How important is a web presence?

David McAfee · Mar 23, 2007

And to what degree? I.E. Should I worry about having a website now? Or is it only important if my work gets published? Do I need to set up a blog?

johnzakour · Mar 23, 2007

I don't think it's that big of a deal.

http://www.johnzakour.com
http://www.myspace.com/johnzakour
http://www.comics.com/comics/workingdaze/

Still it's good to have.

veinglory · Mar 23, 2007

It depends on your target audience, how painful it would be to put up a site and and how effective you are at designing one.

Personally I think it can be over-rated, certainly at the pre-publication stage. You might want to snag your penname as a domain name though to avoid missing out later.

Vomaxx · Mar 23, 2007

If I am published, I certainly plan to have a website. Practically all fantasy authors do, which suggests that it is a good idea.

Rhea L · Mar 23, 2007

I've read on agents' blogs that they sometimes look up the writers who query them online, and if a decent website comes up in the results, that might count as a tiny little bit of a point to your favor.

Apart from that, well, it's taking care of your business. But I wouldn't sweat over that - if you have the skills and a bit of spare time to whip up a website, and - more importantly - you have something of substance to put there - go for it. Otherwise, don't. Getting your name out there never hurts, but a site online is not going to make or break your career.

TLHines · Mar 23, 2007

Look at it this way: you're gonna need a website when you get that publishing contract. And when you get that publishing contract, you'll have a ton of things to do. Why not get the website thing out of the way now? Set up a free blog at blogspot, if nothing else, and register your name as a domain.

veinglory · Mar 23, 2007

A nice start would be to get the domain first, then host the bogspot blog under the domain from the beggining. Outlay only about $8 annually and it avoids the tacky "free site" look.

PeeDee · Mar 23, 2007

Out of the millions of author's web-sites out there, I frequent maybe two?

The rest I glaze over. They're like cover letters, or they're like personal web-sites, and unless I have an interest in the person, then I probably won't pay attention.

But that's just me.

Have a web-presence if it's useful, if you have something to say. Otherwise, meh.

I count AW as my web-presence.

Linda Adams · Mar 23, 2007

If you have a book coming out, it's a 24 hour a day advertisement, all over the world.

citymouse · Mar 23, 2007

When people hear that I'm a writer they ask several questions. First, "..what are your books about?" Second, "..can I get them on Amazon.com? Third, "...do you have a website and do you have reviews and excerpts on your site?
The answer to the first question is too long to speak of here. The answers to the second and third questions is, YES!
C

Claudia Gray · Mar 23, 2007

As others have said, it depends on your audience. In some genres I would think it wouldn't matter, but I write YA, where a Web site and some interactivity is a must. My first book is published in summer 2008, and everyone from agent to editor has counseled me to have something up by the end of this summer at latest.

maestrowork · Mar 23, 2007

Website is your billboard. Your domain name is your brand. Don't expect traffic unless you're ready to push it, though.

ORION · Mar 23, 2007

My agent and editor loved my blog but had me hold off doing my website until my ARCs were closer to coming out.
Neither wanted my work posted until 5 months from release either.

benbradley · Mar 23, 2007

If you want a domain name that's either your name or the name of your book (presuming it's not going to get changed before it's published) or whatever, I urge you to get it and start paying the $8 per year right now, so you'll be sure to have it when you need it. benbradley.com, .net and .org were all taken as of about 2000. I thought of getting benbradley.com circa 1998 but IIRC the only source of domains was Network Solutions at $35 per year, and it wasn't that important to me.

maestrowork · Mar 23, 2007

Whether you want a site now or not, I suggest you snap up the domain name you want now. Web real estate is going fast, and if someone already has your name, chances are you will have to pay a lot to get it back.

