11 Elements of a Successful Author Website

creating an author website

Having a web presence is almost mandatory for writers these days. Whether you write fiction, non-fiction or are a freelance writer, a website gives readers and clients a way to find you, interact with your work, and hire you for jobs. It also gives you a chance to reach out to people who might be encountering your work for the first time. As with any communications medium, you need to to make a great first impression and offer people reasons to come back. In addition to making sure that it’s free of grammatical errors and typos, here are eleven things you should consider adding to your website.

Contact information

This is the most important thing to have on your website. You want people to be able to contact you with job offers, appearance requests, and questions. If you have fans, you want to be able to interact with them. Don’t make it hard for people to find you. If you do, they’ll give up and not come back.

Appearances/Events

Let your readers know where you’ll be appearing or speaking. Use this page to keep them informed of any events you’ll be attending or organizing. Let them know of any benefits for attending such as book signings, giveaways, discounted book purchases, etc.

Purchase information

If you have anything to sell, be sure to include links. You may offer the ability to purchase directly from your website (this will require some sort of e-commerce solution), or provide links to Amazon or other retailers. Include the ISBN numbers of any books so stores can easily order them. Make it easy for people to buy your work.

A clean, consistent, professional design

Don’t clutter up your site with lots of colors, fonts, animations, and images. Don’t make every page look different. Keep it consistent. Make your navigation system easy to follow. Make the site professional-looking. Cutesy might work if you’re a children’s author, but freelancers and book writers should keep it professional. People like sites that are easy on the eyes and easy to navigate. Funky colors and fonts may make an artistic statement, but they can also make your readers crazy.

Freebies

People love free stuff. Maybe you give away a short story related to your current novel, or you put together a short guide to your non-fiction subject of interest. Maybe you give away some character background information or provide a playlist that captures the mood of your book. Post sample chapters or excerpts from your work so people can try before they buy. Think of something that your audience will want or find useful and give it away. People also love contests, so you might consider hosting one every now and then.

About/Bio/Resume

For non-fiction writers and freelancers, this will be similar to a traditional job resume detailing your experience and expertise in your field. For fiction writers, it will be a list of your publishing credits and anything that makes you qualified to write that particular story (for example, your main character is a teacher and you’ve been a teacher for fifteen years). In either case, be sure to clearly describe the types of work you offer and maybe tell a bit about your personal story or how you got into writing. Just don’t go on too long or include too much irrelevant information. You can also include some reviews/testimonials about your work. Depending on your experience and what you offer this section might be one page, or a main page with several links leading off of it.

Media/Press Kit

This makes it easier for the press to find everything they need to know about you. You can include your bio, a photo, cover images from your books, links to other interviews you’ve done, and reviews of your work. These should be downloadable documents that the media can reuse them in their own materials.

Links to your social media platforms

If you’re on social media, include links to your active platforms. This is an easy and effective way to promote your writing.

A blog

A blog doesn’t have to be something that you contribute to five times a day. You can post once a week, or every other week, as long as what you have to say is relevant and interesting. Use it to keep readers abreast of your progress on various projects, or answer fan questions. Post about your work process so people can emulate you if they wish. Post about recent experiences you had at events or signings. Keep it relevant, though. Too many posts about your dog or your garden (unless you write about dogs or gardening) will turn people off who came to learn about your work.

Information about upcoming projects

If you have books in the pipeline, give your readers a heads up about what’s coming. You may be contractually limited in what you can say, but readers always want to know what you’re working on now. Even freelance writers can let their clients know that they’re expanding into new markets or pursuing a relevant non-fiction book.

Resources

This could be a list of links to some of your research sources, ideas for book clubs, ideas for teachers (if your work is used in classrooms), links to other sites or blogs on your subject matter or which you find helpful, FAQ answers, or anything else that you think your readers will find valuable.

Not everything on this list is necessary or applicable to every type of writer. The key is to understand who your readers/clients are and the things they’re likely to be seeking at your site. A young adult author will have a very different site from a scientific author. A freelance writer’s site will look different from that of a book writer. Give your readers and clients what they want from your site in a way that’s easy to navigate and understand and you’ll be on your way to success.

