Tag: Networking

Write Tip: 12 Essentials For A Successful Author Website

Published on by Bryan22 Comments

I’ve spent a lot of time studying and designing websites the past ten years. I’ve done so for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, non-profits and individuals. I’ve done it for myself. With the rapidity of change on the World Wide Web, there are constant lessons to be learned. But my author website has grown in a little over a year from 10 hits a month to over 1000. Sure, I have a long way to go. But that kind of growth shows I’m doing something right, doesn’t it? It’s taken some work, goal setting and dedication. And now it seems to be paying off. There are a few key essentials I’ve discovered which can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful site for authors. So I’m presenting them here to help any of you who might still be sorting out your sites:

1) Your Photo. Readers what to connect with you, that’s why they visit your site. So the proper balance to capture is a mix of professional with personal touches. Your site needs to look professional, have professional design and layout and data. But also allow personal connection, in particular, through your contact pages and blog. But even more than these, it needs an author photo. Whether the photo is informal or formal is your call. Most people I’ve talked with recommend something in between. Torn cutoffs, a t-shirt and a beer in your hand probably isn’t the best message. Nice looking jeans and shirt, relaxing with a dog is ok. In part, it depends on how you want to connect. Do you want to befriend readers or be in contact but keep them at a distance?

2) Contact Information. Make it easy to contact you by providing a contact page with a text entry form to email you, links to your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. and an address for press inquiries or sending books for autographs, etc. You don’t have to give out your personal address and phone number or email. In fact, I recommend you just don’t. But don’t make it impossible to contact you either. Plenty of add-ons are available to use a generic email that forwards to your private email, etc. You can protect yourself well, but readers want to connect with you and you should enable it, not make it a challenge.

3) List Of Works. In the past, this was always called the ‘Bibliography’ page, but more and more that term is being regarded as old fashioned and people are listing their works under ‘Works’ or separated by categories like ‘Books’ and ‘Short Stories.’ How you choose to label it is up to you but list them, the date of publication, where they appeared, and whenever possible provide links to anything readers can access online. Not just purchase links, mind you, but links to read your work and get to know you. Your work itself is your greatest marketing tool. If they read it and like it, they’re more likely to buy more. And list them in order of release so people can read the books of your series in correct order.

4) Biography. Who are you? Readers want to know. Don’t tell them too much but do tell them enough to give them some hint of you as a person. Where do you live? Just the state is fine, but feel free to mention the city if you’re comfortable. Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you work full time? Have pets? What are your hobbies? Give them a taste of the real you so they get a clue as to what makes you tick and can connect with you as a real person, not just some name on books they read or buy.

5) Favorite Authors. Part of telling readers who you are is letting them in on how you’re inspired, how you developed as a writer, where you came from. This happens in not just you Biography but also by mentioning some of your favorite authors. Every writer has such influences and often they run deep and permeate our worker. Readers may already have guesses as to who those are. Let them in on it. It’s yet another way they can feel connected. After all, they may well like some of those authors, too, and, if not, you may help them discover new favorites.

6) A Blog. It’s best to incorporate the blog right into your site, but if not, have a direct link that takes them there. Your blog is where you share your heart–your writing process, a little about life events, what you care about. It’s where readers dialogue with you through not only reading and emotional responding but also with comments. This is where you build those relationships and friendships. Fellow authors and other professionals will stop by too.

7) Links. Don’t just mention your favorite Author or websites, link directly to them. This way visitors to your site don’t have to work hard to visit those places, they just click and go.  It’s the way of the World Wide Web, and believe me, it’s a distinguishing mark of a professional website. People appreciate that you provide resources and make them easy to get to. They get frustrated when you make it hard. And you don’t want your comments streams filled with dialogue about that, believe me. So make it easy and thus a pleasure to visit your site. This includes, as previously stated, making it easy to follow you on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and wherever else you are active with social media and online.

8 ) Post Regular Updates. Don’t just set up your website and leave it to rot. Update it. This should be done at least once a week, and the more the better. Post blog entries on regular days. My main blog posts go up every Monday and Thursday. Anything I post in between is extra but my readers know they can come to my blog those days every week and find new content. That makes it easy for them to know when to check in. You should make it easy, too.  Reply to comments in a timely way. It shows your readers you care and thanks them for their interest. Update your news, Works, and anything else as required. Make sure things are as up to date as possible. People stop checking websites when they sit static too long with nothing new and no updates. And once they stop, they may not come back.

9) Feeds. If possible have links to your RSS feeds, Twitter feeds, etc. right on the site–on every page. Make it easy for people to click and then follow updates. It will help hold their interest. There are lots of authors with sites. You want to keep them coming back. The more ways you provide for them to stay connected, the better.

10) Appearance Schedule. People connect with you then they want a real face to face connection. Let them know where they can meet you.

11) Determine Your Boundaries First & Stick To Them. How much personal v. professional information are you comfortable sharing? Where are your boundaries? Know before you start to avoid issues later. Do not mistake blogging for anything but public sharing, so be sure you want everyone to know before you post it.

