Web Page! Who Needs One?!

• You have just published your latest novel and feel you need a holiday but if you go away how will people stay in touch? Maybe you should stay at home and postpone your plans?

• A business man is on the road and notices someone reading a book by an author he has never heard of. As he is online on his laptop he decides to check this author out via the internet. He finds the books for purchase but no other information about this author. He closes his laptop and goes about his business. Author and book title forgotten!

• You have emptied your wine glass while visiting a friend. They have left you sat in the lounge while they refill your glass in the kitchen. To pass time you absent-mindedly pick up a book that they have been reading and the description grabs your interest, you notice that the book is from the library. When your friend returns you ask them about the novel and they sing its praises. Looking at the copyright page you see the author has his own web site. Your friend loans you a pen to note down the web page and you make a mental note so you can then check this out when you are next online.

• As usual Auntie Doris is stuck and unsure what to buy her niece for her birthday. She knows that her niece reads a lot and remembers that one of her favourite authors has a new book out soon. If only she could remember the name of that author and book?

• Spielberg looks out across the San Fernando Valley. He knows what he wants for his next movie but he can’t quite find the story that he’s looking for. He has the basis of four of five key ideas for the plot line, surely there is something or someone out there that already has a piece of work that he can mould for his next project?

A technique I picked up from my business writing was to use SQCA – Situation, Complication, Question and Answer.
The basis of this is that you hook in the reader by presenting scenarios to which they can relate, detail the complications and challenges in that scenario, reinforce what would be needed to reduce those challenges and finally suggest a method of how to do so.

All of the scenarios detailed above are real (well maybe not the last one) and many of us will be familiar with at least one of these in our author-lives. In line with the SCQA concept, what then can be done to alleviate some of the challenges that the scenarios raise?

What you need is a repository of information that readers and interested parties can access even when you are unavailable. A place where their questions can be answered quickly and efficiently and where they can find the very latest information about you, your writing and your publishing activities.

An author focussed web page goes part way to providing this solution!

I say part way because it will only be useful for those with access to the internet. It is NOT the ‘be all and end all’ as many would have you believe, but it is a very valuable tool, both for marketing and for communication with our reader base and I feel strongly that authors are losing a very effective communication mechanism if they choose to ignore the technology.

But surely I need lots of technical know how to have a page, or I need to spend a fair bit of cash to have someone do it for me?
Having the technical know how will help but, in short, the answer is no to both points.

With regards creating your web page there are now a host of tools out there that will help you with this. Some complicated web publishing engines that allow creation of pages and links and managed publication to the internet, and others more simplistic that will allow you to create web pages and links in a similar fashion to a word processor. Some expensive business focussed applications and others freeware solutions for the amateur.

Likewise, if you have a broadband connection, it is very likely that your service provider already has a file storage area reserved for your use and for publication of a web page and in most cases this will be an inclusive part of your broadband solution, a part that the majority of users do not utilise. For example BT provide space with the BT broadband solution and I have recently assisted a fellow independent author with her page and her provider, Tiscali, also had an inclusive web page file storage area. The result was that this author now has her own web page and it has not cost her a penny more than she was already paying.

Figure 1: BT Geocities Web Authoring Solution for BT Broadband Customers

In the first instance, if you are not technically savvy, I would recommend finding someone who has basic computer skills, but once you have been shown how to create, modify and publish web based information then you will realise that it is, in truth, fairly straight forward given the tools we have available today. In short, if you can use a word processor you can handle web page creation and publishing, and indeed, MS Word actually has a web page editing function included. Try saving a file as a web page (.htm) instead of the standard word document (.doc) – easy huh? You’ve just created a web page.

Figure 2: MS Word HTML Feature

But I’ll need all those snazzy graphics and artistic skills?

No again 
Most of the web document creation tools now include ‘royalty free’ designs and templates. Also, the less graphical content you use on your page the faster the page will load for readers. Remember not everyone has a fast broadband connection.

So as an author, what would I need on my web page?

This is entirely up to you and what you feel your readers would like to see.
However, as a minimum I would suggest including the following:

• A Home Page that is not heavy on content so it loads quickly and introduces who you are and shows all the links on your web site. This will be the page that people find on search engines and where they will ‘land’ when they arrive at your site.
• An Author Bio Page that gives a quick summary of who you are and your background. Readers love to see the author too so include a suitable image in your bio. Black and white photos are common and in many ways are more suitable for this type of marketing.
• Buy One; the essential page for business. Where can the reader or casual web surfer get hold of a copy. If you sell direct signed copies make this prominent, especially if, like me, this gives the best royalty payment. Include also the various suppliers of your books and take time to download their logos as opposed to just a text link.
• A Press/Review page; this should be a ’live’ page where you place information relating to reviews of your work and/or links to press articles, radio interviews etc;.
• Do include a page that provide a Synopsis for each of your books.
• Sample Chapters; pick your best ones and try to keep the sample to under 10,000 words in general.

I would provide these as the essential pages, however I would also strongly recommend the following:

• A News Page or BLOG (essentially an electronic diary); this is where you share your latest news with your reader base. The term blog is very common these days but I would resist the growing habit of many to use this area as a sounding block for opinions and for general ‘waffle’. This area should be for news relating to your writing and publishing. If you do want a blog that deals with more general things then separate the two and have a NEWS page and a BLOG link.
•

Figure 3: Typical Author Home Page

Interesting – so I should be able to publish my page and then start to get the sales rolling in, right?

Most definitely wrong.
The VAST majority of your web site visitors will go to your pages because they are searching for YOU. There are certain tricks that can be used to have search sites (such as Yahoo, Google etc;) put your web site on a ‘marketing’ list that will increase the visibility of your site but I would suggest that this would be money wasted.
You WILL generate additional sales from having a web page – but you are not going to have thousands of new readers visiting your site every week just by having one.
Look at the web page as primarily a useful source of information for your existing readers and with the added bonus of occasionally hooking in someone new. That way you won’t be disappointed when your sales don’t start to go through the roof.

Finally DO ask questions on chat rooms; such as the Lulu Forum and the UK Wiki forum. There are a fair number of people around with the skills and experience of creating and managing web sites and they will often offer their help and friendly advice. Even better if you know someone in the IT world who can help you out at first hand. After all, it is much easier and more effective to be shown something rather than read a wodge of technical instruction via email.

Figure 4: Typical Author Forum

Oh! By the way; that’s not an over-use of abbreviation in the title, it has a ? and an ! intentionally – I’ve heard the title phrase used in both contexts, as a question and as a statement. Hopefully this article has helped you make your own mind up.

Me? I wouldn’t be without one. Check out www.lovesey.net and you’ll see why.

Good luck and happy surfing!