Lately, I've been thinking about creating my own dedicated author website. I read a bit about it and checked the pages of some of the authors whose books I've read. It seems there are quite a lot of things that are somewhat obligatory when creating this kind of site.
So here are some of the things I discovered:
Bio blurb - It seems quite obvious that when people are visiting an author website they are interested in the author. So it's important to include some information about yourself. Some say that it's no place to be shy and you should "fake it till you make it". I personally feel that claiming to be the next J.K.Rowling or the best new author is a bit over the top. But saying that you are a promising new author is okay. People will also want to know how you came to writing and what inspires you which also brings us to the next point.
Blog - I've already started with that! Blogs are great tools to build your audience. It allows you to share your work before publishing or to just babble. Whatever suits you the best. I like to write about the book more but sometimes I want to share some new things I learned or something that frustrates me. In a way, your blog and its readers are your friends, so don't forget about them.
Featured project and other books - When people come to your page, it is important to get their attention. A featured project (a book you've just published or something you're still working on) is a great way to do that. Your readers want to know what you're working on and what else other than maybe the one book they actually know, you've written. As a new author, my list is quite short. I only have this one book and you can read it here free already.
Social media links - Well this one is something I'm not really happy about. Although I am a woman in her early twenties, the social media has never been my best friend. Yes, I have a facebook account. I even tried Instagram for a month until I got hacked. I had a Twitter account which was useful when I was working as a journalist/developer. But I rarely post anything. I guess I value my privacy too much to share bikini photos or pictures of my lunch. It's my food and no one else can have it :). Anyway, social media links are important so that people can have more than one way of following you. Also, you have to make it easy for other people to share your site. All in the hope of gathering an audience and so that someone somewhere might someday buy our book.
Bonus materials - Haha! I already tried that here, too. So the idea is, that you share some photos, pictures etc of things related to your work and books. I uploaded the map of Sencor a few days ago. At first, it was just for me to understand the place better but then I thought why not share it with you. This category also includes music (which I also shared), a quiz or some discount code. Anything you can come up with basically.
Newsletter signup - This option is much more likable to me than the social media one. I like getting emails, call me old-fashioned, but it's true. I've disabled the notification sounds for Messenger, slack, telegram and all other apps I've got but email still makes a little ding every time it arrives. So giving my readers an option to subscribe is something I'm happy to do. How many newsletters I'll be sending though, is quite unsure.
Contact information - another obvious one. No, you don't have to include your home address, but an email address is already better than nothing. A phone number is also good for when someone wishes to contact you about your book. Maybe they will love your site so much they've decided to become your agent.
I hope I got it all down. Anyway, now that I'm smarter about the contents of the author page I'm still confused about where to get it. I happen to be a programmer myself and looking at the existing solutions I've come to the idea that creating it myself is the best option. But my sister who is also on the road of becoming an author doesn't know much about code. So what is she supposed to do?
This made me come up with an idea that has gotten me extremely excited but I won't share it with you just yet. Patience is a virtue!
So here are some of the things I discovered:
Bio blurb - It seems quite obvious that when people are visiting an author website they are interested in the author. So it's important to include some information about yourself. Some say that it's no place to be shy and you should "fake it till you make it". I personally feel that claiming to be the next J.K.Rowling or the best new author is a bit over the top. But saying that you are a promising new author is okay. People will also want to know how you came to writing and what inspires you which also brings us to the next point.
Blog - I've already started with that! Blogs are great tools to build your audience. It allows you to share your work before publishing or to just babble. Whatever suits you the best. I like to write about the book more but sometimes I want to share some new things I learned or something that frustrates me. In a way, your blog and its readers are your friends, so don't forget about them.
Featured project and other books - When people come to your page, it is important to get their attention. A featured project (a book you've just published or something you're still working on) is a great way to do that. Your readers want to know what you're working on and what else other than maybe the one book they actually know, you've written. As a new author, my list is quite short. I only have this one book and you can read it here free already.
Social media links - Well this one is something I'm not really happy about. Although I am a woman in her early twenties, the social media has never been my best friend. Yes, I have a facebook account. I even tried Instagram for a month until I got hacked. I had a Twitter account which was useful when I was working as a journalist/developer. But I rarely post anything. I guess I value my privacy too much to share bikini photos or pictures of my lunch. It's my food and no one else can have it :). Anyway, social media links are important so that people can have more than one way of following you. Also, you have to make it easy for other people to share your site. All in the hope of gathering an audience and so that someone somewhere might someday buy our book.
Bonus materials - Haha! I already tried that here, too. So the idea is, that you share some photos, pictures etc of things related to your work and books. I uploaded the map of Sencor a few days ago. At first, it was just for me to understand the place better but then I thought why not share it with you. This category also includes music (which I also shared), a quiz or some discount code. Anything you can come up with basically.
Newsletter signup - This option is much more likable to me than the social media one. I like getting emails, call me old-fashioned, but it's true. I've disabled the notification sounds for Messenger, slack, telegram and all other apps I've got but email still makes a little ding every time it arrives. So giving my readers an option to subscribe is something I'm happy to do. How many newsletters I'll be sending though, is quite unsure.
Contact information - another obvious one. No, you don't have to include your home address, but an email address is already better than nothing. A phone number is also good for when someone wishes to contact you about your book. Maybe they will love your site so much they've decided to become your agent.
I hope I got it all down. Anyway, now that I'm smarter about the contents of the author page I'm still confused about where to get it. I happen to be a programmer myself and looking at the existing solutions I've come to the idea that creating it myself is the best option. But my sister who is also on the road of becoming an author doesn't know much about code. So what is she supposed to do?
This made me come up with an idea that has gotten me extremely excited but I won't share it with you just yet. Patience is a virtue!
Exciting post, looking forward to what you're come up with. Also really liked the comment that it's your food and you're not going to share it, made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI hope to hear more about your new idea soon, but I'm being patient. :)
Thanks for the comment! I guess I am very protective of my food :)
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