creating a webpage as a new author?

571 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by L.E. Parin, Dec 21, 2012

L.E. Parin

Discussion Starter · Dec 21, 2012

Hi! I'm thinking of setting up an author site to link to in my book, but whenever I think of my fave authors, they have tons of books already (I only have 1).

1) does anyone know of any newbie author sites I could look at to get ideas from?

2) would it make sense to talk about upcoming book ideas or just stick to published and upcoming releases?

3) my current book is paranormal romance, but I'm working on a fantasy novel. I'm not sure if I'll use a different pen name for it. Would it make more sense to make a different author site for that instead if trying to put two different genres with two different names on the same site?

Currently, I'm planning on using wordpress.com, but I'd love to hear other recommendations if their are better/easier sites to use

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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Wansit

· #2 · Dec 21, 2012

1) does anyone know of any newbie author sites I could look at to get ideas from? teedun.com, kellywalkerauthor.com, mashadutoit.wordpress.com, dollhousetrilogy.com

2) would it make sense to talk about upcoming book ideas or just stick to published and upcoming releases? I do both

3) my current book is paranormal romance, but I'm working on a fantasy novel. I'm not sure if I'll use a different pen name for it. Would it make more sense to make a different author site for that instead if trying to put two different genres with two different names on the same site? If you're going with two different names then have two different websites.

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Lady TL Jennings

· #3 · Dec 21, 2012

1.) I would suggest trying to get a Wordpress theme that somehow matches your content.
For ideas, just browse your favourite authors and other authors that write in the same genre as you.
It does not matter that you "only" have one book out, you can build your site all the same and if you like you
can always add the next book too with a "coming soon" label.

2.) I happily do both.
Plus that I have added review links and done some interviews with other authors and I also update with "vintage"
photos from places that I have visited in the UK that have inspired my writing and stories
(especially the latter has been wildly popular according to my US readers).
I can also recommend putting a Twitter widget on your site, since that will show your readers what you are currently up to.

3.) It depends...
If you are going to link to your pen names you could have them under the same site and call the site something
different than your author name (that is what I did, although I ended up with only one pen name since I am
quite incapable of writing anything else than historical romance and erotica apparently.
Oh, well. It could have been worse.)

I use Dreamweaver and I have built my site from scratch. It gives me a lot of freedom in comparison to Wordpress,
but of course you need to be able to program basic HTML and updating is a little bit more complicated than Wordpress...

Good luck with your site and writing!

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Avarian

· #4 · Dec 21, 2012

If you are going to use different pen names for different genres, then I would create a site for each. While it is more work, then your readers tend to stick to genre, so while you can cross-promote, then some will be more interested in paranormal romance, while others will be mre interested in fantasy, and you shouldn't expect them to read about the other.

You can pretty much write about anything related to your stories on the site. Upcoming and published stories alike. You can also do some general genre posts, where you give your opinion on the genre as a whole. Keep it relevant to your books, other than that the sky's the limit.

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L.E. Parin

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 21, 2012

Thanks for the great advice

. I think I'll do two author sites and do the cross-promote as Avarian suggests. Also going to check out those suggested links and see what I can whip up with wordpress

. I've never uses twitter before, but I guess it's a good time as any to check it out!

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