Edward G · Mar 23, 2007

I figured I'd go ahead and reserve a domain name, blog, and myspace account. Anyone who's been to my website knows it's just a shell right now, same with myspace. I figure they'll be important marketing tools in the future, and I'll let my agent and/or editor dictate what I should have for content. If it were up to me, I'd put all kinds of stuff about ghost hunting, black magic, etc. on my website, but that may not be the best idea. For that matter, I may have to delete a bunch of stuff from my blog, like the bit about God being Big Banged by the universe. We'll just have to wait and see.

aka eraser · Mar 23, 2007

I agree with reserving your domain name if you're serious about this writing thing. As to whether or not you should get a site or blog up and running, it depends: have you got anything to post that would interest a stranger?

James D. Macdonald · Mar 24, 2007

Only do it if you think it's fun.

Manat · Mar 24, 2007

I have a site going up in a few days (I hope) It's been two months now. Both my agent and my editor strongly recommended it. My book isn't published until the fall of 2008 but I've already lost some opportunities for exposure because my site wasn't ready. My book was the subject of a really nice blog and people were asking great, where's the website I'll check her out, and the blogger wrote back she doesn't have one yet. Ouch! Ouch!Ouch! I have a college student doing mine. It costs about $300.00 and $25 when I need maintenance. I don't have the skills to do one myself but my experience so far is that even though my book is still 16 months away I should have started with the website 6 months ago. I'm not even going to try a blog until I have my current two WIP's finished. I've heard people really get annoyed if you have a blog and you don't update it and keep it fresh, but in terms of creating/maintaiing a buzz and getting your name out there a website seems a must, at least in my genre.

Penguin Queen · Mar 24, 2007

Ive had a website since I had a couple of short stories published. It's a kind of extended business card, it goes out as my email signature, so anyone who wants to look at what I do, can. It's also got a couple of photos on it, which I think with a non-visual thing like writing is a good way of getting more visible in poeple's minds.

I'm also a radio journalist, & for that the website is very useful too, if I email someone to ask for an interview, they can go look at my website & get an idea about my work & myself.

If you like tinkering about on the web, I'd definitely recommend getting one.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 24, 2007

Website

Can a website be useful? Yes. Is it a requirement? Of course not. Writers sold millions of books for many years without websites, and still do. Websites are more useful for letting fans be somewhat intimate with a writer they really like, rather than for selling massive numbers of books.

And if your publisher really wants you to have a website, your publisher will probably build you one.

johnzakour · Mar 24, 2007

I think I sell far more books from review websites than I do from any of my own websites.

The websites are nice so people can find me and send me email and stuff, but James is right you can sell many many books without a web site.

maestrowork · Mar 24, 2007

I think as a promotional tool, interactive sites such as a blog or MySpace or chat room or a BB like AbsoluteWrite are far more useful than a website, unless you offer interactive, constant content. Websites are static advertising, and most often people will have to be already interested in finding more about you -- either they've heard about you or read your book already. I've sold more books on AW simply by being myself and engaging others and making friends -- but if they want to know more about me, the website and my blog are good sources... but no, I don't sell books because of them.

job · Mar 24, 2007

Google preferentially collects sites that are updated frequently. A blog -- your blog or a mention of you on someone else's blog -- is more likely to come up at the top of your Google list than the website you paid good money for, but have not updated in months.
If you have a common name, your website may be waaaay down the Google list.

Consider a blog, maybe. A good blog, ISTM, provides about all the 'web presence' you need. You can post links to your books. Reviews. Covers. Your picture. Pictures of your cat. News about upcoming releases.

As to an agent seeing your blog or website --
I doubt even a spectacular website helps much.
(Unless she wants to ask who your designer is.)

A website or blog with bad or poorly-considered writing might shoot you in the foot.

johnzakour · Mar 24, 2007

maestrowork said:
I've sold more books on AW simply by being myself and engaging others and making friends --

That's very true. I've sold a good number of books from shameless plugs on AW.

Of course I sell the most books from actual book stores where people see the books on the shelves, notice the covers and say, "ooh, pretty!" and buy the book. Now that I have multiple books out it looks neat to see three or four of them in a row. Far more clout than I could ever get with any web site demo.

(The Frost Haired Vixen, available in fine book stores now all over the country.)

How important is a web presence?

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