It seems strange that in 2011, nearly 2012, we have to give advice to authors on how to manage their websites. I think authors get worried about how to tackle the huge ordeal that is their website and become paralyzed by the idea of the time or cost involved. When I am looking at an author’s website, I am going there for two reasons.

1. I just finished a book of yours and want to see what else I can buy.
2. I heard about you from a friend and want to know more about your books.

In sum, readers search out an author’s website because we want more information about your books. You have to make it easy for readers to find the information that they are seeking. This means no gimmicky names for sections of your website. Authors might think it is cute, but readers are just confused. Never, ever confuse the reader.
The primary things that an author’s website must contain is:

1. What book is currently released. This is your latest release.
2. What is your backlist.
3. What is coming next.

The above three piece of information fulfill the needs of the reader who just finished your book or heard about you and wants to know more about your books.

1. Current Release

This information should be on the home page of your website. The current release page should contain a cover, buy links, blurb, and link to an excerpt if not just the excerpt in its entirety. Note the word current. This means up to date. Timely. Your latest release.

Additional items: Explanation of how this current release fits in with other books you have written. Character bios for the main characters. Setting description. Links to inspiration pieces.

2. Backlist

This information should be included via a link on your home page. It should be named either “backlist” or “books” and not “hidden gems”. When you shop at retailers, all the link names are the same even at precious sites like Anthropologie, the shoes section is “shoes” not “sole sensation” or something like that.

The backlist should be organized in two ways. First, there should be a date ordered listing of your backlist. Second, there should be a series listing of your backlist. Please include any anthologies in the series. The series should be numbered.

The backlist should be printable for non digital readers. For digital readers consider creating a downloadable CSV file or Excel spreadsheet with Title, Author, ISBN, pub date, and series name and number.

One piece of advice I’ve seen given to authors is that their sites should contain no redundancy. I think this is entirely wrong. Readers will find information differently and thus you should present your information in as many ways as possible to serve the different readers. Thus the reader might encounter “reading list” in several different places throughout your site. This is OKAY. Better to be redundant than to leave a reader confused and uniformed.

Additional items: A QR code that would email a file of all your backlist titles to the requesting user.

3. Coming Soon/Next.

This is the biggest flaw I see on author’s websites. There is no coming soon or coming next page. If a reader goes to an author’s website and she has just finished the author’s latest book, she wants to know what is next. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a contract for your next book. You should have a page that says “I’m working on Hero #4 book next” or “Book 3 in the series is a work in progress.” This way we readers know that we should still remember your name. You aren’t going to disappear off the planet.

Other Content

Contact page. I know that some authors do not want to be contacted in any fashion and choose not to leave their email on their website but I really think that every author needs a “Contact Form”. Have your critique partner or best friend or daughter filter these out for you if you can’t handle the reader email but have some way for someone to contact you.

Frequently Asked Questions.
Do you get the same questions over and over from readers? Compile a FAQ.

The Story So Far.
I love The Story So Far feature on Meljean Brook’s website. She has two ongoing series, one that is quite lengthy. The Story So Far gives a brief summary of each book and thus no matter where a reader starts in the series, she can read “The Story So Far” and get caught up. Yes, I realize that “The Story So Far” contains spoilers but I think that, on balance, it is better to provide spoilers so that readers can feel they can jump into the series at any point rather than intimidating readers from even starting the series because it is too long.

Character Connections.
In books that are connected, it is nice to see a list of what characters show up in the different books. Laura Griffin has Character Sketchesthat give a brief bio for each character, the book where they first appeared, and the book in which they are featured.

Items Your Website Should NOT Include

Absolutely no autoplay of sound. The majority of readers are going to visit your website during the day, probably at work. Do you want them to get in trouble with their boss or co workers? Do you want them to never visit your site? If the answer to those questions are in the negative then, do NOT have autoplay on your website. Repeat this ten times.

Do not use FLASH. Oh, I know. Flash is pretty and sparkly and wonderful but frankly I think the only people that love flash on an author’s website is the author and her mom. Flash slows down the time in which it takes for a website to load. Flash does not work on the over 100 million iPhones, iTouches, iPads on the market. Everything you want to do in Flash can probably be done with HTML5 or CSS. Want something fancy? Pay for an animated gif. Look at the animated cover that Mills and Boon did for Michele Hauf, Alexis Morgan, Caridad Pineiro and Laurie London. It’s a gif, if you are wondering.