(Photo courtesy of chamko rani)

Using the Sims to Facilitate Writing

Use the Sims to help with creative writing

I confess: I’m a huge fan of the computer game, The Sims. I’ve played it since the first iteration and have spent an embarrassing amount of money and time on the game. It used to be a guilty pleasure until I discovered that I could use it to further my writing. I could play and work at the same time! (Well, sort of.)

The Sims lets me quickly create characters and let them live through situations (well, most of the time they live, sometimes they die) that would take me weeks of outlining to accomplish. I can experiment with various personality traits. I can give them jobs (they can even be writers), let them run their own business, keep them unemployed, or get them fired or promoted at work. They can be criminals or good guys. I can make them rich, or keep them poor. I can make them happy or mad. I can put them in relationships with other Sims (both hetero or homosexual), leave them unattached, or I can make their relationships go bust. They can even have affairs. I can give them pets or kids. Heck, in the latest iteration of the game I can even experiment with zombies, vampires, and witches and even send my Sims into the future or off to college. All of this is fodder for my creativity and stories.

More than once I’ve created a character and let them go about their business with very little assistance from me, just to see what they’d do. I’ve taken notes and used their actions and reactions in my work. If things get completely out of control, I can just exit the game without saving and go back to a time when things were better. That’s hard to do after you’ve spent a hundred pages going down the wrong path in a novel. Even better, I can save a pristine version of my character and use him or her over and over again in new games to create new stories. I can then pick the story I like best and write about it. That’s a lot easier than working through four or five stories on paper.

The Sims is a great way to spark my creativity when it’s at a low ebb. Sure, I still sit down with paper and pencil and sketch out characters and novel ideas. There are some things a computer game can never address, after all. But it is fun and different and it goes beyond just superficial details like looks and jobs. For example, I can create characters that are “made for” another character, or I can create characters that I know are going to antagonize or even hurt other characters. (These can later become supporting characters in a novel.) I can reform bad characters, or make good characters go bad. And then I can sit back and see what happens without having to slog through pages and pages only to discover that it wasn’t such a great idea after all.

I’ve even taken some of my characters and their stories and posted them to the online Sims community and let other Simmers give their input as to what the character should do next. It’s amazing what other people think of and getting their input expands my work even further. I can also take characters that others have created and add them to my game, creating even more mayhem. In a way, it’s a form of fan fiction that spills over into “real” the novels and stories that I’m working on.

Even if you don’t use it for your “serious” writing, The Sims can be a big help during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) if you participate. When you get stuck, just boot up the game and play for a while (but not too long or you’ll waste too much time). You’ll quickly have lots of fodder for your story that will push you toward that 50,000-word goal.

If The Sims isn’t your thing, or if you need more of a fantasy element for your character creation, there are other options. There are plenty of MMORPG’s that allow you to create your own characters and situations, or you can try traditional paper and pencil role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder.

Okay, so The Sims is never going to qualify for a tax deduction as a “business related expense.” But it has helped my creativity and given me a chance to explore new characters and situations while having some fun in the process. I just have to be careful not to spend too much time with the game because then it just becomes a tool for procrastination.

(Photo courtesy of Eurritimia)

10 Common Writing Submission Mistakes

Common writing submission mistakes

Writers are sometimes their own worst enemies. We complain endlessly about being unable to get published or make money, but yet it’s often the case that we’re sabotaging our own success. Sure, sometimes you get rejected because your writing isn’t good enough. But often rejections happen because you made a mistake at the submission level and the gatekeeper turned you down before ever reading your work.

Remember that editors, agents, and hiring managers are swamped. They get tons of submissions every day. To quickly cull the pile, they look for any obvious reason to discount your submission. That may be something as simple as a misplaced comma or a misspelled name. You don’t want to go out this way. You want your recipient to at least read your work and then debate its merit, not dump you on the reject pile before the first sentence is even read. With that in mind, here are some common mistakes that writer’s make when submitting their work.

Grammatical Errors

Whenever you submit something, be it a story, letter, resume, article, or full manuscript, make certain that it is error-free. You’re asking someone to trust that you are a competent writer, yet if the first page has the word “You’re” in a situation where the word “Your” should have been used, you’re not coming across as competent. Always look to improve your writing so that there are no mistakes with it.

