the importance of supporting websites....

preyer · Mar 12, 2005

i can already guess at the answer here, but to be sure, how important is it that an author maintain a personal website? being completely uninterested in the concept personally (being a pretty dull individual with a history about as exciting as mud), i'd rather skip it altogether given the choice. do author do these sites out of some personal interest, even egotism, or for more practical reasons such as hawking your wares?

Richard · Mar 12, 2005

Plenty of people don't. The main advantage is that anyone looking for you gets to a central place that you're in complete control of, rather than negative reviews or message board bitching.

James D. Macdonald · Mar 12, 2005

I have a website, but as far as selling my books it's only a tiny number that get bought through it.

aka eraser · Mar 12, 2005

I'm glad I put one up. By posting some previously-published stuff, book excerpts, and the occasional new bit, my profile has increased, at least a bit. I'm shy and have never sought local press, or a book signing. Having a site lets me communicate with folks while remaining relatively anonymous.

Richard · Mar 12, 2005

Er....'anonymous' :-?

James D. Macdonald · Mar 12, 2005

Madhouse Manor

The most popular subpages on my page are my book and movie reviews (need to do more), a list of bookstores, and a collection of public domain stories.

Great for hits, but I don't know as it means much.

Sheryl Nantus · Mar 12, 2005

I keep a website over at Geocities just for the sake of having one. I add updates when I have a story accepted, along with links to both the story and the 'zine in question to provide what support I can for that particular 'zine. I slap a banner (after getting permission, of course) that goes directly to the 'zine's website.

Got links to my LiveJournal, a little blurb on Atlanta Nights for some reason and the usual fluff. Nothing fancy, no dancing butterfly cursor or hiphop music blaring out of the speakers; I don't do dat stuff.

Don't know how effective it is, but I'm getting hits and hopefully passing them onto the owners of the banners and links I've put up. Gotta pass it forward, ya know?

maestrowork · Mar 12, 2005

My own personal site has already generated some interest, even before my book is out. I posted the synopsis, my bio, and an excerpt on it. They certainly help pique some people's interest.

Every bit helps.

MacAllister · Mar 12, 2005

I blog, because it gives me imaginary friends to talk to in the middle of the night.

I think something like four or five people read it, once in a while.

Maryn · Mar 12, 2005

The last writing convention I attended, one of the 'name' guests was quite surprised to see her website. She was not a tech person and while she wrote on a computer, she had never been on the internet and just explored.

She was shocked and disappointed (but hid it until later) that whatever fan bought her name for a domain had never tried to contact her. Instead, the site owner had scrounged what they could. The site was poorly done and featured some incredibly unflattering photographs and badly written text, and had no link to points of sale.

This author's plight certainly illustrates why an author needs to set up a site, if only to keep control out of the hands of the incompetent who probably mean well.

Maryn

aka eraser · Mar 12, 2005

Richard posted:

Er....'anonymous' :-?

I said "relatively."

preyer · Mar 12, 2005

good replies. good point, too, about keeping your own name in your own pocket. i suppose i'd have to 'buy' my own name (though that sounds rather ridiculous to have to do seeing as how its *your own name*), but they could stil use the name in another title or a variation, no? see, i have no clue about this stuff and have no inclination to learn. i enjoy visiting your guys' sites, though i usually don't read much of the stories. i always look for the pictures, wish there were more of them. i also find quite a bit of variance in the quality of the bios.

i reckon that if it boils down to ever getting to that point, i'd have to do one. it'd probably have a lot of dancing strippers and funky emoticons, probably a blog i'd maintain once a month, and tons of general spouting off which would just be threads from other message boards over the years. hm, maybe it's best to let a fan mangle it in my name, after all-- i probably wouldn't be doing myself any favours.

are these things expensive to buy and maintain?

HConn · Mar 12, 2005

Not that expensive, and not that difficult. You should take a little time to read websites about setting up websites, but there's nothing complicated about it.

Wanna know why you need a website? So you can list your books. Put down the books, what year they came out (some readers, iwo me, like to start reading authors with their early books) and which ones are linked by a series or whatever. One section would read: The Pinky Headthumpers Mysteries, followed by a list of books with cover shots. Next section would say: The Quest for the Quest Septology, followed by the cover shots.

