5 Stunning Author Websites (& What They’ve Done Right)

By Alex J. Coyne

An author website is one of the most important things for a successful career writer. An author’s website is where readers and clients go to read, discover more, and connect with the person behind the site.

If you’ve enjoyed an author or story, their website is usually the next place to go. But have you thought about what visitors will see when they go to your online page?

Good websites tell you more about the author (or story), but also engage the reader to stay on the site longer, comment, or contact the writer. Average websites are a static portfolio, that inspires visitors to click away from it.

Here are some stunning author websites (& what they’ve done right).

1. WilWheaton.net

The Winning Factor: The Blog

Wil Wheaton is best known as an actor, gamer, and voice-over artist, but he’s also a pretty good writer. His memoirs (Still) Just A Geek has become a bestseller, and he runs a regular blog about his thoughts and life experiences.

The blog posts are worth coming back for. Posts engage readers, making them want to comment or share.

If you have unique stories to share or mastery of a specific niche topic (like gardening or martial arts), there are always readers who may enjoy well-written content.

2. KathyReichs.com

The Winning Factor: The Interviews

Kathy Reichs is an acclaimed forensic scientist, academic, and fiction author.

The Bones-series, also adapted to screen, introduced Dr. Temperence Brennan; a forensic anthropologist partially based on Reichs herself. Virals, a Y/A series co-written with her son, brings supernatural elements and science together for an entirely different ride.

Her website contains all the important details about books and characters, but also stands out for the collection of past interviews on the site.

An archive of interviews or previous coverage is a great way to keep readers clicking through what’s there.

3. ELJamesAuthor.com

The Winning Factor: The Merchandise

E.L. James is the author of the 50 Shades-series, which originally began as a fan-fiction based on Twilight. The books aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the series sales figures are enough to make heads turn.

James makes her website work with a section for merchandise.

Merchandise can help to turn a writer’s name or stories into a brand, which can be worth its own separate income.

4. StephenKing.com

The Winning Factor: The Story Catalog

Stephen King published his first novel, Carrie, and then just never stopped. King’s horror, mystery, and drama stories have sold enough to build an entire brand - or rather, empire - just around the Works of King.

He’s written enough stories that the website needs an entire catalog to keep track of his published works.

Does your website have a list of samples, markets, or places you’ve published?

Always try your best to keep track of what you’ve published, and where.

Rights are easier to administrate, certain rights can be sold again, and you’ll always know where the right samples are when you need them.

When you don’t keep track, it’s easy to get lost in a labyrinth of your own publications for days to find something specific.

5. Shunn.net

The Winning Factor: The Story Format

If you’ve ever Googled the phrase “manuscript format’, you’ll have likely found the formatting guidelines by William Shunn. Author and editor, Shunn uploaded one of the most useful and standard resources for writers -- and it’s considered an industry standard for the publishing industry.

I wrote my first magazine story with these guidelines, and they’re still relevant today.

If you have something that you think could be useful to other writers, post it on your website. Helpful content always tends to go further!

 

About the Author: Alex J. Coyne is a journalist, author, and proofreader. His radar is calibrated for all things gothic, gonzo, and weird.

A Marketing Roadmap for Writers

Many things about the writing and publishing process stand to make a writer insecure, but none more so than marketing. A lot of writers can’t stand the term or its connotations. We are making art, and marketing is all about selling (ugh) a product (yuck). It feels sleazy and snake-oil-y and self-promotional in a way that leaves many creatives uncomfortable. 

But it’s also necessary. Because nobody’s going to do it for you before you’re published … and many authors find that the marketing funnel doesn’t exactly “click on” magically after their books come out, either. Even if a publisher is hands-on, the real burden falls to the creator to sell that book! Seasoned authors know this all too well. They have learned, maybe the hard way, that if their book didn’t “perform” to expectations, their future prospects and advances could be affected. Indie authors already know the necessity of marketing. Long gone is the era of “If you build it (or put it up on Kindle), they will come.” Self-published authors have to lead them, sometimes with paid tactics, if they hope to make a sale.

So how do we square art and commerce? The age-old question. Here are four marketing tips you can use now—no matter where you are in your journey—to start making headway with the necessary evil of book and self-promotion. 

Build your platform: You’re probably sick of hearing that you need to have a platform. Especially if you’re not published yet. What does an unpublished writer’s platform even look like? The bare minimum is a welcoming, clean, and simple website. A main page, an About Me page, a Contact page, and one for your projects (already released or in progress). Make sure you have a way to collect email addresses from fans (more on this later). As for what else you need? Some people will say that you’ll want to register with each platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.), oh, and start blogging. As if we all have unlimited time! I say, yes, you may want to investigate these platform-building social networks … eventually. For now, pick one that you can really dive into. Does Facebook make you nauseous, but you’re a highly visual person? Instagram and Pinterest are your friends. Post semi-frequently—to avoid burnout—and follow marketing best practices: share mostly content that your audience will find interesting, instead of megaphoning about yourself and your work.