Do not use a blog as your website. This is not the same thing as saying “don’t use blogging software as your website” because you absolutely can use free blogging software for an author site like WordPress or Blogger. The key is making sure that the above three components- Current Release, Backlist, Coming Soon- are stationary links on every page of your blog. If your only mode of contact with the internet world is with a blog that puts the new content first, how do you expect readers to find information about older titles? Do not make them hunt and search for that information.

Do not use dark text on black background. It is very hard to read. Even vampires would appreciate more contrast, after all they love the red with the black look.

Do not be afraid of whitespace. White space is the white or not text/graphic space between words and graphics. White space assists with readability.

In sum, every element of a website should answer these questions:

• Is it providing my readers with valuable information?
• Is the information easy to find?
• Will this information aid the reader in buying my books?

If these answers aren’t in the affirmative, then rethink. Commenters, what else have you got? Good examples, bad examples?

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Easy Access Websites for Authors
2. Top 10 Peeves from Booksellers and Readers about Author Websites
3. What Every Author’s Website Should Contain

USA TODAY’s Best Selling Books list ranks titles regardless of format. If, for example, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice sells copies in hardcover, paperback and e-book during a particular week, we combine sales from each format. In our list, following a title’s description, we note which format recorded the most sales that week and the price of the book in that format.

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New poll question.   Susanna Fraser debuted her new website today and a number of people thought it was awesome.   and funny.   and I? was confused by the praise.   I thought it was hard to read with the big blocky text and given that the voice of the site appeared to be her husband’s, I wasn’t sure what the site was telling me about the book other than her husband wants us to buy the book so he doesn’t have to design her websites anymore.   I am curious if the site motivates you to buy the book.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

As an aside, Sunita enjoyed Fraser’s review and will have a review of the book next week.   As one person noted, it’s a publicity trick, at least, and we are all talking about it, right?   I wonder if there is a divide between author and reader as it seemed like the people who liked the site were primarily authors.

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Gizmodo says that Google will release a Verizon connected Android tablet on Black Friday that will be highly subsidized.   Google Editions is supposed to launch in the fall (they said earlier this year they were going to launch in the summer).   Also, independents are embracing Google Editions because it will save independent bookstores somehow.

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The Guardian looks at book recommendations gone awry which reminded me of Holly’s unhappiness with my recommendation of An Heir for the Millionaire.   I admit that it is much harder to give a good grade than a bad grade because I fully recognize people may be forking out their hard earned money for a book I’ve recommended.   I apologize in advance to all readers who have been burned by my recommendations!   But I enjoy the debate about the book and love to hear comments, good or bad, on books we’ve blogged.

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I explain how we pick the winners for our giveaways in the Mockingjay announcement.

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While I enjoy my Kindle, I know that others out there are enjoying their ebook devices.   This is a nice rundown of the good and bad points of the Kobo by a previous Kindle owner.

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Kristen Nelson pointed out that Macmillan is sending out letters to authors asking them to sign a contract that would authorize Macmillan to publish their digital backlist.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
2. Wednesday Midday Links: Authors Releasing Backlist Titles in Digital
3. Wednesday Midday Links: BN Is All About the EBook

Miki, one of our fearless ebook readers, has been tirelessly emailing everyone at Simon & Schuster including the CEO, regarding the high price of the Simon & Schuster ebooks. Recently she got a response indicating the following:

Going forward, all eBook prices will mirror the price of the most recently available print edition. Therefore, if the paperback is $6.99, the suggested retail price of the eBook will also be $6.99 (Please note that it might take some time for these changes to actually go into effect at the retailers).

Way to go, Miki!

Mokoto Rich of the NYTimes wrote that piracy for ebooks is increasing (login required). Harlan Ellison will sue you into oblivion if he can whereas Cory Doctorow worries more about obscurity than piracy. Vromans riffs off of Booksquare’s answer to the solution which is to make the entire digital experience better when you buy than when you steal. This is so true. I’m fairly technologically literate but when it comes to ebooks, even I get frustrated. This PW article discusses, briefly, some of the challenges publishers are facing when it comes to pricing (this is totally self inflicted in my opinion).

Penguin publicist articulates the reasons why have a prepublication presence is so important. (Why is this even a question anymore? According to the Make Information Pay seminar, 5.3% of sales are made from awareness raised by an author’s website). Speaking of online presence for authors, Estatic Days has some PR tips for authors. Authenticity, credibility are so important.