If someone stumbles on one of your books and likes it, it will help them find another, even if they don't buy it directly from you.

Richard · Mar 12, 2005

As a general warning, I just saw the words 'buy name' up there. It's vital to realise that you don't actually buy your name - you just buy the rights to use that combination of letters for x number of years. If you let that expire, it's quite likely that some bottom-feeding company will snap it up for themselves, slap a load of search listings on it, and charge you a small fortune to get it back (either by paying up, or via lawyer's fees).

JohnLynch · Mar 12, 2005

No, you don't need a website. In fact, if you're famous enough to have fan websites about you, it's possible to attach your name to one of them and either make it the "official" preyer website or "semi-official"

What's the difference between Official and unofficial? Official websites I expect a complete list of your works and any information that's on it, is correct (semi-official has some leniency in this regard). That's the bare minimum. To have a look at what a good website has, look at various author's websites

Maryn said:
This author's plight certainly illustrates why an author needs to set up a site, if only to keep control out of the hands of the incompetent who probably mean well.

The author would probably be able to get her domain back. Either by complaining to the WPO (who handle disputes involving names) or just asking the individual in question for it. Most people who do it, do it because they like what the author writes and as a form of flattery. It'd be fairly easy to get the domain off them. However a simple "Unofficial" disclaimer prominantly displayed at the top would stop people from thinking it's an official site (people don't expect a lot from official websites

).

Richard said:
If you let that expire, it's quite likely that some bottom-feeding company will snap it up for themselves, slap a load of search listings on it, and charge you a small fortune to get it back (either by paying up, or via lawyer's fees).

WPO doesn't charge money or involve lawyers (as far as I know). It's the equivalent to a small claim's court and would settle that situation if you wanted to buy your domain at a reasonable price.

James D. Macdonald said:
as far as selling my books it's only a tiny number that get bought through it.

I think your underestimating how much your website sells books. Your basing it on your amazon links I think, which is an inaccurate method. Your website has a complete list. I found out that I happened to like one of your books in the past, so I looked for other books. If I do buy one of your books, it will be because of your website (I'm also unlikely to buy it through amazon). Your website has samples of your books, I'm likely to read that, see if I like it and then buy it if so. I'm considering buying quite a few books of one particular author once I read his sample chapters, I wouldn't have considered buying his books without them. Your website is also updated with other stuff so I'm likely to come back and read that, and when I do I'll notice any new books you write

There are 5 authors this year whose websites have made me consider buying some of their stuff when I wouldn't have without the website. I may be unusual in that regard, but I can tell you I'll be looking for more author's websites whenever I go to buy something

Last year I did buy a book that I found out about from an author's website, and I'm damn glad I did because it was extremely enjoyable. If I didn't have 20 other books I've got that need to be read, I would have brought the sequel

Deleted member 42 · Mar 12, 2005

JohnLynch said:
Your website is also updated with other stuff so I'm likely to come back and read that, and when I do I'll notice any new books you write

I'm fairly sure John Lynch was refering to James D. Macdonald there.

I bought my first Macdonald book because I was looking for something by Deborah Doyle

after reading this.

I bought the rest of the Mageworld books out of narrative lust.

Richard · Mar 12, 2005

WPO doesn't charge money or involve lawyers (as far as I know). It's the equivalent to a small claim's court and would settle that situation if you wanted to buy your domain at a reasonable price.

That's how it should work. You have absolutely no guarantees. Getting a website back after it's been stolen can be like pulling teeth, especially when going up against shysters.

cwfgal · Mar 12, 2005

My web site doesn't sell many books (although as someone pointed out, it's hard to know how many folks may have visited, read an excerpt, and then later bought) but it does help to keep my name out there. I offer several "workshops" on my site and also have a sign-up page for my free newsletter, which includes articles on different aspects of publishing, book and movie reviews, an ongoing serialized novel, and whatever else strikes my fancy. (I give away a $10 gift certificate to B&N.com with every issue, too.)

I've given thought to expanding the site at some point (preferably when I sell my next book) but I'm not sure yet just what I'll do with it.

