How to Start Blogging

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If you’ve never created a website before, it’s best to start with free options. You don’t need to buy a domain or a hosting plan right away. Sometimes a hobby seems exciting at first, but after a month, you might realize it’s not for you.

If you purchase a 3-year hosting plan to “save” money and then realize within the first 30 days that you don’t enjoy blogging, you haven’t saved anything — you’ve wasted money.

Start with free platforms like:

  • Medium – They can be quick to ban users (as happened to me), so it’s not my top recommendation. However, if you write about cats, dogs, or praise left-wing politics, you can publish pretty much anything. The platform is clean, user-friendly, and comes with a built-in audience and some monetization potential.
  • Substack – A better option than Medium if you want to write critically about politics. It doesn’t seem to have the same built-in promotion features as Medium, but it gives you more freedom.
  • Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress – These services typically offer free plans so you can test the waters. Some even allow free blogging indefinitely. However, free plans often come with ads, and if you post content the platform disapproves of, they may suspend or delete your blog.
  • Social Media Blogging – X/Twitter now supports long-form content. Some writers report success using LinkedIn, and Facebook remains another option to consider.

Start for free. If you find that blogging is something you want to do long-term, you can always upgrade to a paid solution later.

What I Use For Blogging

I currently use Hostinger. This isn’t a sponsored recommendation, and I can’t say it’s better than other providers — I just got a great deal at the time. One thing I do appreciate is their large learning academy, which walks you through how to set everything up:

Progress Report April 2025

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I used to write this monthly progress series on Medium—until I got banned. People seemed to like it, and I used it to track my progress and stay motivated in pursuing my goals. So, I’ve decided to bring it back on my own blog.

Over time, I’ll expand it and add updates on the various projects I’m working on. Whether any of them will actually grow, I don’t know.

For example, I once ran a fitness website in my native language, German. It grew steadily just because I wrote new articles almost daily. I doubt that’s still possible today, with Google being much more protective of what is promoted to the top of search results and AI increasingly replacing content-based websites.

Just yesterday, I created a nutrition plan for myself and worked out the micronutrient breakdown. Instead of manually researching everything on food database sites, I simply used ChatGPT to handle it. The result was great—and I saved a lot of time.

This is happening across every topic people used to write about ten years ago. AI is making much of that content obsolete.

The only real reason to blog now is to maintain a personal blog—a kind of diary that people follow because they’re interested in you, not just a topic. That’s what I’m trying to build here… but am I interesting enough as a person to make that work? I don’t know.

What will grow—guaranteed—is my book portfolio. So at the very least, I can use this space to report on my writing each month and give you some updates on my journey to becoming an author.

So let’s start with that.

Website

I relaunched the site in April as a daily blog. “Daily” is a loose term for me—I’ll definitely miss a few days here and there—but I plan to update it multiple times per week.

Pageviews and users are up about 20% compared to last month. I even had my first spammers trying to leave Binance referral links in the comments and sending weird emails via the contact form.

I guess that’s a good sign: If scammers think there’s something to gain here, maybe the real audience will too.

Books

I’ve set a release schedule for myself:

  • March
  • June
  • September
  • December

That’s four releases per year. Writing the books isn’t the problem—I need a solid system for editing them. I’m currently exploring some AI tools to help catch the typos and minor spelling mistakes I always seem to miss. Expect reviews of these tools once I’ve tested them thoroughly.

The first release is already written and through its first round of editing. I’m now using ChatGPT for a second pass, though I don’t feel like it’s quite enough. Still, it should be ready for the September release.

My December release is in the final editing phase. It’s the first installment in my 17 book series.

  • Book 1: Forever | September release | 2nd editing round
  • Book 2: 17 Series – Part 1 | December release | Final editing round

For 2026 I’ll have my system set up to meet the other two release dates as well.

YouTube

My tutorial channel hit 10,000 subscribers in April—a small victory.

I’m currently working on a GIMP 3.0 course. It’ll be a 12-hour video (the maximum length allowed on YouTube). I’m also producing a 365-day Photoshop playlist with daily short tutorials that I’ve planned to complete this year.

In addition, I’m considering launching a new channel for book (and maybe movie) reviews—just for fun and to help promote my own writing. I could also use it to explore AI projects and stay up to date with new developments. Seems like a good side project.

Substack

I might mirror my content on Substack again. Something to think about for May…

To Conclude

Book promotion will be my biggest challenge. I honestly have no idea how to do it. It took me six years to grow my YouTube channel to 10K subscribers—which tells you how little I understand about promotion. I’m good at creating content, but promoting it isn’t exactly my strength.

That’s part of why I relaunched my website. Maybe it will attract a few readers, and I can use it to test and document some marketing strategies recommended by people who are much better at this.

Until next month,
Michael Brig

Write Better Books | A Lesson From James Bond

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I love James Bond. Watching Goldfinger on TV is one of my earliest cinematic memories. Sean Connery was the coolest guy imaginable—he had incredible gadgets, a beautiful car, and even more beautiful girls. Gert Fröbe was the perfect villain and Oddjob terrified me for weeks.

For me, Goldfinger is the best Bond film.

Over the years, I’ve watched every Bond movie countless times. Some come close to Goldfinger. Some fall short—way short. But even the bad ones (Die Another Day, for example) can’t stop me from eagerly awaiting the next Bond adventure.