Related posts:

1. Tuesday Night of Heaving Bosoms
2. April Fool’s Day Links Roundup
3. Simon & Schuster to Cut Promotional Offerings and Ebook Royalties

But whatever your tastes in website designs are, it makes no sense to publicly criticize an author for leaving you. It’s bad for business and tacky.

I think that there are some schools of thought that because these are sites for authors who are artists, then the site should reflect their vision. I think sites are for readers and should cater to their preferences. Teddy Pig wrote an article on site design for epublishers and I think the comments at the Smart Bitches site are also instructive of what readers are looking for.

Related posts:

1. TOR & Forge Books Announce Relaunch of its Website
2. The Importance of Easy Access Websites for Authors
3. Perseus Hopes to Gain from PGW’s Loss

I know that the change in look and feel here at Dear Author is the subject of some controversy. I can promise we will be addressing quite a few of the complaints (font size, glaring red color, lack of elegance), but much of the re-design is here to stay because of one important reason and that is the site loads about 3 times as fast as it did before. For some people, that is a meaningful change. As whey noted yesterday, a website’s content is the most important feature. If people are clicking away before the content loads, then the best content on the web won’t matter because those visitors will never have read it.

According to some sources, a site begins to lose visitors if it does not load within 7 seconds. Other surveys claim that after 8 seconds, 1/3 of visitors will click away. If the author is new, what is compelling to keep a reader waiting until the site loads?

In looking at other sites for inspiration, I noticed that many, many authors websites are inefficient. I know that I’ve written about this before as did a bookseller friend of mine. However, many authors seem to be either unaware of the un-useability of their sites or willfully tied to the bells and whistles to the detriment of the readers.

I remember trying to navigate Julie Garwood’s site in hot anticipation of Shadow Music. First, it took over 30 seconds to load her website. Second, the moving background actually made me seasick. Third, there were links that did not function correctly (i.e., the FAQ link took me to an excerpt of Shadow Music that was not scrollable even though it was clear that the content was abnormally truncated).

I’ve never understood the sites that contain noise. Looking at my own stats, most of the visitors come during working hours. I know that music playing on a site such as at Christina Dodd’s (warning link has music) prevents me from visiting her website during the day and at work because I cannot have sound at work, particularly the sound that plays on her website.

Rachel Caine’s website is interesting. I can’t figure out if I like the chaotic layout or not, but one thing I do know is that I find it hard to read the content because of the watermark in the background. I gave up reading the excerpt for her latest release because the watermark was distracting.

The biggest complaint I have with author’s sites is that so many sites contain little to no information about the next book. Most of the time I go out and seek an author’s website is because I’ve read their book and want to know what is next. Not being able to find exactly what the next book is and when the next book is being released and what it is about is frustrating and reduces my ability to stalk the author!

I know that Dear Author’s design isn’t what everyone would like it to be but it was re-designed with the idea of making it faster to load and easier to find the content (i.e., the tabs/menu bar across the top provide near instant access to a host of information). I wish that authors would think more about the readers’ needs and less about the cutesiness of their sites.

Oh, and I really, really wish Joanna Bourne would get a website in addition to her blog (that’s infrequently updated and contains virtually no information about the next book). I don’t think that a blog can supplant a website. From this reader’s point of view, I would much rather access a website (that is regularly updated with the author’s publishing schedule) than a regularly updated blog. It is too difficult for me to decipher, through the dozens of blog posts, what the next book is; what the backlist is; where the books can be purchased and so forth.

Karen Rose has a website I love. She has a picture of herself on the first page and I really like that. She has easy to navigate left hand menus with normal and easily understandable labels. I know that the tab “Karen’s Books” must contain information about her books. And it does! She has “New Releases“, “Coming Soon“, “Books in Print“, “Printable Booklist“, and, one of my favorite features “Book Relationships” that provides a visual diagram of the what books are related to each other and then a textual explanation of the characters interrelationships to those books.

Alison Kent‘s bookshelf link provides “Coming Soon“, “Available Now“, and “Backlist” all on one easy to find page.

Connie Brockway‘s site has an easy to follow left hand menu containing quick links to her latest books and my favorite “work in progress.” While this is not updated right now (since the “Latest Release” is Skinny Dipping and not Hot Dish), it does feature a really neat interactive feature of the cover of Skinny Dipping.

