Name of your website?Operator Speaking
Your name?
Z. Constantine
Your Location (city, etc)
Seattle
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Operator-Speaking.com contains a selection of the short fiction, poetry, and spoken word performances which I have put together over the last seven years.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I did not want my work to be lost in the mix of irrelevant works - past hosting which I made use of added plenty of useless advertising to the site which I put together, so I opted for hosting my own standalone site.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I launched my first website in 1998 - it was a personal homepage (this was before web users realized how tacky personal homepages were).
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I put together a short poetry and fiction 'zine in 2003 and needed a title for it - as part of the 'zine, I included my take on the Kieje Hatal (Night Chant) from Navajo tradition which, rather than appealing to The Night as a divine entity, appealed to an emergency operator.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
I do not believe that there are many similar offerings out there - I would like to think that my writing and ideas have not been extensively explored by others (and I have yet to see any evidence that this may have occurred).
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I would love to see my work published, though I am content to know that others are seeing it and being provoked to thought.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I write when I can, though I generally write more code than anything else - this site is a hobby, so it comes after work.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would consider rolling out my own content management system and expanding the written and spoken content on the site.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes - I believe I could find a dedicated server for the site if necessary.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
None, really - I design sites regularly and the design and development for the site took less than five hours.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Writer's block.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I have not done much in the way of promotion. I plan to include the site's URL in my next 'zine publication.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Not at all - I have not come across anything unexpected thus far.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The site has been online for a month - as it does not require much in the way of overhead, I plan to keep it up indefinitely.
The site's content seems very pessimistic - any comment on this observation?
There has always been reason to doubt the promise of the future - my hope is that, by considering the problems of the present, the reader might give some thought to the future so it may be anticipated and not taken as an unwelcome surprise.
What is your website address?
Operator Speaking
