Is it Time to Update Your Author Website or Set One Up?

How many of you have a website that you set up years and years and years ago and it still looks the same as it did at the beginning? It probably has started to look a little outdated, a bit boring now that you've had it for so many years. Maybe you're not writing in the dame genre, so it doesn't quite match with your message anymore. Or maybe you set your website up so hastily that it was never quite what you wanted in the first place. 

Maybe you don't have an author website yet and are not really sure where to start.

Whether you want to revamp your website or want to set one up but you're not sure where to begin, here are a few hints and tips to help you get started.

Photo by Mailchimp on Unsplash

The Challenge

You already know why you want a website, right? Someone told you needed an author platform or you've published a few books and have a blog you write every week ... or fortnight ... month ... when you get the time, I mean, when will a book get written if you keep writing blogposts all the time, right? Anyway, the why is because us author's need a place where our readers can interact with us, get news on what we are writing next or finally get to hear that your book is being published soon, yes!

The challenge is what do you want to include in your website, or new updated version? Will you have a blog? Do you need a space to sell your books? What is your 'brand' - your message? What are your books about?

This is something you need to figure out first. You all should know what a mind map is. It's a great technique to throw out ideas on a subject, no matter how weird and wonderful they may be. Try it out for your website. What do you want to include - don't be shy? If it's a cool cinematic space animation with a ship flying through or a love heart that follows the users cursor around the page, jot it down. So many things are possible these days. The more ideas the better. You can whittle them down later to something more manageable.

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Your Audience

Regardless of whether you end up having people from all stages of life visit your website, you still need to consider your audience. Are you writing for the young adult, the confident twelve year old reader, the millennial who loves a good romance book or is looking for something more mysterious? Researching what your target audience is looking for from a marketing perspective is a great way to ensure your website relates to them personally.

Your Competition

It never hurts to see what other authors writing in the same genre are doing on their websites. Check out some of the more popular authors, even the more mainstream authors. Have a look at how they are using their space. What neat tricks are they using to engage their viewers. Is it a click and drag feature? Little cinematic videos? Maybe they use sound every time you click on something. Write out the pros and cons. Is there something that works on their website they you could incorporate in yours?

Photo by Faizur Rehman on Unsplash

Web Design Trends

This year there are some fun trends happening in web design.

Experimental Navigation is becoming more popular. The traditional fixed navigation menu on the top of the screen is becoming outdated and people are looking for something that is visually unique that exhibits an extension of your design 'brand'. The use of experimental navigation can generate visual interest and be fun for the reader.

One of the more popular trends is scrolling effects - animation which is triggered by as viewers scroll down a page. This can be as simple as a parallax scrolling effect that creates depth or interactive and dynamic which will encourage your readers to continue scrolling. You can use this to create a break in context or maybe even immerse the reader into a 3D experience.

Drag interaction is a great effect designed to mimic actual, physical action and allows your readers to pick up objects, move them around, make things jump, shrink, and grow. This type of gesture interaction is gaining popularity with more websites as the possibilities of what you can do are endless. If you want to create something dynamic, intense or inspiring - check out Falter Inferno's website. It might be the new way we do interactive Book Trailers ;)

Layering colours, images, shapes, typography, animations and other elements is an easy way to add something new to your website and has become increasingly popular in web design. This useful technique can add depth and texture to the design  by using shadows and overlapping various elements to create a three dimensional space.

Kinetic typography has been used in the filming industry for decades. This animation technique is becoming more prevalent in web design due to its immediate attention grabbing ability. This has been used to highlight the importance of a section or text, guide your reader as they scroll through the website and gradually reveal information to their delight.

If you're amazing at digital design or have some really great friends, three dimensional artwork and immersive web sites have been increasing in popularity due to the continued interest in Virtual Reality. From engaging three dimensional branding to completely immersive world design, this trend embodies visual interest and engagement your reader. This would be a readers dream for those who write fantasy. Have a look at  Choo Choo World - it is so much fun!