Two sites that I think combine beautiful design with functionality would be Kathryn Smith’s site and Elizabeth Hoyt’s. Smith’s site is one of the most beautiful author websites that I have visited. The design is lovely and fits her books well. I wish she had a “work in progress” link but otherwise, Smith’s site is one of my favorite because of the look and feel.

In today’s web oriented world, it makes sense for the website of an author to be the best marketing tool possible. I suppose that authors view themselves as artists and therefore readers should be willing to wait for the vision of the author to load. I am more practical. The art is the book and you have to sell me on buying the book first. A good website can help do that. A slow loading, confusing website will have me clicking away.

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Peeves from Booksellers and Readers about Author Websites
2. Katherine Stone Opens Review Site Run by Authors
3. Authors Paying for Chatty Readers

Readers want to buy your books; booksellers want to sell your books. Even though this article is all about the peeves, it’s really about how to help authors get connected to readers. The only way to do that is have a fabulous website where readers and booksellers can find the answers for which they can use in order to buy more books!

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#1 – Series links are not easily identifiable.   This should be its own special link on the home page!
When readers find a book they like, they want everything they can get their hands on!!! Whether it’s more in that series or another series you may have!

Booksellers want to stock your series, have all the books on hand. 9 times out of 10 a reader will buy all the books in the series, if a bookstore has them. While booksellers are a smart bunch, we can’t know ALL the books that are interconnected! Like the reader, we’ll go to the author’s website for the information.

# 2   Printable booklist – This makes it so easy for the reader to print and take to the bookstore! And makes it even easier for the bookseller!
The list should have all your books listed on one page, series in chronological order and separated, ISBNs, dates!! Prices and publishers optional but it can’t hurt to have that information too!!
I say printable because, when you print it, all the information should be there and not cut off the page. Everyone’s computer is different so making the list simple and easy is best!
Here are some great examples:

• I LOVE Meljean’s – it has everything!!
• Nora’s is great too – Including the anthologies!!! This is especially important to the JD Robb – In Death series, those short stories about Eve and Rourke are what keep us happy in between!!
• Susan Grant’s Printable Book List”I know how difficult it is sometimes to find where a book fits within a series or even if it belongs to one. For your convenience, here is a list of all of my books on a page with no graphics and text in black (with the series the book belongs to and the reading order in parentheses) easily printed for reference. Happy reading!

I couldn’t have said it better!! Thank you Susan!!

#3 A contact the author link should be visible on the home page - it’s the easiest way for us to tell you how great your books are!
Romance readers love to tell you how much they liked your book! They love that connection to a book and its author as well! So do booksellers for that matter. I’m often telling authors how wonderful they are! Psst, here’s another secret –" I may even tell you special tid-bits! Like how you book is doing in our stores or if we’ve got your book placed in special locations, or your book is selected for our promotions!

#4 The most recent book should be featured on front page with sequel links, etc.
Again, it’s all about a reader getting the most out of your website! If we know the information is at our fingertips – that’s the first place we’ll go!

#5 – Everywhere there is a book mentioned, there should be a 13 digit ISBN . . .
The easiest way to locate a book online and in a bookstore is through this handy number. When used, it’s THAT specific book found very quick and easy!! Readers would rather be reading the book than spending too much time looking for it!

#6 – Coming soon should be on the first page as well. And update it often . . . it’s what keeps us coming back!!!
We’ve just finished your latest book and already we’re looking for more! And we want to go directly to the source – YOU! So what’s next???

#7 – Don’t make us work to buy/sell your books! Keep things simple . . .
The easier it is, the quicker it is, the more time we have to read and sell more!! Make the links easy, don’t hyphenate ISBNs, etc.

#8 – Who would you compare your stories to?
Ex: If you like sexy historicals by Sabrina Jeffries, you’ll love my new book. . .
Or compare it to another medium, if you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’ll love my new paranormal series. . . We may not always agree, but in the end, it gives us a direction and a place of reference to start.

#9 – Let me know future books in a series . . . dates if you have them or general concepts and plans are great too!
Again, when we readers and booksellers find something we love – we want more!!! And if we have to wait for another book, that’s okay, but give us the lowdown about who, what, when, where – please any information!!!