Submitting to the Wrong Person or Place

Don’t submit to houses or agents that don’t handle your type of work. Don’t submit to Editor A and Editor B at the same publishing house. Don’t address Mrs. Smith as Mr. Smith. (If you’re unclear on gender, a quick phone call to check is fine.) Don’t submit to the department manager if you’re supposed to go through human resources. Figure out exactly who should receive your work and send it directly to that person or department.

Mass and Blind Submissions

It’s irritating to get an email addressed to fifty agents or hiring managers. Such submissions often read, “Dear Sir or Madam,” and then proceed to describe, in very generic terms, why this person should accept your work. It’s efficient, but the problem is that your recipients don’t want to be part of a herd. They want to know why you chose them. They want to know who referred you, or to which ad you are responding. They want to know how you learned of them and why they are the best fit for your work. They want you to demonstrate that you’ve done some basic research into who they are and what they represent. Mass submissions are impersonal and only demonstrate that you know how to use the multiple recipient functions in your email program.

Failure to Follow Convention

Yes, convention can stifle creativity. However, every field has its norms that must be followed. You have to demonstrate that you understand the rules of the “club” and that you can follow them. If convention dictates that your submission be double spaced, single spacing can get you disqualified. If a certain format is required, you’d better follow it. Breaking convention won’t get you accepted, it will get you rejected.

Sending Dirty Work

No, I don’t mean pornography. I mean work that’s stained, crumpled, or torn. In this day and age of quick printing and copying, there’s no excuse for sending out anything other than pristine pages.

Looking Like a Paranoid Amateur

Many writers submit work with copyright symbols on it, or mentioning in the query letter that the submission should not be shared or forwarded for fear of idea theft. Similarly, don’t be vague about your work because you’re afraid it will be stolen. “I have a great idea, but I can’t share it with you until you commit to publication,” is ridiculous. This isn’t the way copyright works and no legitimate publisher or agent is out to steal your work. You’re only coming across as paranoid and no one wants to work with a nutcase.

Failure to Follow Directions

Send and do only what the recipient asks for. No more, no less. Send only what’s requested in only the format in which is it requested. Do not send snail mail if only email submissions are accepted, or vice versa. Doing exactly what is asked of you demonstrates that you can follow directions. To a gatekeeper, this increases the chances that you are someone they want to work with, not someone who is going to cause problems during every step of the process.

Failure to Include Contact Information

No matter how much someone likes your work, you’re going on the rejection pile if they can’t easily respond to you. They aren’t going to send a sherpa and a yak out to track you down. They don’t have time for that. Be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and email address.

Overpacking

Yes, you want your submission to arrive safely. But you don’t want to use so much tape that someone has to hack into the package to get to your work. Nor do you want to use packing peanuts that will explode all over someone’s office. Having to exert too much effort to get to your work means that the reader is already frustrated with you when they sit down to read your work. (Assuming they even bothered. Make it too difficult to get into a package and it might go in the trash unopened.) Keep the packaging to a minimum.

Failure to Properly Check Email Submissions

Email submissions are convenient, but they pose potential problems. If you’re asked to attach a file, make sure you’re attaching the correct one. No one wants to read your tax return when they thought they were getting your first chapter. If you’re using a submission page on a website, make sure you’re putting the right information into the right boxes. If you’re copying and pasting into an email or submission site, make sure you’re doing so correctly. You don’t want things to end up out of order, or discover that you pasted from the last draft of your novel when you meant to paste from the current version. Don’t use “Reply All” if you only mean to reply to one person and make certain you’ve got the correct recipient(s) in the address section. Double check everything before you hit the Send button.

You want to be judged on your work, but the only way that’s going to happen is if you successfully navigate the submission process. Think of the submission process as the first step to publication, because that’s exactly what it is. It’s time consuming and a chore to make sure everything is perfect, but that’s what the gatekeepers want to see. You won’t get past them with a half-assed effort. You’re being judged from the moment your envelope crosses their desk or the email shows up in their inbox. Be perfect.

(Photo courtesy of Aaron Davis)

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