Play the expert card: We live in a 24/7 news cycle, and the outlets looking for fresh content multiply seemingly every day. All of those websites, blogs, news outlets, and social media feed need stuff. (You know this well, as you try to fill your own feeds.) And they’d ideally like stuff from experts. Well, hang out your shingle. What’s your book about? If it’s nonfiction, this is a no-brainer. But if it’s fiction, is it set in a place? During a historical event? Is your protagonist working in a type of industry that you’ve researched. Well, why not call yourself an expert in that thing, event, place, or whatever? Do yourself a favor and sign up for HARO (Help a Reporter Out). Three times a day, you’ll receive a list of call-outs for sources from reporters working on stories. It’s a mixed bag. Some days, you will find absolutely nothing. Other days, you will find a reporter looking to speak to an expert in your field, and they will want to talk to you. This is a great way to attach some very legitimate media to your name and topic.

Give it away: Readers love free stuff. And I know that your words come to you painfully and are very valuable but … as you establish yourself, you’ll need to give some of them away. Readers will want to get to know you, your voice, your style, so write a special short story or clip the first few chapters of your book, throw this little teaser into a PDF and give it away. You may want to give it a nice cover and formatting, but otherwise, your investment in this piece of marketing will be low. All you want from your potential readers in return? Their email address. It’s very easy to send digital downloads as a response to someone signing up for your newsletter. A lot of powerful email marketing tools like Mailchimp are free or cheap for small lists. So reward people who want to know more about you by giving some of your writing away. You may win a reader for life, who will pay next time. This technique, or strategically making your ebook free on the Kindle store surrounding your next release, is called the “reader magnet” and is a powerful way of attracting readers. If you have ARCs or physical copies of your book available, run a giveaway on your social media channel of choice. You can stipulate that entrants need to share the giveaway or follow all of your social handles to be eligible.

Don’t toil alone: Some writers look around them in their Amazon genre or category, or on the indie bookstore shelves, and see competition. Instead, see opportunity. All of those writers are clearly doing something right, and all of them are working their own marketing. Team up. Not just for the social support of sharing tips or learning via others’ mistakes, but for strategic connections. If you write romance, my guess is that you’re targeting romance writers. And that the people around you on the shelves have the same readership. So run a joint giveaway. Promote one another’s releases. Ask to run interviews or guest posts in their email newsletters, and offer them the same in return. Writing is solitary. Stressing out about your social media platform is often done in isolation. But not all marketing efforts have to happen solo.

My goal here is to give you a few actionable tips for your own marketing. And I also hope I’ve done something a bit sneakier—inspired a mindset reset of sorts. Everyone has to market. Yes, your art should be good enough that it stands on its own … but even great art needs a boost. If you think of marketing as a supportive, holistic part of your writing career, maybe it becomes less intimidating or overwhelming or dirty. It’ll never become less important, so dive in. After all, as they say: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Leave your marketing questions and strategies in the comments!

Connect with Mary Kole:

https://goodstorycompany.com Good Story Company:

www.kidlit.com (writing and publishing children's books)

www.marykole.com (editorial and consulting services)

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Establishing an Author Platform

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

No matter if you’re published or unpublished, the idea of setting up an author platform from scratch can be really daunting.  It’s important to realize that establishing a platform and promoting a book is a marathon, not a sprint. 

If you’re not published (either traditionally or self-published):

Spend most of your time working on your book.  If you’re in a time-crunch and need to make the choice between setting up a platform or writing your book, you should be writing.

However, if you can spare the time … say fifteen minutes at a time … for establishing a platform, I’d encourage you to set up the basics.  Breaking these tasks into increments will help get them knocked out without ending up with a time suck.

Getting started: 

Have an email address for your writing business.  This should be your name and an email just for you.  You can get free emails from Gmail and from Microsoft, among other providers.

Set up a basic website, to create an online hub for you and your books. It’s a first step to being visible online. This website should be in your name, not the book’s title (you may write other books).  You can get free websites through WordPress (and can later transfer to a paid WordPress site, if warranted).  

The website should list a way to contact you (your email address, your social media addresses), your name, a little bit about you and the types of books you’re planning on writing.  If you have the time, you could blog once a week or every two weeks on this site, to bring in traffic and search engine attention.  More on what to blog about in this post by industry expert Jane Friedman: “What Should Authors Blog About?”.  Set up your blog to automatically post to Facebook or Twitter, if you’re there. 

It may seem silly to have a newsletter signup when you don’t yet have a book or readers, but the earlier you start, the better. MailChimp is free for up to 2,000 subscribers. 

Social media.  This is where you’ll want to pace yourself.  It’s fine to sign up on all the social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.), but only to reserve your name on these sites.  Later, you can find which one or two appeal most to you.  There’s no point in trying to post on a platform that you don’t enjoy because you’ll struggle to keep up with it. 

Again, sign up for these accounts with your name, not your book’s title.  Be sure not to spread yourself too thin—it’s very difficult to keep up with more than two social media accounts.  Use free tools like Hootsuite to schedule updates, if you’re pressed for time.

If you’re published:

All of the above, plus:

Amazon Author Central.  It’s important to set up your author page on Amazon.  When someone clicks your name next to your book’s title, it will take them to your page and show them all of your books in one place. You can add your bio, video content, connect your blog feed, and include photos. What’s more, you can use this portal to add editorial reviews to your book’s product page and check sales stats.
 

Do you have any other advice for setting up an author platform? What’s your favorite social media platform for connecting with readers? 

Elizabeth is the bestselling cozy mystery author of the Southern Quilting mysteries, Memphis Barbeque mysteries, and Myrtle Clover Cozy Mysteries for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently. You can find her at Elizabethspanncraig.com . Elizabeth shares writing links on Twitter that later make it to the free search engine for writers, writerskb.com.