Do You Want a Website?
That’s like asking if you want to sell your book. If you want to find a publisher, an agent.
Publishers and agents want to know if you have an audience, how dedicated you are, if you have a clue about having online experience.
Do You Need a Website?
It depends. Do you want to sell your books? If that’s a yes, then yes, you need a website. Even if it’s only one page with information about your book and links to wherever your readers can purchase your book(s), read reviews, or discover where you’ll be delivering talks.
Not to mention that traditional publishers like to see how many followers you have and whether you’re working the marketing. Sometimes it takes a few self-published books before a traditional publisher sees your book, and your efforts in pushing it will help with their decision-making.
The Positives of an Author Website
Having a website makes it easier for interested readers to find you. It gives them the opportunity to find out more about you, your style, your message, and what you want that viewer to take away with them.
It’s a great way to build that email list for future newsletters and announcements. You can also use them as a mini-focus group to test book covers and plot ideas.
The Negatives of an Author Website
You are responsible for consistent posting. Not to worry. The experts claim you should post at least once or twice a month. Considering you don’t need more than a few paragraphs each time, this is a piece of cake.
There is always a learning curve to anything new. And a website confers legitimacy on you and your book.
Yeahhh, Those Posts . . .
The primary purpose of an author website is to build an audience. The readers you want to buy your books and products. And publishers like authors who post to a blog and engage with potential readers, i.e., buyers.
I remember my first thought: What am I gonna post about? I started with my kittens. I dunno. I didn’t know what to write about. The experts said “post”. Then I got to thinking about all those words that writers were confused about, misspelling, misusing . . . I could do some posts about Word Confusions, get my frustrations out.
I read. I love to read. So I got to thinking about book reviews . . . “pay” for all that extracurricular reading, and I started the Book Reviews.
That’s me.
You may want to post about the weather. The cute thing your dog did. Your whiny children. Your brilliant children . . . just don’t brag too much. Talk about the ideas which led you to write your book. What inspired you. Problems you’re having. Maybe share the recipe for a dish your character eats or makes. Have a contest. Ask for beta readers. Ask other writers if they’d like to swap editing with you. Some of those posts could end up as your own book!
Go check out Rati Mehrotra‘s website and explore how she combines chitchat with promoting her work.
Expand even more and include a calendar of where you’ll be speaking, signing books, doing a reading, anything you want people to know about where they can find you.
Just don’t share any of your actual writing, as it could show up somewhere as someone else’s “work”.
So, You Still Want a Site?
“But Where Do I Start?” You May Ask
Your first step is to secure a domain name. It’s the name / address for your website. Think Target, <https://www.target.com>; Whole Foods, <https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com>; Apple, <https://www.apple.com>; Netflix, <https://www.netflix.com/b>; Amazon, <https://www.amazon.com>, KD Did It, <https://kddidit.com>, etc.
The ideal domain name is likely to be your name. At the least register the name so it’s available if/when you want to use it. This could be your real name or your pseudonym under which you write your books.
Keep in mind that you will probably want your domain name to be easy to remember, simple to spell, and relate to what you’re offering.
You will have a choice of domain extensions: .com is the most common and people tend to automatically type .com when they’re entering an website name.
Domain registers talk about gTLDs, a “generic top-level domain” and refers to the extension at the ending of a website address, like the previously mentioned .com, as well as .org, or .net. Other popular extensions include .info, .ca, .co, .uk, .co.uk, .biz, and .com.au. And anyone can use one of these gTLDs.
There are also domain extensions for countries (explore MarcaRia.com for more. The extensions that are probably best known to Americans include .ca for Canada, .co.uk for the United Kingdom, .com.au for Australia, .de for Germany, .ru for Russia, .fr for France, .nz for New Zealand, .cn for China, and, of course, many more.
The “newer” gTLDs, which can also be called nTLDs, refer to the more than 1,000 domain extensions that were recently approved for generic use by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). These newer gTLDs include .xyz, .online, .vip and many, many more” (Explore).
Do note that many web hosts may include domain name registration for free. At least for the first year. Most of them also offer the opportunity to do a search to see if the domain name is available. You can also use places like WhoIs, <https://www.whois.com>; GoDaddy, <https://www.godaddy.com>; or, Domain.com, <https://www.domain.com>.
Next you choose a web host and sign up for one of their packages. Yep, that post is an upcoming one.
NOTE: Use your personal email address when you register your domain name. Write down where you “bought” your domain name. Write down the numbers for the DNS servers. Write down your username and password. You may also want to note when your domain name will expire. Yep, it’s a rental. You’re paying for a limited time of use, although it is in years.
What Do You Want Your Site to Do?
Think of what you may consider a primary category (or topic) that you would want on your author website. Can you think of 20 or 30 posts that explore or discuss a number of aspects of that topic? If so, it becomes a pillar page.
Create an outline and work out possible topics (go ahead and dream of the future!) and subtopics. Play with this and get ideas. You’re better off taking some time with this, as it will save you hours, even days, of fixing.
Take a look at the websites of other authors, most will have a pillar page/link titled “books”. Click that and see where that pillar page of theirs takes you. Do a search for the name of an author you like. Go explore and see how they’re doing it.
Keep in mind that SEO practices are changing. With the advent of voice on devices such as Siri, Cortana, and Alexa, keywords are becoming more about conversation and topic.
So, What’s Next?
The key is planning, planning, and more planning. I know, boring, tedious, and essential.
- Start the planning with a detailed outline of your site, all the sections, pages, housekeeping, etc., so the navigation to all the information on your site is easy for users to find
- Find a responsive template, so your desktop and mobile sites provide access to the same information
- Try for fast loading of your site on a mobile
- Incorporate good SEO practices (Read SEO background on Wikipedia)
- Provide credit whenever you refer to another person’s work or use someone else’s image
What do you do about it? Plan. Think of how you would want to use your site if you were a reader. What irritates you about sites? Lousy navigation? Hard to find the information you want? There’s no personality? Too many typos? Hey, I’m an editor; these bug me.
So, You Still Want an Author Website . . .
Good.
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which website issues are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix the . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Working Your Website posts in its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Word Confusions, and Writing Ideas and Resources.
Resources for First Steps for a Website
Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.
Rampton, John. “10 Options for Hosting Your Startup Website.” Entrepreneur.com. 12 June 2015. Accessed 9 Dec 2018. <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247119>.
“Explore the possibilities with new domain extensions..” GoDaddy.com. n.d. Accessed 20 Jan 2024. <https://www.godaddy.com/domains/gtld-domain-names>.
LaFarge, Annik. The Author Online: A Short Guide to Building Your Website, Whether You Do it Yourself (and You Can!) or You Work With Pros. Title TK Projects, 2010. <https://amzn.to/3vIDKmX>. Ebook.
Moore, Mary C. “The Author Website: Do You Need One Before Publishing?” 3 Feb 2016. Accessed 9 Dec 2018. <http://marycmoore.com/index.php/2016/02/03/the-author-website-do-you-need-one-before-publishing/>
Sterry, David Henry. “Does an Author Really Need a Website? The Book Doctors Interview Annik LaFarge on How to Be a More Effective Author Online.” Huffpost. 25 May 2011. Accessed 9 Dec 2018. <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-henry-sterry/does-an-author-really-nee_b_820562.html>
Pinterest Photo Credits
Trade Card for M.A. Harvey, Book and Printseller is courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Collection of British Trade Cards and is under the CC0 1.0 license, via Jeni Kirby History.
