Author Websites

[queenoftheskies]

I've been considering this topic for a long time, but have never gotten around to posting it. Too many topics, not enough time, if you know what I mean. :)

Anyway...over on Quill N Ink, bachsoprano brought up the topic, and I started thinking about it again, so I decided to post about it this morning before I head on off to jury duty. (Bleh.)

How important do you think a website is to a writer?

If you're already published and you have a website, can you tell the difference your website made in your sales? Or, is that even why you have a website?

Do you feel that a website is helpful in gaining and/or keeping an agent? Or do they even look at them if they're considering your work?

If you're not published yet, do you have a website? If you don't have credits yet, what do you include on your website?

What content do you think is important to a writer's website?

What content do you think looks unprofessional on a writer's website?

Did you build your own? Or hire someone to build it for you?

Want to share your links so we can all ooooh and aaaah over your sites???

(For the record, I love looking at writers' websites and if I'm already aware you have a site, I've probably looked at it, especially if you're someone whose work I enjoy reading or someone whose LJ I follow regularly, whether you're published or not.)

Anything else? Comments? Suggestions for writers and struggling writers looking to build a site?

I'm sure I've left out important questions, but it's early and I'm still pretty wiped out from yesterday.

Comments

[wistling.livejournal.com]

I need a new author website. I used to have my free fiction links on my blog but the 'A Novel Conundrum' style has clearly eaten them. I build my own website and it's really bad right now so I better get crackin'. My sister was supposed to build me a logo but she's been slow. I'll let you have the link after I've updated it.

What I have been using my old website to do is to list the 40+ free serialized superhero short stories I've posted on the Web for eight or more years...consider it my apprenticeship period. Heck, you could probably pick random stories from the list and see how my writing has changed over the years.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

If you're a published author, a website is pretty much a given now. I know not all authors have them, but it's definitely a necessary and (relatively) cheap way of promotion. Many agents think it's important and I'm sure editors and publishers think it is too.

In terms of helpfulness, I think Miss Snark answered this one on her blog a couple weeks back. If you have a large following -- a weblog with over 1,000 unique visitors a day, for example -- it'll make a difference.

As for myself, I do have a website -- had one in various shapes and forms over the past five years -- but it's down at the moment while I get it together. I'm trying to make it more "professional (though unpublished) writer" and less "personal playground." Even if I get published, I'll still likely always build my own. Because I'm just that picky.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I made a website about two years ago and promptly forgot about it. I think I've updated it four times since then -- not even big updates. I haven't even changed the colors, which I don't like and have been planning on changing since I first put it up.

I don't have a book published, just a few short stories and a novella, and I doubt a web site would help me sell any more of those. Once I get a novel or a short story collection finished, then maybe I'll look at the site as more than just a fun project to kill an afternoon.

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

I started a website mainly so I could publish myself online -- this was before I ever started trying to be serious about getting published -- and because someone got to the .com for my name before me, and, apparently, that makes me a commodity so I snagged the .net and put up a weblog I hardly ever use. In the practically nonexistent chance I ever, ever need a web presence, I know it's there. It hasn't helped my sales at all (which, in the last three years of effort, number one).

I think the one thing a writers' site should have is content -- an example of what they've written. My plan (once I get everything retooled) is to post examples of short stories I haven't been able to sell. Apart from that, of course, for some reason writer's sites that refer to the author in the third person irk me.

If you write books, then I think you need (aside from the mandatory bibliography) some kind of reference material for your books so I (as a reader) can decide whether or not I might like it, or if it's a really involving series, get the basics of the plot arc. The site should be, in my opinion, more than just an HTML version of a bio.

Check out the SFWA members' web pages: http://www.sfwa.org/links/members_a.htm

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I think it can help--if people are curious, they can find out more about you, and your name might stay with them when they ar browzing the stacks. I think, I dunno.

But a website does need to be mantained. I know I feel a sense of disappointment if the "News!" section of someone's site hasn't been updated since 1999. I've seen people mention that same sense of disappointment.

Links to things you find cool are also a plus. I don't think super fancy graphics do anything for anyone outside of those whose whole focus is graphics and slow-loading "kewl" stuff. The written word people seem best served by easy-to-read presentation.

[slugwriter.livejournal.com]

Had one, dumped it.

Find most writer websites to be nothing more than promotional tools. Which is okay, but for me I'd like to know more about the person behind the name on the project and how they work, etc. etc. etc.

I find the process and the people behind the work much more fascinating than the finished product or the promo to get the project known. But that's just me.

