to vampires, specifically). However, I’m a member of way too many groups now to keep tabs of all. If anything, I should cut them back.

Also, there are two I’m no longer a member of: Castle of the Vampyre and HIGHGATE! HIGHGATE! HIGHGATE! (the admin is also no longer a friend). Vampire’s Kiss became Dracula and His Kin, which is actually an excellent group. You should join it.

But do I need a designated page for Facebook groups and pages in my nav menu? No. But maybe a recommended list would be good. That’s something I could work on. I already have a few in mind.

Contact

That stayed. After all, it’s the main way people contact me through this site.

Posts

And now we move onto the posts on the homepage. I didn’t realise the thing was set to display thirty-nine until I started to tinker with redesigning the site. I’ve set it to five, but don’t think it stuck. May need to keep tinkering with it.

Sidebar

Over to the sidebar, still situated on the right side (if you’re reading this on a desktop computer, that is).

I’ve adapted it to include elements of what you’d expect in a viral website. Or, at least, that’s what DeepAI’s AI Chat told me when I asked what would be needed in the sidebar of such a site, in order of importance, and it said:

When creating a viral website, the right sidebar can be a valuable space for maximizing engagement and driving user interaction. Here’s a suggested order of relevance for elements to include in the right sidebar:

1. Trending or Popular Articles: Display a section showcasing the most popular or trending articles on your website. This can encourage visitors to explore more content and increase their time on your site.
2. Social Media Widgets: Include social media buttons or widgets that allow users to easily share articles or content they find interesting on their social media platforms. This can help increase the reach and virality of your site.
3. Email Subscription Form: Offer visitors the option to subscribe to your newsletter or updates through an email subscription form. This way, you can build a loyal audience and keep them informed about new viral content.
4. Related Articles: Incorporate a section displaying related articles or “You May Also Like” recommendations based on the content the user is currently viewing. This can keep visitors engaged and encourage them to explore more of your site.
5. Advertisements: Utilize the right sidebar to display relevant advertisements. Ensure that the ads are not overly intrusive and do not compromise the user experience. Carefully consider the placement and relevance of ads to maintain a balance.
6. Popular Tags or Categories: Provide a section displaying popular tags or categories on your website. This makes it easier for users to navigate and explore content based on their interests.
7. Recent Comments: Highlight the most recent comments or discussions happening on your website. This can encourage users to engage and participate in conversations, fostering a sense of community.
8. Search Bar: Include a search bar in the right sidebar, enabling visitors to quickly search for specific content on your site. This is especially useful as your site grows and the content becomes more extensive.

Remember, the order of relevance may vary depending on your website’s specific goals and layout. It’s important to continuously analyze user behavior and make adjustments to optimize engagement and user experience.

Here’s what it used to have—and what I kept.

Search

A search bar to find things in the blog. Kept. Still useful.

Archives

A list of the months I’ve posted content along with how many posts were in that month. Necessary? No. Gone.

Categories

A dropdown list of categories used in the site. Problem is, I didn’t really have a clear concept of what they were, which is why there are so many). Tags currently fulfil what I used to use Categories for. Therefore, if I’m going to use it at all, I need a better set of categories to work with. Until then, gone. Out it goes.

My Community

Not labelled that, but that’s what the widget’s called. A small grid of people who’ve connected with this blog in some way, be they likers, followers or commenters. A tough call, but…kept. Nice to have a human presence on this site beyond myself.

Facebook Page Plugin

Do I really need a display for my Facebook page when I can just post social links instead? Nah. Out it goes.

Follow Blog via Email

Essentially, the way you subscribe to posts. Kept, by reworded it to “Subscribe.” Gotta love brevity.

Follow Me on Twitter

Doesn’t even display tweets. Widget must be broken or something. That said, probably a good idea it doesn’t as my tweets almost exclusively concern political stuff (I really need to make a separate Twitter account). Sidenote, yes, I got unsuspended from Twitter shortly after Elon Musk assumed power.¹ Pro: I got unsuspended (at last!). Con: the site is an absolute trash fire now. Apparently, Musk thinks I want to see almost nothing but right wing propaganda and conspiracies in my feed. I don’t. Widget, gone.

If you really want to follow me on Twitter, though (Musk can call it “X” all he likes…), here I am.

Internet Defense League

The bloody badge isn’t even showing up. Out it goes.

Listmania!