#10 – Toot your horn — let us know of all the awards you’ve won, etc.
I know there was recent debate on this site about this, but what it comes down to is – you’ve been chosen, over others. Readers and booksellers are interested, especially when we’re looking for a new author, new book. And let’s face it, we ALWAYS are!!

This is more importantly the case when sending out promos to booksellers, if we haven’t had the chance to read your book – at least we know SOMEONE did – and LIKED it enough to give it an award!!!

Oops, yeah, promos to booksellers – that’ll have to keep for another time . . . this is about websites!!

Honestly, what it comes down to for a great website is info, info and more info. If readers and booksellers are getting what they need from your website, readers can get in and out of the bookstore that much quicker, will buy MORE and have more time to read great books!!! And in the end, that’s what we all want!

Most Important!! BGI – bordersstores.com and waldenbooks.com should be linked on everyone’s site — they are the leaders in Romance :)
Oh yeah, you all know I work for one of the chains, so I’m outing myself! We are the industry leader for selling romance. Soon to be the leader of online sales as well!! We have the romance top picks flyer that has over 20 titles with $1 off; a free rewards card; and soon we’ll have our own online retail presence.

Related posts:

1. Dear Author’s RWA Report: Jolie, the Intrepid Bookseller
2. NYT Bestselling Author Lisa Kleypas Reaches Out to Touch Her Readers
3. Blogland Is Alive with the Sound of Readers

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: The Dream-Maker’s Magic by Sharon Shinn
2. An Interview with Sharon Shinn
3. REVIEW: Angelica by Sharon Shinn

Today, I received a notice that it has a brand spanking new website: Tor-Forge.com. It has the all important NEW RELEASE section. It loads superfast. It avails itself of some of the latest web technology (Ajax). It’s got a great clean design where the focus is on the book covers. Each book page that I visited included an excerpt! Congratulations, Tor, welcome to the 21st C.

Related posts:

1. What Every Author’s Website Should Contain
2. Peter Watts’ Saga of Selling Books: Will Trying Something New Work?
3. Selling Books by … not Selling Books

Related posts:

1. What Every Author’s Website Should Contain
2. Dear Author’s RWA Report: Jolie, the Intrepid Bookseller
3. Forbes Special Report on Books

Source: Alexis.com

Related posts:

1. Miss Snark Gives Publishing Advice to Anne Stuart
2. ContentLinkInc to Close Its E-Doors
3. Microsoft’s Answer to Google Book Search

This past week readers have been talking websites and how we really like them. Author websites provide us with information on what is next, what you’ve written in the past and whether we will like your books if you are new to us. Essentially, they are an online sales brochure which help convince eager readers to buy, buy, buy.

During the Nalini Singh viral blogging experiment, I visited alot of blogs. I visited the blogs that linked here and then I would visit sites that were linked to the blog I visited. I’ve visited websites of virtually every author I’ve read and every author that I am somewhat interested in. Let me say that like the writing, the quality of the website/blog varies a great deal from very amateurish to very professional. I’ve seen very good websites for bad authors and very bad websites for good authors.

Some authors, like Sylvia Day, are dismissive of the need for an online presence.

Right now, yes, because so few romance readers are online. The majority of them don’t participate in the online romance community.

It is true that the number of readers who post, blog, buy at Amazon are a small percentage of overall readership. However, to ignore the internet’s ability to create consumer recognition and assist in creating the authorial brand is shortsighted. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project report in November of 2005, 2/3 of American adults are online. This translates into about 137 million people. Certain groups lag behind such as those 65 and older. Parsed out into more discrete segments and the numbers are more telling.

Online by age

• 26% of Americans age 65 and older
• 67% of those age 50-64
• 80% of those age 30-49
• 84% of those age 18-29

Online by education

• 29% of those who have not graduated from high school have access
• 61% of high school graduates
• 89% of college graduate

88% of those online use it on a DAILY basis.

What are the demographics of the romance buying public?

• 70% are 64 and under
• 66% have some post secondary education

How many books do you need to sell in the space of a week to make it on the bestseller list? Tess Gerritsen blogged that it took around 21,000 copies to make number 12 for the hardcover release of Body Double. According to Book Standard, Nora Roberts’ Dream Makers, which was a reprint of Untamed and Less of A Stranger, debuted a No.5 and sold 21,000 copies according to Nielson ratings. Are there 21,000 readers online? You bet. Doing the math, failure to have an internet presence, particularly for a new or unestablished author, seems, well, you can insert your own adjective.