[cicadabug.livejournal.com]

This is actually something I've been thinking about myself. My website is a mix of both personal stuff, art stuff, and writing stuff (as is my LJ). I'm starting to think that I really need to separate out the personal stuff from the professional stuff, make them more distinct. (In fact, doing so might become my big distraction from writing this weekend...)

So anyhow, very curious to see the other answers you get. (-:

My $.02

[eugie.livejournal.com]

I think a writers website is a good promotional tool. On my website, I list my bibliography (and links for buying the works on it), some writers resources--including a children's market listing--and promotional and networking tools like a link to my LJ. That way, readers who liked something of mine can look me up and see what else I've published, and establish a face and personality to go with the name--a better chance of remembering me, I hope. I don't post my stories on it, although there are links in my bibliography to the online places that have published me. I've made a few sales through it, not a huge number, but that's not really the reason I have it. Also, I can't imagine it was relevant at all in acquiring my agent.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I think a writer needs a website in order to give readers someplace to learn more about them. I think a writer's website should act as both a promotional tool and as a personal introduction to the writer.

Sure, I've only sold three short stories and one novella, but I am able to give out my website URL with my sales, so having a website might allow someone who has read one of my stories to find the others, if they want to. They can also find links to my LJ, the Conventions I'm appearing at and to other writer buddies, so in that regard, my website is a promotional tool.

On the other hand, I also posted a short bio, an essay about my vision loss, and an essay about how my cat became ordained. I personally like to see those kinds of personal touches on a writer's webpage; it gives me a sense of connection to the writer, and shows me that they are people just like me. A lot of readers enjoy the normal day-to-day stuff. That's why the blogs of writers are popular. I know that's one of the reasons I read the blogs of so many fellow writers: I want to know them as people, and LJ helps.

As for web traffic, at this point in my career, I think more people find my website through my LJ than the other way around.

Just thoughts
Michael

[jediknightmuse.livejournal.com]

I'm not published, but the only web site I have is the one I'm slowly working on, which can be found here (http://awritersfantasy.cjb.net) (watch out for any nasty pop ups- it's an Angelfire site). I've been curious about seeing if my parents would let me get a domain, but the thing is that I only know basic HTML. I plan on taking a class next semester for web design, so I'm hoping that we'll actually get to make a web site and have our own site through the school rather than just through some program and never actually put it up on the site. The web site would have what the one I made now has, basically. Stuff about myself, my writing...I'd definitely have examples. I made Fantasy Chronicles (http://s13.invisionfree.com/Fantasy_Chronicles) as part of the web site and to have it for general discussion, but I'd definitely keep that, or just use a message board that I'd pay for and move everythng there. I dunno. I need to take the class and see how I do in that.

I'd love to get a domain before taking the class, but I have no idea if you NEED to have coding skills in order to have one. I have a Mac computer, so I don't have Frontpage to use for playing around with stuff. Does anyone know what the deal is when you get a domain, or does it really depend on the domain you're using? If it's a set up like Geocities, I could deal with it, but if it's strictly coding, I'd have to wait. :|

I think author web sites are really helpful, because you get to know more about the author than through their biography in their book, especially if they're the one updating the web site like J.K. Rowling does, and I think Juliet Marillier does her web site, too.

[vincam.livejournal.com]

I have several different sites, for slightly different purposes but linked together in certain ways.

http://www.sff.net/people/ardian/
http://www.dm.net/~julianne-lee/
http://www.julianneardianlee.com/
http://www.sff.net/people/ardian/gardner/gardner.html

The first one is for the work I wrote as J. Ardian Lee, The second one is a personal site with biography, old work and links to recommended reading. The third one will be to promote the stuff that I'm doing under my gender-specific byline. The fourth is a sub-site for the work-for-hire I did under a house pseudonym, linked to my personal site. I've had the first one for several years, and find it a good tool for connecting with readers. There are mailto links so visitors can email me, a guest book, and things like reports of my research trips to Scotland, maps of the fictional glen in those books, and a Gaelic glossary that many readers say is helpful to them. I use the space also to announce personal appearances and upcoming books, which may or may not be particularly helpful to sales but I figure it can't hurt. Except for the domain name julianneardianlee.com and the web hosting charges, the server spaces I use are mostly freebies that come with my ISPs, and I do my own designing and coding, so the cost is negligible. Less than $20 a month for all three sites together.