Beth

Eowen · Mar 12, 2005

The text of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy:

http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm

And FAQ's on the UDRP:

http://www.internic.net/faqs/udrp.html

From the FAQ:

FAQs on the URDP said:
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Does the UDRP apply to personal names?[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]No, except to the extent such names are protected by trademark law.

[/font]

As I understand it, a celebrity's name is considered part of their trademark, and so protected under trademark law. I have no idea how big a celebrity you have to be for this to apply.

I would guess that a fan-created site could probably be handled by a polite discussion between the fan who registered the domain name in the first place and the author or their designated representative. Heck, if it's a really good site, it might not be a bad idea for the author to hire the fan to maintain an official site at that domain (with the registration transfered from the fan to the author).

As far as expired domain names being stolen, I've seen it happen, and it can be ugly. Now, there is generally a period after the domain expires during which the domain is locked. This means that the person who had registered that domain can come in and renew their domain during this period without worrying that it's going to be stolen from them. A useful practice if your renewal date sneaks up on you. However, this grace period is not very long (I don't remember how long, off hand), and once it expires, anyone can register that domain. Some registrars even allow you to sign up to receive notification when a particular domain expires.

True story: A client of the company I work for had two domains hosted with us. They decided they only needed one, and when the second domain expired, they did not renew it. But they forgot that they had used the second domain in their yellow pages ad. (Not to mention, who knows how many people had bookmarked their webpage by the alternate, expired name rather than the primary domain.) Someone in Italy snapped up the expired second domain once it became available, and put up a pornography site. Our client got a number of irate calls from their clients, so they called us, wanting to know what we could do about it. Unfortunately, since our client no longer owned that domain name, and we no longer hosted the DNS for that domain name, we could not do anything. Sad, but true.

Your friendly local geek,

Eowen

JennaGlatzer · Mar 12, 2005

Preyer

Here's a more practical reason:

As the editor of Absolute Write, for several years, I was the only person who did the weekly interviews for our newsletter. Most of the time, I hunted down interesting authors on the web, then contacted them for interviews (and/or review copies).

I paid a lot of attention to bios, reader guides, past interviews, clips, etc.

Consider it a place to direct the media: You can use it to house all your vitals (photos, bio, book cover graphics, ordering links, etc.).

For nonfiction people, when my editors ask me for recommendations (let's say one of them calls and says, "I need a good writer to do a book on an entrepreneur"), I send them straight to my writer-friends' websites.

And like the others have said, if a reader has just finished your book and loved it, that reader may very well Google your name to learn more about you and see what else you've written.

maestrowork · Mar 12, 2005

Jenna, are you going to interview some time?

preyer · Mar 12, 2005

good replies, all.

things to bear in mind.

MacAllister · Mar 13, 2005

there are a couple of other things you can do--I recently bought the dotcom of my name, but not having anything particularly interesting or substantial to put up on a big old website, I just did an automatic forward to my blog. This is actually pretty inexpensive, and reserves my name-space for some unspecified point in the future, should I need it. Eventually, I'll move the blog to the domain (after I figure out how...)

I'm one of those readers always actively searching for writers I've never read; the way I find them is to go to the bookstore, find a book I like the looks of, read several pages, and if I like those pages, I buy the book.

If I like the book, then I google the author, looking for more. If there is nothing on the web about the author, I'm about a zillion times more likely to forget their name, and move on.

If there IS information out there--about the upcoming book, a WIP, a blog, what-have-you--then I bookmark it, to revisit and remind myself to watch for that upcoming work.

So a web-presence is fairly important to that book-buying approach. I don't know how typical my own experience is, though.

karenranney · Mar 13, 2005

I have a website, and the funniest part is, my publisher uses it in all the printed promotional stuff - catalogs, cover flats, etc. They call it the "official author's web page". Sigh. Now, if they'd only offer to subsidize it.

Galoot · Mar 13, 2005

MacAllister said:
So a web-presence is fairly important to that book-buying approach. I don't know how typical my own experience is, though.

It's typical enough that at least one Galoot I know does the same thing.

the importance of supporting websites....

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