The E-Author’s Webpage - Your Professional Presence

CHARLOTTE BOYETT-COMPO

All Rights Reserved

There are two things every e-author must have: a working computer and reliable access to the Internet. Think of the computer as a lifebuoy and the Internet the rope attached to it. While it is possible to have one without the other, the two functioning together are how an author creates and submits work to an e-publisher.

Likewise, there are two things every e-author needs in order to have a successful career in e-publishing: a functional, informative website and creative patience.

Often the first introduction a reader has to an e-author is on a webpage. Perhaps he’s seen the author’s name on a review, an interview, the cover of a book while browsing a genre-specific website. Maybe he saw the name on a Yahoo group when the author dropped by to promote the latest release. Or it could have been on Fictionwise or Amazon or any number of bookseller websites. If the reader is interested enough in what he read, wants to learn more about the author, the next thing he’s likely to do is look for a URL to the author’s website. He might want to see the back list if there is one or simply wishes to satisfy his curiosity about the author. He’ll spend a bit of time looking for that URL on the website he’s already on and if he doesn’t find it, he might Google the author’s name. If there’s a website, he’ll go straight to it because his interest has been tweaked. If there isn’t a webpage for that author, oh well. Chances are he’ll simply lose interest and look for an author who does have a web presence.

The worst thing an author can do is to have a crappy website. Nowhere does the Will Rogers adage of “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” hold more power than when it comes to that initial sight the reader will have when he lands on the author’s webpage. If what greets him is a mishmash of garish colors, a font either too large or too small for comfortable reading, and an amateurish conglomeration of foolish-looking graphics the author thinks are ‘cool’, there won’t be much time spent perusing what the author has to offer. Instead, the reader will hightail it off that site and it’s a good bet he won’t return.

What that happens, there are two consequences to the reader’s dismissal of the website: the author has most likely lost not only a potential reader and sale but has gained a very unfavorable impression that will stay with the reader longer than that reader stayed on the author’s poorly designed website.

An author doesn’t have to be a genius to have a professional looking website. He doesn’t need a degree in computer language or be a graphic artist in order to present a website that is pleasing to the eye yet contains the essential information needed to promote his work. All he needs is the desire to put forth the best informational website he can and make it work for him. The two key words in this paragraph are PROFESSIONAL and INFORMATIONAL. A good website needs both. You can’t have one without the other and expect the website to adequately promote you.

There are several ways to obtain a website that grabs the reader’s attention and hold it. The first is to hire a professional to build the site, incorporate all the necessary things needed to present a strong promotion. If money’s no object you can have a website with all the bells and whistles and have someone who will maintain the site for you. All you need to do is shoot off an email whenever you need information updated and you’re good to go. Everything is a-okay if money’s not a problem.

But let’s say that isn’t the case. Let’s say you have a day job and some discretionary cash with which you can part without too much hardship. Maybe you’ve saved a few dollars here and there and you can shell out up to $300 for a simple website. And perhaps you can send $25 a month to PayPal for whoever creates your website to do the updates for you.

Bear in mind the above figures are just for the creation of the website. It doesn’t include the web host where the webpage will be located. That’s an additional expenditure per month if you don’t pay by the entire year. There is also the domain name in which you really should invest. That’s a yearly expense to keep the domain active. Some web hosts provide a domain name as part of the package which is a good deal.

What that happens if you are like most e-authors just starting out and you don’t have $300 to pay a web designer right off the bat? There are genre-specific websites that will host a single webpage for you for a modest monthly or yearly fee. That can range from $20 a month upwards depending on the website and what is included in the package. The average seems to run $35.00 a month or $420.00 a year.

Too much? Well, there are some very good web hosts out there. Freeservers.com has a starter package for $3.95 a month. For $47.40 a year paid upfront you get no intrusive ads clamoring for the reader’s attention and 1 gb of web space. That’s about all you really need to begin promoting your work. You can always upgrade to a more disk space as you go along. You’ll still need to buy a domain but you can get one for $8.99 at Name.com. (You can shop around for domain registers and probably find an even better deal.)

