Author Website as Portfolio

I've got my own website about me and my writing, Elodie Caroline in my sig, but I haven't touched it for ages. All the stuff on there needs rewriting and revamping. I spend too much time on here instead.

Thanks for sharing this link, Katherine. I agree that a Web site is a must for any author hoping to get a book contract. I'm doing a workshop next month at the Florida Writer's Assn annual conference on platform-building and a Web site is absolutely one of the essential building blocks. Publishers want to know that you have a built-in market for your book. Good for you for getting that Web site up and running!

Cheers,
Sandy

Thanks for the link Katherine. And great job on your clean-looking website.

Terry Lynn

When I created my website, I knew I wanted to try and make every page simply that, a page. I hate scrolling down through reams and reams of material - and honestly, most people don't stick around on web pages very long. You don't have a lot of time to catch peoples attention (think about it next time you are surfing). So that's a rule I tried to adhere to. Admittedly some of my pages (the links page and the artwork page) became larger just out of necessity - but other than that, I tried to keep things to a page, that way, what you see is what you get.

One other thing I read when I was setting up a website was that you should update it regularly. You don't just want visitors, you want RETURN visitors. I try and update news about me and my books whenever I can.

An easy way to ensure you always have an update is to direct people to where your work is being sold most inexpensively - that way your visitors feel like you are helping them out, but also, you are also doing your bit to generate sales. For me, amazon were doing a great deal on my book until about two days ago...oh...look at that, need to go and update my website again. (No, I really do).

Other than that, take a moment to think about your color scheme. Look at other websites that are difficult to read and figure out what about them makes them difficult to read. Is it typeface? is it color scheme? Is it that there is just too much going on? I opted for a really basic typeface and a basic two-tone color scheme that I feel leaves my website looking nice and neat but more importantly, easy to read. I also try and carry over that color scheme/theme to other social networking sites. You'll see my Myspace page is very similar to my website.

Good luck.
Stuart.

I've designed several websites and am now doing one for another author (and will be doing some book trailers for her most likely). Some problems I've seen as well as suggestions of my own...

Colors. Not simply a matter of using attractive colors, but also easy-to-read ones. Heraldry has an excellent rule-of-thumb applicable to graphics today. When "blazoning" a shield, one chooses between colors (black, blue, red, green, purple) and metals (yellow/gold, silver/white). The rule is--never put a color on a color, or a metal on a metal. These days you can fiddle with this a little bit, using a bright cyan on a midnight blue for example, but the basic principal holds.

Navigation. This means a good deal more than simply a visible menu, easy to find. It also means the menu items themselves must be understandable at a glance. Author's Bio, All About Me, The Writer, etc. are all very nice headings for the same thing. Imagine calling the same page Once Upon A Time or Snapshots or Life Lived however. Likewise using a picture instead of (as opposed to "with") text! Another factor in navigation is just how many clicks a visitor needs to make to get where they're going. Having sections in your website with their own subsections/submenus is totally alright. But sub-subsections begin to be a headache.

Clutter. Art is good. Art is valuable. But having more than large graphic on the screen at any one time is busy and distracting. Since most websites use the standard 800 X 600 pixels, a pretty good rule of thumb is to include one nice illustration every 600 pixels or so, thus keeping them at roughly one "on screen" at any given time.

Nice site, Kate. Clean, functional.

I use mine as something of a portfolio but it also functions as the promotional site for the book. One of the most important things I've learned is that if you want to generate traffic you have got, got, GOT to update constantly.

During periods where I update daily, my traffic goes steadily up, but if I get busy with other things and slack off for a week or two, the traffic drops dramatically.

Here's my site.

My site is currently off of my publisher's website. I also have two blogs.

I just got my website up and running- I'm new at this and would love it if you guys would check it out and give me your opinion- I still have to fine tune a few things- there will eventually be a review page and the comment pag isn't active yet- but you'll get the idea- click below in my siggy Thanks! I appreciate the feedback!

Katherine, looking at your site I am led to wonder . . . what is a "professional science fiction writer?" Professional implies a paid career, such as being a newspaper reporter. Is that the case for you?

Pardon me in advance if this sounds rude because it's not meant to be . . . it just struck me as an odd phrase in that context unless you do indeed write sci-fi for someone professionally, as you say.

DavidZahir said:

Likewise using a picture instead of (as opposed to "with") text!

Click to expand...

If you use images for links you must use the ALT code. This is not just good for SEO but also means that website readers (as used by partially-sighted and blind users) can pick up on them.

It is also good practise to include text links somewhere on the page in case the image doesn't load for whatever reason.

I have a website that showcases my work (mostly articles, since I freelance for a living). The site is mostly static and it includes a general sampling of my work in different areas. For updates, I included a link to a blog, which I use as an add-on to the site, rather than as a "normal" blog (to talk about "stuff"). It works for me and I've landed several jobs after editors went through it and found clips that worked for them. So yeah, I think it's a valuable tool.

Katherine, I adore your website. I sent you an email from your site; hope to hear from you soon!




Dena

My site still needs a lot of work, I think. I suck at writing copy and I could stand to do some design updating. However, now that I've got some change, I might just be able to upgrade it soon. If not, I'll definitely use that article link. Thanks.

There's an interesting tool to evaluate your website's design here -- mine got an 88/100. (You don't have to put your email address in, by the way -- the site will do it onscreen for you.) Their analysis also categorizes the various things that go into impact. I'd be interested in what professional web folks think about their criteria.

So what about the basics? Where did you go for web hosting? How about design? I've been using a free program called Nvu, but it's very basic. Thoughts on getting a real website off the ground?