Finally Got Published... Now What?

TP,
Your agent and editor should be advising you on this. At least, register an appropriate domain name and email address. Say...tooterfish.com and [email protected], for example.

That way you have dibs on the name for your website when you decide to create it.

--Stan, with no website either, but who owns stanmillernovels.com if he ever decides to build one.

At least start a blog or site to showcase your published work. If people start googling you they'd at least get some info on what you have for sale. Lots of writers tweet and it doesn't take a lot of time to set up.

Either Lisa or Laura Roecker, who have a book coming out next year (their agent is Catherine Drayton of Inkwell) recently tweeted: There's nothing worse than googling an author and coming up with NOTHING. Major pet peeve of mine. I'm NOSY.

I feel the same way. Even if it's something simple with a short bio, and cover art, at least there's something. If I google an author and nothing comes up, I kind of feel like they're not that big, even though it might not be true. Same goes for agents too. If I google an agent and nothing comes up, I feel like they're not worth querying.

I wouldn't worry about it. Too many writers spend far too much time trying to build a web presence, or trying to promote their writing, when they should be producing ever more writing.

When you actually need a web presence, you'll get one, even if you don't want it, and have nothing to do with making it happen.

I agree with James here. I don't think JK Rowling has a personal facebook page... She isn't on twitter either, she said she is too busy writing to have one...

laurafre said:

I agree with James here. I don't think JK Rowling has a personal facebook page... She isn't on twitter either, she said she is too busy writing to have one...

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She is on twitter, actually.
She joined in March, and had over a million followers within 24 hours.

She's also had a very, very popular website for years.

She might not buy into full-force (and she doesn't need to), but clearly she sees some value in an on-line presence.

I say it partly depends on what you write. If you write for kids or YA, your audience will usually expect you to have a web presence. Rowling is the exception rather than the rule. Not to mention that there are numerous sites devoted to her work. She doesn't need to maintain one.

Likewise, the SF/F world is more likely to be computer savvy geeks. I happen to be married to one of those. A web presence is a big plus.

Nonfiction? I would definitely have web presence as part of my platform.

So really, it depends on who you write for and what you want to accomplish. If you do decide to have some web presence, it can be as small or as enormous as you choose.

There's a huge difference in JK then a writer just started out. And again, I don't agree with you James. It can make a difference if a writer along with the publisher helps to promote.

brainstorm77 said:

There's a huge difference in JK then a writer just started out. And again, I don't agree with you James. It can make a difference if a writer along with the publisher helps to promote.

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I agree (and disagree with JAR) -- it's a manageable enough thing to do, so why not do what you can to support your own career?

willietheshakes said:

I agree (and disagree with JAR) -- it's a manageable enough thing to do, so why not do what you can to support your own career?

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Exactly.

A blog/website comes across as more professional than a facebook page, in my opinion. Look at the wording - people friend you on facebook, people put you on a watch list on a blog.

Remember that you don't have to treat a blog as a daily diary or anything. Just set the front page to show only the latest post and call that post "Latest News".

And an author's web presence is great for finding an author's bibliography, and news about when the next book is likely to come out. That's generally what I go looking for authors for.

You could add "books" after the name; I saw that recently on another author's site. Or "Author" at the beginning.

My name is fairly common (yet another reason for me to use my initials, really) and even though I switched to using my initials, I still couldn't get my name as a domain. I ended up adding 'online' to my name to get my domain name.

I'm not published yet and I doubt I have a huge crowd following my blog or my twitter (which I just set up this week) but at least I'm there and it is at my disposal when I want it. I have heard agents say they will sometimes seek out a website or blog of an author who sends them a query that interests them. They like to try to get a sense of who that person is, after all.

SJ Gordon said:

I have heard agents say they will sometimes seek out a website or blog of an author who sends them a query that interests them. They like to try to get a sense of who that person is, after all.

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This can be good or bad. But agents want books that will sell. If you have one, everything else is meaningless until after the book is on the market. If you don't have one, nothing helps.

Writers are much like agents in this sense. The really good ones don't need to owrry about a web presence, and the bad ones aren't helped by it.

Jamesaritchie said:

When you actually need a web presence, you'll get one, even if you don't want it, and have nothing to do with making it happen.

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It doesn't take long to set up a webpage or a free blog that showcases your work. It makes you come across as more legitimate, in my opinion (not that you weren't legit before having a page, but moreso because I know I can trust what I find on your page to be coming from you, the author). It doesn't even have to be a website - Lynn Viehl just has a blog (which she updates like clockwork; I'm in serious awe) and it contains the pertinent info of upcoming work, backlist, etc.
Having others talk about/post about your backlist, upcoming books, etc is a bonus. I know on more than a couple occasions there were times I tried an author due to the references and reviews of others, especially in genres I tend not to read in as often.

willietheshakes said:

She is on twitter, actually.
She joined in March, and had over a million followers within 24 hours.
[...]She might not buy into full-force (and she doesn't need to), but clearly she sees some value in an on-line presence.

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Yup. There were people parading around as her and JKR didn't like that so she created a Twitter account so readers wouldn't be fooled/do something silly because they thought, well JKR said to do it...

kurzon said:

And an author's web presence is great for finding an author's bibliography, and news about when the next book is likely to come out. That's generally what I go looking for authors for.

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Right. Goes back to the legitimacy factor. It's nice to get info about the books right from the person writing the books.

Rochester said:

I just bought the domain my-name.com
Not as cool as myname.com... but whatever, it gets the job done.

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Link it in your profile...free advertising right in your signature section every time you post on the boards, especially useful since you've published and everything (congrats, by the way)!

Jamesaritchie said:

This can be good or bad. But agents want books that will sell. If you have one, everything else is meaningless until after the book is on the market. If you don't have one, nothing helps.

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They want books that sell, but they also want to get an idea of your personality. I think it helps give them an idea of how to market you overall. When I look at Dean Koontz's online home, I get a different feel of the atmosphere and than when I look at Dorothy Koomson's website. Even without clicking through their backlist, I get an idea of the type of stories they write.

I don't think it's necessary to have a Twitter or Facebook account. I do think a simple web site is a good idea -- just a couple of pages that has some very basic biographical info about you, what books you already have out, what will be coming out next. Just some way for people who do want to learn more about you to get a little bit of information. A really simple site won't require a lot of time or energy to maintain.

I don't think it's worth paying 200 dollars. Just play with variations until something comes up.

My publisher's advice about web presence was simple - if you don't put something out there, someone else will. When people google you out of curiosity, do you want them to find what other people have written (like a review that doesn't glow), or do you want them to find a site that you control prominently listing places to buy your book?

With that said - I created a blog, a site, a Facebook, and a Twitter, but I won't lie - I update the blog daily, and the rest of the stuff comes if I have energy left over after writing. And hanging out here. It's too much, trying to pay attention to all those channels. As long as the writing comes first, I think the other stuff can only help.

It sounds like you want everything to be as low maintenance as possible, because you're not keen on the online stuff. Blogs are quick to start, but have high maintenance as you have to keep writing posts and dealing with comments. Websites have more to set up at first, but they only need updating when you have news or new books. So you may not have made the best choice for the longterm.

As for the Wordpress name, I wouldn't pay for it. I'm sure you can come up with something short and appropriate that noone's taken.