Thursday, October 3, 2013

Online Identity




The debate this week on the blogosphere is Author Websites.

They take too much time.
The authors should spend their time writing not on social media.
Most author websites are outdated...never updated and boring.
VS
Engaging websites connect readers with the author.
Connected readers are your marketing team.
In this modern age you need to be searchable as an author and have an online home.

So many opinions on this one...
Digital Book World was hosting a conference this week where this was discussed and the pro’s and con’s debated thick and fast... Here is their very detailed breakdown of the discussion.

Jane Friedman then picked up the baton and added her considerable intellectual weight to the discussion in her blog.

My two cents worth.... Time and again I have seen comments by editors and agents that if they really like the MS and they don’t know the author personally they google their name. This means that you should give them something to find...that you control. If it is your website...showcasing your style... Great.
Readers wanting to find out more about you and your books should be able to... and wouldn’t it be great if they could go on and buy your book! Check out Darcy Pattison’s article on the Codex survey about what readers want on an Author Website.

Joanna Penn source of amazing writing and marketing information for authors often interviews leaders in this field. Here she is, talking with Dan Blank on Combating Platform Fatigue...It is an hour long video blog so clear the decks for this one.

In Craft,

Kidlit.com looks at building your book lexicon



In Marketing,
PublishingGuru -  Twitter for authors


Your Writer Platform – defeat obscurity tips

Gordon Burdett on a handy tip for titles

Website to check out: The Insecure Writers Support Group.They have put together a great site chock full of info.

On Twitter today...The coolest writer in residence programme ever... Go enter!

To Finish,
Susan Kaye Quinn has been blogging her book over the last couple of months. It is a how to book on self publishing...I have been referencing Susan for a few years now and she is a great source of knowledge and inspiration. This chapter looks at Booksellers and Susan details her bookstoreof the future... If they were like this you wouldn’t get me out of them. (hmm it's difficult now....)

This is timely as Booksellers conferences are all over the place... everybody trying to find the solution to keep them going...which we all need when so far this week, in our small country, 3 independents have gone out of business.

If we end up only being able to sell online we will need our websites more than ever...

maureen

2 comments:

Raymond said...

Excellent links as usual Maureen. The author website advice is invaluable.
Ta
Raymond

Maureen said...

You are welcome, Raymond. There is some interesting stuff in there. I think that you should focus on only a couple of things and try to do them well...which seems to mirror most of the advice around on this one.

That is why I am so interested in Author collectives...spreading the load looks to me to be a good use of author time...

m

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