It’s strange, really. When you’ve seen them all multiple times, read a dozen books, explored the comics, and learned about Ian Fleming, the cars, and the film locations… you understand how formulaic Bond is. Almost every film follows the same structure:

  • Megalomaniac villain
  • Bond girl
  • Cool car
  • Special gadget
  • Opening stunt scene
  • Car chase
  • The classic “Bond meets villain at dinner” moment
  • Final explosion, villain dies, Bond escapes

That’s every single movie. And yet—I can’t wait to see the next one follow the exact formula.

Amazon now has creative control over the franchise. I’m not thrilled about that. Amazon (and streaming services in general) aren’t exactly known for quality storytelling. Barbara Broccoli, on the other hand, did a great job preserving the Bond essence. Still, when the next Bond film drops, I’ll be watching.

But why?

Thinking about it, I realized that the real reason I love these movies is simple: it’s the character. Bond is the kind of man every guy wants to be. We want his adventures, his cars, his women… maybe even his license to kill.

Even through some underwhelming eras—Pierce Brosnan was a fantastic Bond, but aside from GoldenEye, he was handed weak scripts—the character endures. Ian Fleming created a timeless figure who can survive bad plots and forgettable villains (remember Diamonds Are Forever?).

The big lesson here?
If you want to write great stories, start by creating a great character. When you build someone as compelling as James Bond, even a formulaic plot can become a crowd favorite. Readers (and viewers) will keep coming back—not for the structure, not for the stunts, or the explosion, but for the character.

The Best-Selling Book Genre

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My favorite genre is sci-fi. Apparently, I’m in the minority. In Germany, sci-fi accounts for only about 5% of the book market—and that’s only because it’s lumped together with fantasy. If you remove Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones, the genre probably makes up closer to just 2%.

I also enjoy reading comics, which officially represent around 8% of the market. However, in Germany, comics are grouped together with cartoons, humor, and satire, so the actual share of graphic novels is significantly lower.

Every now and then, I throw in a James Bond adventure, continue my Reacher journey, or pick up another crime or spy novel. This genre is firmly in the mainstream. Combined with horror and thrillers, the crime genre accounts for nearly 25% of book sales.

But there’s one genre that towers over all the others: Romance.

I’ve seen data from the U.S. suggesting that nearly half of all book sales fall into this category. In Germany, the numbers are a bit lower, but romance and love stories still top the charts. I even read once that romance novels with explicit content—basically erotica—sell as much as thrillers, fantasy, and sci-fi combined.

Whew. Thinking about that, I realized: I’ve never read a book anywhere near that genre. And I doubt I ever will. If I don’t enjoy reading something, I certainly won’t enjoy writing it. So don’t expect any romance novels from me anytime soon.

Thinking about my family and friends, I can’t name a single person who reads romance either. So I asked myself: Who’s buying all these books?

Then it hit me: it’s the women.

Women make up 65% of all book buyers.

Is it any wonder that publishers today mostly sign female authors? Does it surprise why Amazon promotes such books in every search query? Or that books targeted at women are the first thing you see when you walk into a bookstore?

So, if you’re in it for the money, write romance—and aim it at women.

If you’re in it for the fun, stick with robots and spy detectives. And maybe—just maybe—you’ll attract a few of the last men standing who still read more than 140 characters at a time. But even if you don’t, the joy of sending your protagonist on a journey across time and space will always beat writing yet another version of Christian Grey falling for your average barista named Bella from the corner coffee shop.

At least, if you’re a man.

What I’ll Write Over The Next Months … Years … Decades (Becoming an Author #3)

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I never really made a big plan. When I decided to write 1,000 words every day, I just started — and whatever idea came to mind first, I worked on.
This, as it turns out, was not the best approach. Some ideas I abandoned halfway through; others I finished but chose not to publish because they didn’t work well as standalone novels.

I quickly realized that having a plan isn’t just important when writing a single book — it’s essential when you want to write multiple books every year.

I have dozens of series ideas stored in my swipe file. They all look intriguing, but I know I shouldn’t start them all at once. Instead, it makes more sense to tackle them one by one.

My plan for now is simple: focus on a single series until it’s finished.

In that series, I’ve nearly finished editing Part 1. I’ve already written first drafts for Parts 2 and 3, and I’m currently writing Part 4. Overall, I’ve outlined at least 20 parts, which will eventually bring the series to a satisfying conclusion — or at least a conclusion that I personally find satisfying, tying together the major plotlines that start in Part 1.

The series is called 17, named after the main character.

It’s a crime-thriller-action story in the spirit of Bond, Reacher, Hunt, and Holmes, where the protagonist solves a new case in each book, while a massive conspiracy unfolds across the entire series. I’m blending in elements of conspiracy theories, aiming for a tone that is dark but also has moments of fun.

Whenever I need a break from the series, I’ll work on a standalone novel — not a new series. Just a single novel, perhaps in the sci-fi, mystery, or western genre, something different to refresh my creative energy.

The only other major project I’ll allow myself is a lifelong work I’ve been outlining for years: It began when I watched Disney mishandle Star Wars and HBO rush Game of Thrones to an unsatisfying end. I started thinking about how I could do it better. The result is a sci-fi opera I currently call The Eye Sees It All.

This will be a lifelong project — something I want to build slowly, one page at a time. Honestly, I have no idea how large it will eventually become.
Unlike the 17 series, where I can already estimate that I’ll be able to publish multiple books each year, I might only manage one book for The Eye every couple of years — if that.

So, my loose publishing plan will be:

  1. A 17 part
  2. Another 17 part
  3. A standalone novel
  4. A part of The Eye or another 17 part

That’s the current goal.

If I can successfully set up the system that I have in mind, new books will be out every March, June, September, and December.

I think it’s possible. Hopefully, I’m right.