Spend a little more money and go with hostmonster.com and you can get unlimited hosting space and bandwidth for $5.95 a month or $71.40 a year upfront. This is a pretty good deal because it also includes a free domain name forever.

Website, webhost, and domain name: the three most important assets needed to promote an author on the Internet.

Free website, ad-infested webhost, and a generic webhost name + your own: three things guaranteed to let a reader know you aren’t serious about either your profession or the impression you are putting forth.

Nothing screams amateur louder than an author’s website that is advertizing someone else. It looks cheap and it sends the wrong message. If an author is serious about wanting to make writing a career and make that career a successful one, he isn’t going to settle for a crass, ugly, ad-flashing website that takes the spotlight from his work and puts it on Gerard Butler ringtones.

If an author wants to be a professional, that author should act like a professional. The old saying-you have to spend money to make money-is very true in the publishing world. Beg, borrow or steal but come up with $100 that can be invested in a webhost and a domain name and have a professional and informational website of which to be proud.

One of the things about which many e-authors will lament is that they have no expertise to put together a webpage. It isn’t rocket science. Most webhosts have simple templates into which the author can drop the necessary information, add a book cover or two, a photo of himself, and an excerpt. Add to that a hotlink to where the book can be purchased and there’s a simple, uncluttered website. That’s a heck of a lot better than a freebie website where the author has discovered bars and buttons and graphics galore and slaps them willy-nilly all over the page.

An author who has the desire to put forth a little extra effort to do his own webpage has an advantage the author who pays to have it done doesn’t have. He can do updates whenever he has a spare moment. He can add pages without it costing him anything. He can change colors and fonts or add graphics that will enhance the site and catch a surfer’s eye. He can experiment with things that would otherwise cost him some serious cash if he had to leave it up to a web designer.

That is the person this article is aimed at reaching-the author who wants to do it himself. Things to remember when putting together the webpage: COLOR, FONT, GRAPHICS, and SIMPLE HTML.

First things first.

There are certain websites to be bookmarked

Last but not least is what SHOULD be incorporated into your webpage, what CAN BE and what SHOULD NOT be there.

Use colors that are pleasing to the eye. Show the background and font to others to see what they think. Remember: sight-impaired people also surf the web and if they can’t read what’s on the webpage, chances are they might not investigate the author’s work, either. Avoid garish colors…especially bright yellow and infant-puke green. Those are very unsettling to the eye as is bright red and neon blue.

When using a background, stay away from paisley or something that clutters, detracts from the font, and overwhelms the visitor. Make sure the font can be seen and isn’t lost in swirls or checks or something equally annoying. By carefully picking the background and/or borders, the author can insure his visitor will stay longer than it takes to shout: “MY EYES! MY EYES!”

When building headers or logos, keep the font crisp and clean. While some fonts look really kewl, if the visitor can’t distinguish between the letters, his impression of the site might not be a good one. Outline fonts are great but make sure what’s inside the outline compliments what’s outside. Putting plaid in the letters and having polka dots on the page background is a good example of what not to use.

Menus are a necessity! If not a dropdown menu then at least buttons that stand out, look professional and tidy. At the very least, these should direct the visitor to the author’s home page, bio page, links page, and book page. Depending on how in-depth the author is willing to make his website, he can add other information specific to his works. Visitors need to be able to find the important things on the webpage easily and without having to hunt for them. Easy navigation, professional-looking layout that says what it needs to crisply and cleanly, elements that include pleasing colors in background and font (size 4 and 5 and NO bigger for everything except maybe the occasional size 6 for a header), the latest release with purchase link, the author’s bio page and back list, and a free story are things readers say they want to see on an author’s webpage.

Take a look at this writer’s website at WindLegends. It was designed, created and is maintained by the writer. There are over 500 pages on the website and all of them are informational in one form or another. Bear in mind the site has grown over a ten year period; it wasn’t built in a day. As inspiration and need hit, the website has grown.

