Actually, it's really bad that I've left it so long. It's only because I've committed myself to updating this blog with info on how my promotion work is going (long sentence, breeeeeathe) that I even realised I'd made such an oversight.
During my research into the things authors should have/should be doing/cannot possibly function without, post after post after post reiterated the same thing: as an author, you must have a website. It's essential. It's like your store front, it's a central hub for everything you do, it's the first thing prospective readers are going to look for.
Here's an example of what I'm on about. This is taken from Publishing... And Other Forms of Insanity. It's an amazing website for authors of all levels. Honestly, there's so much content here it's ridiculous.
Even if you have not yet been published, you absolutely MUST have an author's website. Websites are not optional; they are a requirement for anyone with something to sell. (Authors are not only selling their writing, they are selling themselves.) At the very least, put up your first page (bio and photo), a blog, and a contact page. If you want to talk about your current writing project, do so on your blog.
Not optional. A requirement. Lordy.
(Go here to read more of this article, and then get yourself totally lost in all the links: http://publishedtodeath.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/everything-i-did-wrong-part-2-designing.html)
Long past time to get cracking, then.
Now, I should say that I did have a website already in place - and it's still up. Macadamian Pliers was due for release, and I knew I had to at least try to do something to get that novel some space on the interweb, and everything has a website these days. But instead of making an author website with a page or two about the book with links to go and buy it, I did something slightly different. And by slightly I mean radically. The website I created was put together from the point of view of the novel's characters. Yeah, that's right, it's a site from within the Macadamian Pliers universe, as if he was real and Cherry and Frank were real and all the stuff that happened was real. Yeah, I did that. Spent hours on it. Thought I was really clever.
I suppose it might have been clever if I was an established author, or there was lots of buzz around the book and people were aware of it, but in hindsight it just came across as confusing.
It's still online, I can't bring myself to kill it off - this is the link: http://ihatemacadamianpliers.weebly.com/
So, Life-Threateningly Important Point Number 01 - you must build your brand first. You must be clear. Do not muddy the waters. Save the funky tricks for later, when there's a chance that someone might know who you are. Put yourself in the position of a potential reader/buyer coming to your website. Show them the most important things first. Latest book. Upcoming releases. Make sure your reader/buyer can see these products and can get to them easily. They want to know who you are and what you've written, so make it easy for them. Not like I did.
I've kept a couple of aspects of this website made by an insane version of myself, and put them in the new one, although they are far from the main feature. The books are up front, everything else is there to explore if the visitor wishes.
Ah, straight away, Life-Threateningly Important Point Number 02 - Get the books up front! With links TO BUY! The first thing you see now on my brand new website is the front cover of my upcoming novel, with a link to Pre-Order. Actually, I've literally right this second just discovered the pre-order button is not functioning. So....
Life-Threateningly Important Point Number 03 - Check EVERYTHING. (These Life-Threateningly Important Points are coming thick and fast all of a sudden.) And check it again. And AGAIN. When I first published my new website, I trumpeted loudly about it (always happens after too many dry roasted peanuts) on Facebook, Twitter, all that stuff, confident that it was looking good, even though a few of the lesser pages weren't yet in place. A day or two later, I found the time to have another look at it. There were two pages of wildlife photography hanging over from the original template, there was a weird heading about 'Fotographia' that I couldn't get rid of, links weren't working, nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. It looked incredibly unprofessional (and don't you dare say it still does, I will cry). Check your work, people. Check it, and check it again.
Really, all of this should have been done already. I just put making a real author website off. I told myself, what difference will it make anyway? And I still don't know if it will make any difference at all. However, and here's...
Life-Threateningly Important Point Number 04 - Your books CANNOT sell themselves. You need to do everything you can, and if sites like Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity are telling you to have an author website, then damn well get one. Make it yourself, get a friend to do it, pay for it to be done, whatever. But get it done. Maybe it won't be much help. But if you don't have one, then it DEFINITELY can't generate sales. It's your space to talk about your work, to show off your work, so why not? I thought of it this way - Every time I read a Clive Barker book or think about one, I head to his website to catch up on what he might be doing next (more specifically, when is he going to release the next bloody Abarat book). So if I'm doing that, others are.
It all makes sense.
Honestly, take advice from someone who's done everything wrong.
(Edit: I wrote a piece about websites and didn't even put a link into mine. Amazing, right? www.steveconoboy.com )
Laters
Laters
