Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I admin a site in WP.com and run my personal website in .org. Once you have Wordpress turned on, the admin experience is roughly the same in either, but your choices are extremely limited in .com.

I don't know whether you can run e-commerce on a WP.com site, or if you can get the features you need in whatever e-commerce plugin they allow you to have.

As for using your own domain name: either .com or .org will let you do that. You can rent a domain name from WP.com for a reasonable sum. If you want to do WP.org, you can get a URL from a hosting provider (I use GoDaddy and have been very happy with them) for a slightly higher sum, but you get more help and more options to go with it.

Most of the big hosting companies provide some reasonably painless way to install WP.org on your site. With GoDaddy, for instance, you go into your hosting account and select the "Wordpress" option, and you have Wordpress in a couple hours.

If you haven't already, look at the selection of plugins available to you in WP.com and WP.org before you jump. Also, look at a lot of professional authors' sites -- you may want to do the things they do someday, and trying to relocate or rebuild your site when you move to a more capable platform can be a tiresome experience.

Good luck.

I know how you feel Amelia. I have a website through Webs.com but I have been considering making one threw Wordpress just for a place to post my articles and do interviews but not sure if having two websites is a wise idea. Good luck to you if you do decide to go with Wordpress.