These are but a few web design trends to consider and most of them can be accomplished using standard website builders like Wix, Wordpress or Squarespace. Otherwise, if it all seems too hard but you still want something with a bit more than your average website, there are many web designers who can look at designing something for you. The more engaging your website is, the more your reader will want to engage with you and your stories.

Check out these author websites that are a bit different.

https://rickriordan.com/

https://jenniferegan.com/

https://www.jamespatterson.com/

https://www.taylortyng.com/

If you're still unsure what to do or how to go about setting one up or updating your existing one to something more engaging, ask your questions in the comments and I may be able to help out or give you some direction. :)

K.A. Hart aka. A.T. Richmond

Do I Have to Have an Author Website?

by Iola Goulton

Last month, Jeanette O’Hagen introduced our 2016 joint posts between Australasian Christian Writers and Christian Writers Downunder with a post on platform, that elusive necessity for modern authors. As Christians, we have an advantage in that we know our platform needs to be built on the Rock, not the shifting sands of popularity and changing trends.

As Jeanette said, while God has a plan for each of us and our writing, we need to use our God-given talents in obedience to God’s plan and the gifts He has given us. This is the one essential of online book marketing that every “expert” agrees on.

You must have a website.

Your website is your online home. It’s where readers will go to find out about you and your books. I asked in a reader group and they confirmed this: they most commonly visit author websites to find out:

• More about the author
• When the author's next book releases
• What other books the author has published 
• The correct order of a series

And a website is where agents, publishers and editors will look to see if you have that magical platform. And it’s where publicists and bloggers will look to find information about you.

You also need a way for readers to subscribe to your email list—your list provider will probably have a plug-in you can use. I'll talk more about email lists and why they're important in a later post in this series.

 Your website one of the foundational elements of your platform and of your passive marketing. While it's a lot of work to build a website, the ongoing maintenance isn't as difficult, as long as you set it up properly (and remember to keep all your themes and plugins updated, especially security plugins. Learned that the hard way).

What about a blog?

You’ll also want your website to have an integrated blog (so your blog is a page on your website, not a completely separate site). Your blog is where you'll start connecting with readers, through regular blog posts.

This is the part which causes a lot of anxiety among authors, so I'm going to tell you something not many people know: you can be a successful author without blogging. For example, thriller author Nick Stephenson earned a six-figure income last year off his novels, and his website doesn't have a blog (what it does have is a prominent email sign-up list, and Nick uses his email newsletter to build relationships with his readers in the same way that other authors use a blog).

 Personally, I enjoy reading (and contributing to) group blogs, such as Australasian Christian Writers or Christian Writers Downunder. As a reader, I like the variety. As a writer, I like the community. I'm less likely to visit an author website unless it's to find out about their next release or similar.

Don't I have to blog to sell books?

Even a strong blog might not help you sell books. Think of Mike Duran. I often link to his posts in the Australiasian Christian Writers Facebook group, because they are thought-provoking and relevant and he's not afraid to ask the hard questions about Christianity and literature. But he writes Christian horror, and while I think his blog is great, I'm not interested in his fiction (sorry, Mike).

 And no one is going to be interested in your blog if it's a constant infomercial (let your Home and Books pages do the selling). Your website (with integrated blog, if you have one) isn't about selling. It's about connecting with readers. I'll go into this in more detail in a future post.

What does my website have to have?

Actually, not a lot. As long as it's well-designed and consistent with your brand and genre (which I've discussed on Australasian Christian writers here, here, and here). You need the following pages:

• Home (to bring people into the site and introduce your brand)
• About (to introduce you as the author, in order to begin to develop a relationship)
• Books (only once you actually have one, of course!)
• Contact (to allow people to communicate with you)

Other pages—blog, media kit, reviews, writing advice—are all optional. Which makes it a lot easier to set up a professional author website, and a lot harder to find excuses as to why you can't! The one other essential for an author website is a way of capturing the email addresses. I'll be discussing this next week. Meanwhile, what questions do you have about author websites? What author websites have you visited you particularly liked? What did you like?

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website (www.christianediting.co.nz), or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christianediting), Twitter (@IolaGoulton) or Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/iolasreads).