Sarah McCarty posted

Personally, I have yet to meet an editor or publicist that hasn’t felt a strong web presence isn’t vital for an author. Word of mouth is still the best selling tool for an author and there’s no better place for getting that going than the internet.

When I first started out in business, the casual dress philosophy was sweeping white collar industries. Khakis, open toed shoes, bare legs under skirts all began appearing. One of my mentors who never gave in to the casual dress mantra told me something I would never forget. You dress for the position you want, not the one you have. So authors, I tell you that you should dress your website for the position on the bestseller lists that you want, not the one that you have.

You want to be a New York Times bestselling author like Nora Roberts? Christine Feehan? Debbie Macomber? Lori Foster? Have you been to those websites? Do they look professional to you or do they look like something a third grader put together in computer arts class? If you look professional and successful, people who visit your website will think you are professional and successful and that your books are good. If you look sloppy and childish, people who visit your website will think you are sloppy and childish and that your writing is too. Please, though, do not use Suzanne Brockmann, as a template. Hers would fall under one of the worst designed websites.

As as time marches forward, will the internet have a stronger influence on sales or less? Besides Linda Howard, name one big name romance author who does not have a website. If the web is so unimportant, I would think the website would be the first thing to go. Or do those Bestselling authors know something?

Here’s a list of five things every author website must have within 1 click.

1. Booklist, both with covers and a printable list
2. Where to buy the books (especially important for OOP or ebook authors)
3. What’s Next (even if you haven’t sold anything, tell us what you would like to see in print soon)
4. Bio
5. Contact (only if you are going to reply)

Step Two

1. Excerpts
2. Behind the scenes stuff
   1. Music that inspired you
   2. Extra stories, unless of course you are charging for those extra stories. I think that my love for Kelley Armstrong grew to unreasonable proportion when she offered her online novellas which gave the Bitten story from Clay’s POV.

Step Three

1. Blog
2. Message Board. Even though these types of things may foster the crazy fangirls, I don’t think you can discount their power in creating a loyal fan base.

If you do not have a website under your own name such as Jane Author.com, you are not professional. It costs $6.00 or less to reserve your website name and less than $100 per year to host a website. If you can’t afford to spend that money on promoting your writing you must not be serious about your career. I don’t think it is sufficient to have a blog because blogs rarely give me the information I need in an immediate fashion. There are many, many, many blogs that do not tell the reader what books you write and where to buy them. For example, there is a regency writer who has a blog presence and I went to her blog to find out what she wrote. I spent 5 minutes there, clicking around trying to find the name of her book. It was nowhere to be found on her blog. I finally figured out her name, googled her and found the information but why make it so hard on a reader?

If you don’t reserve the name now, some squatter might buy your name and hold it hostage for some ridiculous sum of money which is what I assume is happening with Janet Evanovich. Having your own website name also helps to ensure that your website is the first one that shows up in google and not some other website that may have a negative review of your book.

What I hate:

• Starry backgrounds. Please enough with the freaking starry backgrounds. First, it is hard to read. Second, it just screams of unprofessionalism. Unless, of course, your entire series of books relies on stars or is somehow related to starry backgrounds.
• Too cute stuff like hearts and flowers? Not unless you are a flower shop. Cough and gag
• Graphic intensive. Many people still are on dialup. Do you know how long it takes for your website to load for a reader on dialup? If it takes more than 10 seconds or so, I am moving on.
• Mazelike interface. I don’t like to have to go to more than two links to find out the information I need. Please don’t direct me to some special site made for your characters just so I can find out book info. It’s more than irritating, it’s rude.

To those readers who are online (but maybe not interactive), the website may be the only contact a reader has with your books, your product. Why not make sure the contact is exactly the way you want it to be? Meljean Brook, the author of upcoming book Demon Angel which was so good I was unable to read another fantasy book for a week, noted that she changed her website because the graphic didn’t fit with the type of books she was writing.

I don’t know of a reader who has been unhappy that authors have websites. I have heard alot of complaints from readers about authors who do NOT have websites.

Next week: Who is at fault for the demise of historicals? Authors, publishers or readers?

Related posts:

1. Authorzilla, Episode 5019 of Authors Behaving Badly
2. Authors Behaving Badly: #2, RWA Literacy Episode
3. Authors Behaving Badly, Episode #4: Rosina Lippi/Sara Donati