Author Websites

Don't click away! I know the term "author websites" is scary, scary, scary!

I used to get wobbly knees, icy fingers, and a bad case of the shakes at the thought of setting up an author website.

What is it about websites that terrify us so? I don't know about you, but I felt completely inadequate. I couldn't even figure out how to research various ways of obtaining a website without getting nauseous.



I've written on this topic before. You can check out my article Five Things to Consider Before You Design Your Website for information on getting prepared to have your own site.

For those of you who are interested in designing your own custom website using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) design program, I've written a Basic Website Design Guide. All of my articles are available at my website http://www.jillkemerer.com/. They are also linked in the sidebar of my blog for easy access.

Every day, more website templates crop up, so writers don't even have to customize to have a professional looking site. I, however, wanted complete control over the colors, the layout, and the pictures in mine, so I learned the basics.

My biggest fear was that I'd design a site and it would end up looking cheesy and unprofessional. My first website design was very simple. It had a Home page, a Biography page, a link to my blog, and a Contact button for anyone to e-mail me. About six months after I published the site, I decided it could look better. I changed the background and the layout and I added a few more web pages.

Why am I telling you this? Because I don't want you to feel your site has to be perfect, especially if you aren't published yet. You can tweak it and upgrade it as you learn more. I would never recommend anyone putting up a sloppy, unusable site, but I think many authors are so intimidated about having a great site, they don't have any site.

Please keep in mind that editors expect published authors to have a website. It's a terrific promotion tool. It's okay to have a free, template-style website as an unpublished author, but when you get "the call" your editor will probably suggest you get a professional site. I can think of a few reasons for this: many free websites do not utilize a http://www.com/ domain name, and many free websites do not have a function for readers to e-mail and contact the author.

If you're the do-it-yourself type on a tight budget, hold off on spending big bucks to hire a professional website designer. Ask your editor or agent for examples of author sites they feel are appropriate. Spend time planning your site based on their suggestions. Study the layout, content, and appropriate web pages.

Build your own custom website using a web-hosting service such as Yahoo! Web-Hosting or GoDaddy. They offer easy to use design programs. Beware of less prominent web-hosting sites. Their design programs can be difficult to use. You can also purchase design programs, but they are expensive.

If you set up a site and your editor is still not loving it, or maybe you feel updating it is too time-intensive, you may have to pay a professional. If this happens, don't consider the effort of designing your own site wasted. You have to determine a clear vision for your website whether you design it or someone else does. Why not do it now?

Have a wonderful weekend!

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