Author Websites

How important are author websites?  They are incredibly important!!!

I am speaking directly to authors here - You have spent an incredible amount of time, energy, blood, sweat, and quite possibly buckets full of tears, all to create your manuscript.  And if you earn the golden ticket of publication, you then need to give a little attention to an online presence.  I am not saying you need to blog daily, nor do you need to join every single group or new social media widget out there...  but you have to, at the very least, have an updated website.  Why?

Because if you have written something that is worthy of publication, you will have readers out there who fall in love with the words you have put on the page.  And when we, as readers, fall in love with a book or a character, we seek out more information!  I want a little more info on you, the author.  I want to read about what made you write and if you are writing more.  If I can find you, and learn more about you, the more likely I am going to remember who you are and that bodes well for future books.

Ok, ok...  maybe I am preaching to the choir...  you know this...  but do you have a kick-butt website?  Is it updated and fresh looking?  Or is it the same style or format that it has been for years?  Is it too dark?  Funky fonts? Does it look like this?  It's ok to build your own if you know how.  But if you could get a website built for free, would you go for it?

You would?  Well, let me introduce you to Midnight Inker Cricket McRae...  who happens to be doing a giveaway...

The prize is a free, custom-designed Author Website from Bizango Websites for Writers, plus two years of free hosting. The website comes with a set of easy-to-use tools that enable the author to update it themselves. It's value is well over a thousand dollars.

Check out Cricket's blog for the details.  This is a great deal for both established authors and authors who hope to be published soon...  I know I have followers that fit in both critera, so check it out.  :)  And best of luck!!

What’s in a website? Would that with which an author advertises smell as sweet in any other format?

Yes, I’m updating my website. It’s not something I like to spend money on, and the promotional part of this writing business has never fit me well, but it’s time. If you visit Wayback Machine, you will discover that my first website (2006) looked like this:

No, that’s not Dorothy Hamill, and yes, I tried to make my website mirror Carl Hiaasen’s (he’s since updated his). I figured, at the time, that it was the “funny author” prototype website. Probably you’re thinking that’s odd because it has a leafy morgue feel, overall. A leafy morgue with Dorothy Hamill as the mortician. Don’t judge me.

Looking for something brighter, I updated to this website in 2007:

I take full credit (blame) for the above layout. I wanted a strong feminist feel (note the “woman” symbol as page divider), and I also wanted to convey that I intended to write across genres (the feminist stick lady wears a different hat on every page; I know--subtle like an axe). Seven mystery novels later, I chalk up my cross-genre dreams to the same delusional tendency that has me hang on to those size 5 Levis that will fit if I ever find a time machine or am lucky enough to lick a tapeworm.

Last year, in honor of my first three novels being reissued with new covers, I had my boyfriend, who is a wonderful graphic designer (but, it turns out, allergic to Dreamweaver), create this site, my third update:

I love his design. However, because the web software ended up handing him his own ass (let the records indicate that he fought the good fight), the site is really just a bunch of photos of pages rather than a true website. That means I can’t update ANYTHING, from my author info to my books to my events page. Bring on Beth Tindall, website designer extraordinaire, mystery fan, and Most Reasonable Woman I Know. She’s going to work with Steve to make me an uber-site, completely focused on the Murder-by-Month series, and dynamic. The new site’s go live date is March 1.

Which brings me to my question for you: what IS in a website? In other words, what do you like about the websites you like? What brings you back? What’s your favorite feature on your site (include a link so we can see what you mean) or what author site is your favorite (also include a link)? Join the conversation, and help me! Please. You see what I’m capable of when left to my own devices. Without your help, this could be my future: