I'm considering hosting a Wordpress blog on Amazon Web Services, pointing the MySQL database to it's own server and adding Autoscaling. Which is probably completely overboard. What's a simpler way? I want something that scales nicely, in case I get picked up in social bookmarking sites.
You should host your blog on a web hosting company, i have DreamHost invitations that you can save $100 for a two years plan.
I always recommend Hostgator to my clients. I have built more than 100's of wordpress sites for them and didn't had any problem at all. One of the best thing about hostgator is their Live chat support. They are always available for what ever issues you have with their service. I have tried other providers like bluehost, mediatemple, hostmonster and the likes but for me, hostgator is still the best choice. Hope it helps. =)