[roseyniswitrin.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed reading the discussion so far, and I've also been perusing the websites people have posted. I have a website set up, but right now, it's basically a page holder until my friend can finish making the pages that will showcase my work better. What I have now is just plain boring, but you're welcome to take a look at it:

www.vandeneynden.biz

Because my nonfiction book is tied so closely to my mediumship work, my website will feature information on mediumship and other esoteric studies. I hope to have a place to sign up for a newsletter so people can know about special events I'm doing, and I'd also like to feature some other nonfiction articles I've written there.

As for my fiction...well, when that takes off, I'll include more about it. I will have a list there of my writing, including a link to the one story I've published online.

I don't know how much a website really helps an author, but I think it's a good resource to have in this day and age. I need to learn more about technology, however, so that I can update my own when I need to!

[arkiewriter.livejournal.com]

How important do you think a website is to a writer?

In today's burgeoning internet-dependant world, I don't think any author can really go without a website, especially one who is publishing books (as opposed to short stories). The more interactive the site seems to be (between author and visitor), the better. I think readers feel like they "know" the author better that way.

One side note: with the charity anthologies, we have been able to get word out to a wider range of people by having a website up, particularly one that is updated regularly so that folks have something to look for if they return for another visit.

If you're already published and you have a website, can you tell the difference your website made in your sales? Or, is that even why you have a website?

My only publication credit is a short story, so right now, my bibliography is short and slim. Obviously my website is more of a personal endeavor than an author's site at the moment, so it reflects personal hobbies - my reading lists, writing log, health info important to me, etc.

Do you feel that a website is helpful in gaining and/or keeping an agent? Or do they even look at them if they're considering your work?

Probably not at issue with an agent, although I'd be interested if someone knows otherwise. The only perk I'd see would be that they could laud an author as someone likely to interact with readers and help publicize their work.

What content do you think is important to a writer's website?

If possible, for novels - sample chapters. I added an author to my reading list because I was able to preview her books via her website. Information about book settings (especially for fantasy novels), author bio, bibliography, research/writer tips links page, a guestbook and/or mailform, and a blog/journal. If an author wants a lot of interaction with his/her readers and can afford the potential bandwidth issues, I'd also recommend a forum.

What content do you think looks unprofessional on a writer's website?

Any "dirty laundry" from the author's personal life.

Did you build your own? Or hire someone to build it for you?

I build my own.

Want to share your links so we can all ooooh and aaaah over your sites???

http://www.indigorage.com/ < - Personal site, with some writing subpages
http://www.indigorage.com/anthologies/ < - Example of how a "blog" can be used to run an entire site

Author Sites That "Work"
http://www.annebishop.com/
http://www.charlaineharris.com/
http://www.hollylisle.com/
http://www.hipiers.com/
http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/
http://www.neilgaiman.com/

Recommendations
1. Get your own domain name. It can follow you everywhere, even if your host folds under. These are cheap - $15 for a year via Dotster. It can even be set up to "hide" a freehost or ISP host's domain name when it redirects to that site.
2. If you don't want to learn HTML, PHP, etc, use a content management package or blog software capable of running your entire site. One installation, some tweaking of design, and bam! You're running it without having to resort to a webmaster.
3. Hosting's cheap. Splurge a bit. ;-)

[wistling.livejournal.com]

OK, my bare-bones author's website is now updated. http://www.eyrie.org/~pi (http://www.eyrie.org/~pi). I will add more if I sell more stories...

[susanwrites.livejournal.com]

A writer needs a website. Period. It's great to help get your name known, a place to showcase pieces, if you want, a place to direct folks that want to hire you for more information. My press kit is basically online. My brochure. Since I write for kids I have stuff for kids but since I love to teach writing I have stuff about that. It's a place to showcase my books and things about my books that my publisher won't have the time or inclination to do. My new picture book has a teaching guide and a neat promo opportunity to have the charcter in the book visit a school. My website is perfect for passing that sort of information along.

A website augments other publicity activities and gives a central "meeting place" so to speak for all the info about me. And by using my name as my domain, it helps with branding.

As for agents, I've heard some Google potential authors to find out more about them. For me I upload things to a hidden spot on my site to share with my agent or future editors.

Please don't use blinking lights and sound that can't be turned off - very unprofessional. If you don't know how to code, hire someone. How to find someone? When you see a site you like, page down to the bottom and find out who did it. I do websites at my dayjob and have done several of my sites in the past but for the last go around I hired someone. Before I did I checked out a ton of sites.

As for sharing, I love oohing and ahhing so please come see me at
http://www.susantaylorbrown.com