A set of lists I created on Amazon: Become an Instant Vampire Expert; The Complete Vampirologist’s Library; Vampire Non-Fiction: 2012, Vol. 1; Vampire Non-Fiction: 2012, Vol. 2; Vampire Non-Fiction: 2013, Vol. 1; Vampire Non-Fiction: 2013, Vol. 2. All those links a dead for some reason. Ah well, out they go.

My Library

Featuring a link to my vampire library collection on LibrayThing (388 entries at current count). Doesn’t need to be there, though; I’ve incorporated it into my new About page.

Recent Comments

Kept, but shrunk from ten entries to five.

Recent Posts

Shows ten of my latest posts. Is it really needed when the posts display on the main page anyway? No. Bye-bye.

Top Clicks

Kept, but title changed to Most Clicked. Also, displays five instead of ten entries. The clicks aren’t necessarily posts, but can be things inside the posts, for clarity’s sake.

Top Posts & Pages

Split into Most Viewed and Most Liked. Both have five entries instead of ten. Keeping things compact.

TSD Member

A badge representing my membership of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula—and it’s not showing. Its associated link is also defunct.² Does it need to be displayed in my sidebar? Nope. Gone.

Tumblr

A link to my Tumblr account. That’s now mixed in with my socials. Also, I really, really should update that, too. Nine years since my last post? Jeez.

Website

A link to Vamped. That site’s been in limbo since 2020. I’ve been concentrating most of my energies on the Journal of Vampire Studies, and I don’t have the same desire to update it as I once did. I’ll be honest; I may even nix the site (but keep it online because it’s still got loads of good content). But does it still need to be in my sidebar? No.

RSS Feeds

Not labelled that, but what they actually were; essentially a blog roll of various blogs of interest. They were The BS Historian (current), CFI Blogs (defunct), Doubtful News (defunct), Elizabeth Miller (defunct), foodforthedead.com (active, but nothing posted since 2015), Hayley Is a Ghost (current), Just Another WordPress Weblog (current; WordPress’ official blog), Killing the Dead (active, but defunct; Dax Stokes’ former blog), Leaves that Wither (defunct), Magia Posthuma (active, but Neils hasn’t posted anything since 2016—come on, Neils!), MBArchaeology (defunct; former blog of Matthew Beresford), MJ Wayland (defunct), Skeptical Humanities (active, but no posts since 2015), The South African Vampyre Culture Center (active, but dormant from the look of it), Taliesin Meets the Vampires (active),³ TheoFantastique (active),⁴ Theresa Bane (defunct), Vampire Community News (VCN) (active, but dormant), Vampire Review (defunct), vampiresgrasp.com (active, but no new posts since 2015),⁵ and Who Forted? Magazine (defunct).⁶

Rather than have a blog roll taking up space, I might set up a separate page for recommended links (for example, Magia and Taliesin both essential blogs). And even then, I would make it vampire-specific to give the site better focus. In the meantime, out they all go.

Links

A list of links for Dracula’s Homepage (Elizabeth Miller’s former website), The Vampire Library, Transylvanian Society of Dracula, Vampiri Europeana and WWW.SHROUDEATER.COM. All except Vampire Library are defunct. Bye-bye links.

Research Tools

A list featuring resources I actually use (among others): Google Books, Google Scholar, Google Translate, Internet Archive, Library of Congress, National Library of Australia, The British Library, Wikipedia, WorldCat.org. But as this site is now more focused on my output, as opposed to being a resource site, these links are no longer needed. Out they go.

Subscribe

Two links: one called RSS – Posts, the other RSS – Comments. Do I need them if people can join this blog’s mailing list? No. Out they go.

Blog Stats

Meh, might as well keep it. It’s a nice trinket that reminds me, yes, people do read this thing.

Site Theme

Last, but not least, is the site theme itself. Turns out I’ve been using AJ Clarke’s Fresh & Clean theme since—yikes—2013.⁷ I have replaced it with Automattic’s Libre 2.

Notes

1. Operated by my colleague, Andrew M. Boylan, who is both the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Vampire Studies and Deputy President of the Vampire Studies Association. ↩︎
2. Operated by John W. Morehead, who is a member of the Journal of Vampire Studies‘ Advisory Board. ↩︎
3. Hogg, “Updates, News, Announcements,” The Vampirologist (blog), October 27, 2013, https://thevampirologist.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/updates-news-announcements/. Incidentally, the name of the “humanities blog I [couldn’t] recall the name of” was Skeptical Humanities (2011–2015), mentioned elsewhere in this post. ↩︎