First750 Display Site

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lewisc

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Before I begin, yes, I did in fact read the stickied post above and these links, http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/services/#Display, http://pred-ed.com/pubop058.htm.

Until I read them, I didn't even know "display site" was the name of something. Anyway, the big point of those seems to be, it's not worth paying for but if it's free, it doesn't hurt. Free is good.

So, yes. I just created a display site. Humor me for a second. I did think it was pretty original when I did it.

I think what those links are saying, is that they post a snippet and that's about it (I used a site and that's all they did). For mine, I want to do it a little bit different. Still free.

You get to post a snippet (the first 750 words, get it? first750.com.) Anywho, you also get to post a bio, a photo (cover or whatever), a link to your store of choice and your bio can have 1 link to whatever site you want (hopefully that will be your blog or facebook page or something like that).

In addition, I plan to interview those authors who are willing and post the interview as a follow up post to the original. After reading about display sites, I think may randomly choose one or two per month to review. I do want this site to be valuable to readers and something people will visit.

The site is totally free (for writers and readers). As a writer, I wouldn't pay for this. The reason I started this is that I have a book coming out shortly and I thought a site like this would be good. There was a free one I used for my second book back in 2009, but that link just redirects to booklocker.com now. That's the one I mention above that was pretty static.

My goal is to promote the site and get readers to visit. I would be amazed if publishers or agents have the time to do so. It will also give an extra link to your site and who knows, that might get you one or two extra readers who will tell their friends about your wonderful book and they'll tell their friends, etc.

One more point as a difference to the YADS link. My site is actually for already published books. The idea is to get readers, not agents or publishers. I agree with YADS. A display site is not a good way to do that. I only want to post books that are published and can be obtained in full from a store somewhere (amazon, smashwords, whatever).

Right now it is searchable by category but I plan to add plug-ins that will let readers fine tune their searches. Before posting the entry, I will trade emails with the author to get a photo (if they want one), the best category to put it in and some key words.

So, to make a long story short, or tl;dr, please visit http://first750.com and take a look. I would love to have your book on there. I am also totally open to suggestions for making it better.

Thanks.
 
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lewisc

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Thanks. I've been getting a lot books to put up. It's a little time consuming to format everything but I'm having a blast. I started putting up my book reviews also. I haven't done any author interviews yet but I hope to start that fairly soon. A lot of the authors have signed up for it.
 

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My goal is to promote the site and get readers to visit.

Many people have gone before you, Lewis. I've seen a lot of similar projects set up over the years and all they ever seemed able to attract was the writers who hoped to promote their books.

I hope your site is different, but I'm not convinced it will be.

Still, so long as you're not charging for any of the placements you're offering, there's no harm in it.
 

lewisc

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I agree. I am kind of depending on the authors to spread the word. I'm doing what I can. I still see places that charge for this. I just don't get that aspect.

I personally enjoy books and while not all of the books listed are books I would read, I think giving authors an extra link is worthwhile (for my time, I mean, not for fees).

The book reviews I would do anyway and the author interviews I think will be fun.

LewisC
 
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