Separate pages for full-length novels and short stories, books by publishers, books at Amazon and Fictionwise with links to each, other places to purchase the books, individual synopsis pages for EACH book as well as pages for that book’s reviews and an excerpt make the website so large. There are templates for book page, review page, and excerpt page in place on the webhost so when a new book comes out, all that is necessary is to drop in the information and three new pages go up in less than half an hour. Book covers are sized in IrfanView when received and saved in pixel sizes at 300 dpi as main cover (375 x 228), promo (159 x 97), intro (109 x 66), MySpace (200 x 121), and buy link (82 x 50) then uploaded to the webhost. The book cover should NEVER be more than 375 x 228 or it will overpower the page.

Little Johnny may be the apple of an author’s eye but he doesn’t need to be on mommy or daddy’s professional webpage. The same holds true of Fido or Felix. While having a pet’s photo for all to see seems like a fuzzy warm thing, some visitors will see that photo and think: “Huh?” Likewise photos of the author at conventions, receiving awards, picking his nose…whatever. Such pictures are fine in the Photos section of the author’s webpage but NOT on the intro page. NEVER on the intro page. Think of the intro page as the cover letter being sent to ask for work. It goes back to that first impressions admonition. To appear professional, one must LOOK professional. Little Franny grinning maniacally bears no resemblance whatsoever to a professional look. Keep the photo in the wallet where it belongs.

Don’t crowd your page, plaster extraneous graphics across it, line up divider bars or have a page that goes on and on and on so the visitor has to keep scrolling down. Break up the page. Several pages are better than one if you have a lot of information to give.

Don’t confuse a blog with a webpage. A blog is a blog and it’s just another promotional tool in your arsenal. A webpage is a professional presence. A blog is for blogging.

Don’t use MySpace or Facebook as your webpage. They weren’t designed to be used in that fashion. (A word of caution when using Facebook: There are TWO kinds of presence on this website—a profile and a page. A profile is what you must have to have a Facebook presence but authors should never use it to promote their books. Don’t put your covers on your profile page. Don’t put your book videos on your profile page. Do not put buying links on your profile page. Why? Because authors have had their Facebook profiles deleted for doing so. That’s why Facebook has pages. A page is for you to gain FANS. You MUST have two separate email accounts to take advantage of both the profile and fan page. The reason for this is because Facebook doesn’t want artists/authors spamming the profile friends. Ignore this warning at your peril or…better yet…ask an author who has had to start over after having his page deleted by Facebook.)

While webrings can bring traffic, having a whole gobble of them only clutters the page and makes it look unprofessional…and needy. If using a few genre-specific ones to bring in visitors is high on the priority list at least learn to use the little code to push the webring banners/graphics down as far as possible on the page. The “
” used at least twenty times will put it far enough down that it doesn’t show unless the visitor is curious to see what’s down there. Having the webrings down at the bottom of the page will satisfy the requirement of the webring owner while still bringing hits to the page.

DON’T USE MIDIS! They tend to crash some browsers and a visitor who has that happen to him most likely won’t return to have it happen again. Music doesn’t really enhance the webpage. It tends to distract. While Nights in White Satin is a beautiful, haunting song, it has no place on an author’s ‘professional’ website.

When building your website, make sure you have the three top browsers installed on your computer and check that website in each: IE, Firefox, and Chrome (don’t know about Chrome? It’s the Google browser and you can download it at Chrome. It’s a great browser for two reasons: it isn’t as wobbly as IE and doesn’t hog CPU use as does Firefox plus it has a cleaner interface. Try it out.

After you’ve built your webpage, start promoting it. You need to list your domain name with all the major search engines. Hit all the genre-specific websites and announce your new webpage. Plaster the domain name everywhere you can. Unless Google can find you, you’ll have done all that work for nothing. For search engines to find you, you need to use meta tags that will have those little crawlers sitting up and taking notice. So be sure not to forget to make use of the power of meta tags.

So build a website that is powerful, professional, and informational. It’s your calling card. How readers see you will go a long way in helping your career to grow.