Yesterday I spent some time surfing the web, looking at author's web pages. It was an interesting experience. Some authors have up-to-date information on their sites with all sorts of extras such as character biographies and trailers for their books. Several of those with extensive bibliographies have the complete list, broken down into series and some even give publishing dates. Like I said, their pages are really up to date.
And then there are the others. I found websites three and four years out of date. On one website the author more or less said, "I'm too busy to mess with this anymore. So here's what I have up to this point in time." It was dated two years ago.
Personally, I don't care how fancy your website is as long as it has current accurate information. Fancy slide shows? Trailers for every book under the sun? Not necessary. When I visit an author's website, I want three things: an up-to-date list of the author's books with purchasing information, an up-to-date list of upcoming books, and if any of the books are part of a series, then I want the title order listed so I know which book to read first.
Everything else after that is gravy. Maps, free short stories, character bios, author autobiography are all fine. As long as they're up to date!
There are a couple authors that I wonder if they're dead or alive. To my way of thinking, if you're not going to keep your info updated, then why have it??? If there's no way to reach you to let you know half your links are broken, if there's no current information on your career and what or when to expect releases, then why do you have a web page?
New authors worry about whether their web page is fancy enough. I've looked at some beautiful pages...with broken links and fancy do-dads that didn't work. Just give me a straight forward business-like page with the information I need. Never forget that the point of having a web page is to disseminate information.
Anything after that is extra.
anny
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I'd like to try a trailer one of these days. I am so very techie challenged though.
ReplyDeleteI agree. SImpler is often better, but current is critical!
ReplyDeleteI need to get to work on mine...
ReplyDeleteWV today is 'geranine'. Any way to work that one into to your MV language??
Out-of-date info is a pet peeve of mine. I have a reminder on my PDA to update my web site every other week. Even if I just go in and tweak it a bit, I like to make sure that 'last updated' date is current.
ReplyDeleteI added a separate page of releases, buy links, etc., which my sister (one of my biggest fans) prints and gives to all her friends. I ALWAYS keep that one page current.
You know I've struggled with my website issues for a long time. I HAD a nice website but getting current information on it was like pulling teeth because I had to depend on others to get it done.
ReplyDeleteIt's gone now and I built my own. No it's not fancy and beautiful but there IS something beautiful about being able to get my information on it promptly. I'd loooove to have something breathtaking but if I can't update myself, then forget it.
what others do or don't do on their sites is up to them...sometimes life gets in the way of updating and you never know what someone is going through do you?
ReplyDelete