Although social media has made it super easy to connect with readers and build our author brands, an author website is still a must have accessory for all authors. Most authors know this and so have claimed their little angle on the web (if you haven't add that to your to do list now).
With millions of books beginning published daily, that means that competition for clicks to your website is high. Just as we face the issue of "how do you make your book stand out from the crowd?", we also have the issue of "how do you make your website stand out from the crowd?"
Today I thought we could take a closer look at some author websites to give you an few ideas for elements to consider for your own author websites.
Under you've been in hibernation for the past couple of years you no doubt have heard of author E.L. James (hint: she wrote the Fifty Shades of Grey series). I have to say I was a little surprised by her author website. Although you get a 17+ warning before entering the site, I guess I was expecting something a little more... I don't know, maybe some handcuffs of something. The site is in fact very simple (in a good way). Well laid out and clutter free. Social media is in the forefront here too with her Twitter feed being featured on the homepage. Links to her other social media profiles are also clearly placed at the top of the screen. One thing I really liked about her site for the "Community" tab. Not only does she provide a one page stop for following the action on all her social media profiles, and another for info about events, she also has a page for fan sites. Whilst not all authors have fan sites, I liked the idea of having a special place to showcase fans. I also liked the FAQ's page.
The website of J.K. Rowling also surprised me. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it. Given the global impact of the Harry Potter series I could see why she opted for a language selection as the landing page of the website. I personally don't like having to click anything before I get to see a website but it did make me think about having language options. Unfortunately the click before you see anything didn't stop there though. Once you select your language you then get an overlay with directions about how to use the website. Big turn off. Whilst the information might be useful, it left me with a feeling that if directions for use are needed, the site needs to be improved. Could be just me but I didn't like this feature one bit. Just made me think the website would be too much hard work to navigate and, had I not been visiting for the specific purpose of writing this article, I would have left without ever seeing the actual website. I stayed but still wasn't very impressed. Although I liked the timeline idea and there were various ways to search for content, I didn't find it very user friendly.
I also visited the website of Bernard Cornwell. One thing I really liked about this website was the "Your Questions" and "Your Comments" tabs. The site was easy to navigate and interaction with the author is made easy. His Facebook page is obviously where he connects most of social media and the link is given priority placing throughout the website. He also features a YouTube video on his homepage and provides a link for more video content.
These examples are all famous authors. I picked them for that reason. As you can see though each website has pros and cons. I hope this has given you a few ideas for your own author websites. It's made me think about my own (which is www.JoLinsdell.com in case any of you fancy a visit ;)).
Feel free to share the link to your own author website in the comments section below so we can all pull together some more ideas.
Also, what are your pet peeves when visiting websites? What are the must-have features of an author website?
Get your Free ebook on creating a website "The perfect site guide" and check out Lisa Irby's website http://www.2createawebsite.com
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support through out the year and to wish you a very 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year'.
I hope you have all enjoyed reading Writers and Authors this year and that you continue to visit and comment in 2010.
See you in January!
What is Wikio?
Wikio is an information portal with a news search engine that searches press sites and blogs.
With Wikio you can very easily create pages to follow the breaking news that interests you. Our info is continuously updated!
Wikio is a participative service: you can publish an article directly on the site or comment on an existing item.
You can also vote for an article or a group that captures your interest in order to increase its visibility on the site.
Each page offers an RSS feed that allows you to subscribe to receive the information that appears there in the reader of your choice.
Wikio is a new information portal that allows you to follow online news from press sites and blogs, and also offers an extremely useful shopping tool.
By typing a keyword into the search box, you will gain immediate access to all relevant articles, videos and audio podcasts that have been published on the subject.
With Wikio Shopping, the search results will provide you with the best offers for each product, as well as press and user scores, reviews, photos and videos that we have found online.
You can sign up for free and receive all the news about any and all topics that interest you, or the most recent articles published on your favorite media sites and blogs. This news will be continuously updated on personal news pages that you can create with a few simple clicks of your mouse.
You can also contribute personally to the high-quality and comprehensive nature of Wikio news by voting for articles that interest you and boosting their positions in search results, or even publishing an article yourself.
Creating personal pages on Wikio allows you to automatically remain up to date with news on topics that you are interested in, or follow new entries published on your favourite press sites and blogs.
You can subscribe to a press site or blog by simply clicking on the “subscribe” link found next to the title of every article published on Wikio.
If you want to subscribe to news on a specific topic, you need simply perform a search on a related keyword, and click on the link “subscribe to this news” that appears at the top of the results page.
You can also create a personal page by directly clicking on the “new page” tab underneath the Wikio logo. You can then add keywords relating to your favourite subjects or those with which you wish to remain up to date. You may also simply add your favourite press sites and blogs and then follow all the new articles that they publish via your personal page.
You can, of course, create several personal pages for different areas of interest. These pages will be updated with new articles and posts on a continuous basis.
For more details visit http://www.wikio.com/
What is NouveauWriter?
