Author Websites -Best of the Bunch?

677 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Mark Dawson, Jan 16, 2013

Mark Dawson

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2013

Hello all,

I’ve decided to have a website built to advertise my writing. I’m lucky enough to have a good friend who is also an insanely talented designer and, if I get him drunk enough when I see him tomorrow, I’m hoping he’ll offer me a good deal for the work. If that doesn't work, I'll kidnap his children.

I’ve been scouting out writer sites to try and put together a specification for the build. If anyone has a site that they would recommend – either their own or belonging to someone else – I would be very grateful for the URL so I could take a look.

Cheers!

Mark

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Dee Ernst

· #2 · Jan 16, 2013

I think my guys did a great job on www.DeeErnst.com. There was lots of discussion beforehand, other websites were looked at, and lots of input from my friends and readers.

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RM Prioleau

· #3 · Jan 16, 2013

Here's mine: http://www.rmprioleau.com/
I did the website myself. I wanted to keep things simple and very easy for people to find information (mainly, my books) without navigating through endless pages.

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BEAST

· #4 · Jan 16, 2013

Well, before you start designing I would give some thought to the purpose of your website. When creating mine, I wanted something that appealed to my target audience and conveyed who I was as an author. My goal was to have people come to my website and want to purchase my work. So, be careful as far as "flashy." Simple and to the point would be better. Content rules. Images that evoke the emotions your writing touches on would be great and so would articles/excerpts. Get a color scheme and layout that fits your genre and make sure the site is easily navigated. Above all else, when you add an element, ask yourself: how does this help readers find out about my work and does this help my sales. Here's my website but it is def NSFW: www.gavinmlfletcher.com

BTW, a personal pet peeve of mine is having social media all over the sidebar. Why have something so prominent that sends my readers AWAY from my website, my hub

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Quiss

· #5 · Jan 16, 2013

I like Patty Jansen's site.
Lots going on there, with reasons for people to return.

http://pattyjansen.com/

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Kay Bratt

· #6 · Jan 16, 2013

I just had my website remodeled and I have to admit, I love it.

http://kaybratt.com/

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Catana

· #7 · Jan 16, 2013

I created a fairly simple website on Weebly: http://cs-mcclellan.weebly.com/ It includes background on my current novels, and information about work-in-progress, as well as pages for each published work, with description, excerpt, and sales info. I'll also be adding a section of free reads.

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Victoria J

· #8 · Jan 16, 2013

I think I did a pretty decent job on mine:

www.epistlepublishing.com

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Mark Dawson

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 16, 2013

GavinFletcher said:
Here's my website but it is def NSFW:

I'll say!

Good point on Social Media - not much point getting folk on site and then showing them the exit.

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Mark Dawson

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 16, 2013

Thanks for the comments and examples. There are some nice designs there, and for those who have coded it yourself - kudos. The most important thing has to be to offer a quick and easy way for people to discover and buy your books - everything else is filler (nice filler, but filler nonetheless). That's especially true if you are selling across multiple sites.

A means to sign up to a distribution list is probably a decent idea, and a blog (although where anyone finds the time to write a blog is a mystery to me) is a nice addition.

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