Stephanie Leary

Writer and WordPress consultant

  • Books
    • Content Strategy for WordPress (2015)
    • WordPress for Web Developers (2013)
    • Beginning WordPress 3 (2010)
  • Blog
    • Fascism Watch (2016-17)
    • Content Modeling for WordPress series
    • WordPress Hidden Gems series
  • Work
    • Portfolio
    • Services
    • WordPress Plugins
    • WordPress Themes
    • Presentations and Interviews
    • on GitHub →
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How publishers could get more of my money (and make me happy to give it)

May 12, 2015 Stephanie Leary 1 Comment

I'm getting spoiled by self-published authors and the services that cater to them. Big publishers are increasingly disappointing in comparison. One of the most baffling aspects of big publishing is that publishers generally don't know who their readers are. Other than people … [Read more...]

for Authors, Publishing email marketing

“Lady Author”

June 6, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

It's very telling that you'll get people saying, again, "author and lady author are just true facts," but then getting angry when you say that fine, if they want divisions, it needs to be "male and female author." No! Male is the default the norm the baseline of human experience! … [Read more...]

Publishing feminism

The SFWA Bulletin

June 5, 2013 Stephanie Leary 1 Comment

Those of you who follow me on Twitter probably noticed some shenanigans happening last week with the SFWA Bulletin. If you missed what was going on, Ad Week has a nice summary of the situation. As Daniel Abraham points out, the very fact that Ad Week picked up on the story … [Read more...]

Publishing sfwa

Amazon and fan fiction

May 22, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

The internet is buzzing this morning about Amazon's attempt to monetize fan fiction with their new Kindle Worlds venture. Malinda Lo has read the terms, and because she is smart, she has figured out that "fan fiction" does not mean what Amazon thinks it means. She … [Read more...]

Publishing amazon, fan fiction

Publicity: one of the many ways the publishing industry is disastrously antiquated

May 3, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Cory Doctorow has written a smart piece for Locus on improving PR in the publishing industry. Most contemporary sales, marketing, and PR organizations outside of publishing use some kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to coordinate their activities. … [Read more...]

Publishing

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Shadow Unit, and Thoughts on Transmedia Storytelling

May 1, 2013 Stephanie Leary 2 Comments

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might recall that I had a ten-day encounter with the flu a few weeks ago. Usually when I have the flu, I take the opportunity to huddle under a blanket on the couch and binge on a TV series I haven't seen yet. This time, I watched all of The … [Read more...]

Publishing lbd, shadow unit

What sexism does best

April 27, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

The lack of respectful coverage, the slut-shaming and name-calling, all the girly book covers and not-my-titles despite high literary aspirations, has worn me down, made me question everything: my abilities, my future, my life. This is what sexism does best: it makes you feel … [Read more...]

Publishing feminism

The Story Length Taxonomy, a proof of concept for online fiction publications

April 26, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

screenshot of the story length taxonomy terms in the usual category-edit screen

As the Hugo nomination deadline was closing in, Tempest and I were chatting on Twitter, as we do, and agreed that it's silly that it's so difficult for readers to know which of the finicky short fiction categories a work falls into. Unless we happen to follow the authors and … [Read more...]

Publishing, WordPress Hugo awards, Plugins, short stories

Speaking at BEA Bloggers Conference, May 29

April 5, 2013 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

I'm delighted to be going to New York City in May to speak at the BookExpo America Bloggers Conference. I'll be on the Blogging Platforms panel, talking about how book bloggers can make the most of WordPress. Plus I'll be, you know, wandering around BEA for three days! I'm so … [Read more...]

Blogging, Events, for Authors, Publishing, WordPress bea

Blackwashing

April 3, 2011 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Sometimes I forget to discuss things here after I've mentioned them on Twitter. Sorry about that. Here's a good one: you might want to check out Ben Aaronovitch's books, Midnight Riot (or Rivers of London if you're in the UK) and Moon Over Soho. They're excellent. The premise is … [Read more...]

Books, Publishing

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Fascism Watch

The Fascism Watch is a daily(ish) news roundup. View all the previous Fascism Watch posts »

Latest WordPress Book

Content Strategy for WordPress

A short book for content strategists and managers on implementing a complete content strategy in WordPress: evaluation, analysis, content modeling, editing and workflows, and long-term planning and maintenance.

Read the sample chapter

Kindle Nook iBooks Kobo Smashwords

WordPress for Web Developers

WordPress for Web Developers (9781430258667)

This is a book for professional web designers and developers who already know HTML and CSS, and want to learn to build sites with WordPress. The book begins with a detailed tour of the administration screens and settings, then digs into server-side topics like performance and security. The second half of the book is devoted to development: learning to build WordPress themes and plugins.

This is the second, much-revised and updated edition of Beginning WordPress 3, with a more accurate title. Everything’s been updated for WordPress 3.6.

WordPress for Web Developers is out now. See what's inside...

The best WordPress features you’ve never noticed

  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Screen Options
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Bulk Edit
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Private Status
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Dashboard Feed Readers
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Options.php

Content Modeling for WordPress series

  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 1: analyze content
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 2: functional and organizational requirements
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 3: a sample content model

This is an excerpt from Content Strategy for WordPress.My latest books are Content Strategy for WordPress (2015) and WordPress for Web Developers (2013). Sign up to be notified when I have a new book for you.

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