Why You NEED a Website

 

By Mary Rosenblum

 

            You’ve sold a story, or a couple of articles, and you’re really striving for a career in writing, not just the odd sale to prove that you can publish.  You have a book coming out, either from a traditional New York publisher or a small press, or you’ve decided to take publishing into your own hands and are going with a self publishing Print on Demand publisher like iUniverse.   In any case, you really want people to read what you have written.  You want to sell your books! 

 

            Self-promotion is the task of the author in this day and age.  Traditional publishers will send only their top-selling  authors on a book tour, or do much to promote their other books at all.  Small press publishers have limited resources, and of course, if you publish your own book you will be responsible for all promotion.  The traditional routes for promoting your work include press releases and review copies sent to your book review editor at various newspapers, signings at bookstores, perhaps an appearance on a panel or two at a writers conference.  Why add the website to this list?

 

            Today, most people sit down at the computer first, to find something.  They can type in your name and voila!...there is your website.  Your books are listed there, along with a direct link that leads to the bookseller’s website.  Your schedule for book signings is there, as is a short clip from your forthcoming book and a release date.  If your short work appears in any magazines, the browsing visitor can find the issue that it will appear in and a link to the publisher so he or she can order it.  If you are selling your book as an e-book, as a downloadable file, you can even make arrangements with the publisher to offer your book for download directly on your site.    

            Perhaps the browsing visitor finds a contest!  Enter to win an autographed book plate or a copy of your latest novel!  Your visitor only knew that you wrote one book…the one he was curious about.  Now he not only finds out that you have published three, but he is able to buy them right now from Amazon.com.  You can put your URL…the address of your website…on your business card and hand it out to people you meet.  You can set up an email box from your website so that fans can email you.  A website is the cheapest form of international advertising you can get, and if people like your books or like your site, they will email that URL to their friends.  Word of mouth is what turned Harry Potter into a best seller, not Madison Avenue advertising!  And news propagates rapidly on the internet. 

 

            Are you intimidated by the thought of setting up a website?  I certainly was and avoided the issue for years, even after many SF and mystery fans chided me for not having one.    I kept citing the cost as a factor, but that is no longer a real concern.  Nearly every server offers each customer at least one website, and they generally provide an easy to use program that allows you to set up  your site without ever once using an html tag.  You don’t have to know a thing about actually creating a website.  You will simply choose styles and colors, add pictures you have scanned in or taken with a digital camera….and you’re all set.  And because it is on your server, you can update it as you need, with new signing dates, news of a new sale…anything you want. 

 

            Yahoo and Geocities offer free website space as well, but there, your visitors will have to suffer through a certain number of pop up ads.          

 

            If you want more control over what you put on your site and how to design it, take a look at the article on the Long Ridge website by Gary Kearney and Chris Dale:  http://www.longridgewritersgroup.com/rx/wc07/website.shtml   You’ll find it in  Writing Craft:  E Publishing and Websites.  They offer a link to an actual website that guides you through a quick tutorial on html, the code used in creating a website.  It is remarkably simple, and gives you more creative freedom than does the template offered by your server. 

 

            If you want your site to use the address, www.yourname.com, you must register your ‘domaine name’.  This means nobody else can use that name as an address, and when a user types it in, they can be directed to your website no matter where it is hosted.  Many registry companies exist, and you can shop around for the price that suits you.  Take a look at register.com as an example: http://www.register.com/   They offer quite a few services as well as domaine name registration, and there are many more companies like this one.

 

            Think of your website as your clearing house for everything relating to your work;  sales, news, schedule, and forthcoming work.  It offers the most information to fans with the least fuss, and it is easy for fans to send your website to their friends, thus spreading the word.  You can include pictures of your book covers, pictures of yourself…whatever you wish.  And by constantly changing your site – updating your schedule, adding bits of news about your ongoing projects – you can keep people coming back, and have them waiting for your next book. 

 

            Check with your server today.  Read Gary and Chris’s article if you’re adventurous or tired of the template you used for your first website.  Find that free website space and get going !  What are you waiting for?  Your fans want to hear from you!

 

            Yes, do take a look at what I have on my website.  I spend no more than a few minutes every week keeping it updated. J

            www.maryrosenblum.com