NouveauWriter is an online resource for new and aspiring writers. We are a team of three writers who publish articles about writing, publishing and marketing, improving English grammar, vocabulary building, and special articles on psychology in writing. In addition, we interview authors, post contest info, and give workshops. We offer a free monthly e-newsletter, with opt-in subscription, of our latest news and that of our subscribers, some of whom have published books and articles.
We are proud members of The Write Network. (http://wwwthewritenetwork.com) NouveauWriter is also winner of the Coup de Coeur Prize at the 17th Edition 2008 Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest.
When did you start it? Why?
I launched the NouveauWriter Web site in May 2008, after having done extensive Internet research as a new and aspiring writer myself. I did not find any Canadian sites in this particular niche so I decided to start one. Often, when a writer is new to the scene of book writing, publishing and marketing, the whole process can seem overwhelming.I wanted to share with other struggling writers what I learned on my writing and publishing journey. It was also a good way to build my author platform and to promote my novel. Two other writers joined me on my venture.
What services do you offer writers?
We offer relevant content, encouragement and inspiration for writers who wish to progress with their writing and need motivation to take it to the publishing stage. We also accept submission from writers who wish to contribute articles and want a taste of online publication. We offer workshops, and we do book reviews for authors who send us their books. We also interview writers whose work meets our author interview submission guidelines.
NouveauWriter also has a monthly e-newsletter. Please tell us a bit about it and how people can sign up.
Our e-newsletter is a monthly update of any new content recently published on our site. Because writers can easily become inundated with reading material, we formulate our e-newsletter with subheadings of the various sections of our site with the respective links leading directly to it. This way our readers can quickly access the article that catches their interest.
The e-newsletter also shares news about our subscribers, such as any work that got published or projects they are working on. We have found it to be a great way to keep in touch with our readers.
Readers can sign up to the e-newsletter simply by filling in their name and email address on the small form found on the front page of our site. They will receive a confirmation email and must confirm their subscription. When we say it’s a monthly e-newsletter, we mean it. Their inbox will not get flooded weekly. Our privacy policy is not to share, pass on or sell email addresses to any third party. We have thus succeeded in building a loyal subscriber list.
Where can people find out more about NouveauWriter?
By visiting our Web site at http://www.nouveauwriter.com. We welcome comments and questions. Feel free to contact us.
Anything else you'd like to add? Thank you for offering to do a feature on NouveauWriter!
http://jadaykennedy.blogspot.com/
J. Aday Kennedy : A Writing Playground
Learn the tricks of the trade. Read interviews of children authors, children illustrators, teachers, homeschoolers and more. There are tips on writing, too. Come on in, read a while there is no telling what you can learn.
J. Aday offers great tips and advice on how to market and promote various types of books. This week 'Italian for Tourists' has been reviewed and brainstormed.
Take advantage opf this fantastic site!
Tell us a bit about Blogcritics Magazine?
Blogcritics.org is an online magazine founded in 2002 as a means for bloggers to band together to have their pop culture reviews viewed by a wider audience. It has grown to a broad-based general interest, fully edited publication with reviews, news, opinion, and interviews generated by 3000 writers and 25 editors, attracting over 150K page views per day. It was bought in Aug, 08 by Technorati.
Why is this site useful to writers?
the site provides writers wide exposure, prestige, access to review material, writing coaching, community, an author page, and google juice to their home sites
In your books section you post book reviews, who reviews these books?
a large number of our writers review books, headed up by Books Editors Gordon Hauptfleish and Natalie Bennett
How can authors get their books reviewed for the site?
send a description via email to me
What other features can be found on site?
we cover film, TV, music, books, gaming, culture and the arts, tech, Internet, politics, sports, business - just about everything! We publish about 40 articles per day. All of our stories are in magazine/newspaper form, with a self-contained beginning, middle, and end. We link out to sources like any blog, but we ask that articles not require clicking on links in order to understand the gist of the story. All stories are fully edited prior to publication.
We emphasize writer development and have had a large number of our writers gain professional writing/editing positions via their work with BC. We also have a very vigorous (and moderated) comments section, are a genuine, active online community of writers, editors, commentors, and readers
Anything else you'd like to add? I appreciate the opportunity and welcome new writers and readers!
I'm currently organising my first ever virtual tour. From 5th May until 12th May I will be hosted and interviewed on numerous websites, blogs and even internet radio. I'm going to use the tour to create more general awareness of who I am and what I do and therefore will be discussing my books, ebooks, PROMO DAY!, Writers and Authors and giving out information about myself and my writing. If anyone would like to host me for a LIVE chat or interview me, you can email me at jo_bins@yahoo.com
Virtual tours are a great way to reach a large audience on an international level. If any of you, like me, are currently organising a virtual tour please leave details in the comments section of this post. Why are you touring? Is it your first time? When? Which sites will you be visiting?
As you can see the list of links to sites for writers is growing. If you know of a good site for writers that isn't listed yet please leave a link in the comment section here and I'll update the list.
We are no longer .com and have gone back to being a .blogspot.com site. Some graphics on site may therefore not show the correct url. Sorry for any inconvenience.