12) An Easy To Remember URL. Okay, this probably should be number one, because it’s the most important of all. But after doing all the other stuff, if people can’t remember your website address, they won’t come. The easiest way to do it is to use your name but if you have a famous property like Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor, then that might work, too, but it needs to be something readers know widely and always think of you. After all, you need to pick something you can live with forever. It’s not that you can’t change your web address, people do. But changing it makes it likely someone will not be able to find you again. So you want to start with and maintain a URL you can live with forever if possible. Choose wisely.

Think of any I didn’t mention? Feel free to list them in comments. There’s certainly a lot more one can do with an author site than what I’ve mentioned. Links to buy your work, links to interviews and reviews, etc. Sometimes these are included in your blog or news feed and sometimes you want them separated to their own pages, like I’ve done. It’s your call. But provide them so people can find them somewhere. I do know that these basic bits will get your website up and running and working well from day one. You can always expand and fine tune it later, but starting strong is very important. I wish you success with your websites and hope this is helpful.

For what it’s worth…

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. He’s also the host ofScience Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.

Networking & First Impressions

Published on by Bryan

This blog is focused on writing–craft, business and careers. And part of any successful writing career is networking. When you work in a creative business, you run into a lot of people whose ideas and approaches differ from your own. Not only their approaches to life but to art, politics, religion, etc. My being a Christian in science fiction, a world full of scientists, makes it an interesting experience sometimes. I know there are people I consider friends who find my religious views ignorant and even sad. I feel the same about their Atheism, even worse about Agnosticism. But I try really hard not to let that show, because, in the end, what draws us together is more important to me than what separates us. Not just because we are human but also because we are writers. Maybe I admire their craft, their voice, or their business acumen. Maybe I admire their scientific knowledge, their experience–it could be any number of things. Whatever it may be, religious differences are not going to cause me to think less of them as friends or respect them less. Unless, they disrespect me.

And I have been disrespected, but so far rarely by people I thought of as friends. There are people in this world, to my surprise, who actually think they can surmise enough from looking at you for five minutes to decide if they will ever like you. And like stubborn mules–in both actions and wisdom–they stick to it. Neither movement of heaven nor movement of Earth will change their opinions. That’s just the way it is.

Personally, I find the immature, selfish and stupid. BUT people like that exist.

I had one experience where this person, a beginning writer who happened to have co-edited an anthology, snubbed me at an event for the antho. I had several friends in the anthology and went to support them. Took pictures, etc. Afterwards, I politely went up to introduce myself, and never have I felt such cold outside of a snowstorm or perhaps a zoo’s Penguin exhibit. It was just a rude, cold “nice to meet you” stated only because of social mores, then a quick turn away and ignoring.

And you know what? I will probably never buy a book by that person, RT a link promoting their story or interview them for #sffwrtcht or any such thing because I just can’t respect that. Ironically, I had several people come up later and tell me they saw how I was treated and felt it was ridiculous. They thought that person was shallow and fake and had no respect for it. That’s the impression that person made.

You don’t have to like or even be friends with everyone you meet in the world. No, not even in a creative business like publishing. But I would say you should damn well learn to keep those feelings to yourself and treat them with respect. You never know who the person is who could help or hurt your career and you never know who else is watching. It can come back and hurt you. Maybe not now but what about in ten years. People don’t forget things like that. Especially not a first impression. Oh yes, you can PMS or whatever guys call it sometimes with people you know well. You can be out of sorts from a crisis. But when you just treat people rudely for no good reason, you show your lack of respect for other people on a general level in a way no one who witnesses it will ever forget.

And that’s bad for business. It also creates awkward situations. I have a number of friends who like, pal around with and call this person friend. In fact, some of them include this person in their “in” group in ways they never include me. It’s disappointing, because you feel left out and you feel like they don’t respect you as much. But on other hand, it sometimes makes me question why they don’t see what I see?. It’s not a one time thing,  by the way. This person has continued to treat me badly or virtually ignore me since.  I continue to respect and like those friends because of many reasons so I don’t hold it against them. It doesn’t really matter because I don’t want to be around that writer anyway nor anyone else with such a crappy attitude toward people. Doesn’t matter what the person thinks of me or why they don’t like me, I know for a fact I never did anything but treat them with respect and offer encouragement and the reaction I received just shows a lack of class and a total lack of understanding of networking.

I use this not to complain about it but as an example of what not to do.

Some of you might be saying “maybe the person is just introverted and bad in social situations.” I’d buy that if the behavior hadn’t continued. Yes, many introverted writers struggle in these situations. I do too. Work on it. You can only use introversion so far as an excuse. Do you really want to lose opportunities because of it? It’s like any other weakness, something you need to learn to overcome as best you can.

Part of networking is leaving people with the impression “he or she is cool and might be fun to work with” or “that’s a person I enjoyed chatting with.” This is so that the next time they see you, they’ll smile and actually be glad and maybe even remember your name. And those kinds of connections can lead to all kinds of opportunities. I can’t tell you how many times people I haven’t seen in over a decade have opened doors for me or introduced me to important people. All because of a first impression. All because of respect. That has even happened with people I don’t remember liking that much. Sometimes I like them now very much, just not who they were then. And sometimes my opinion hasn’t changed. But who cares. There’s no law saying everyone you know has to be someone you like but there is an unwritten law that every person deserves the same respect you want back from them. And by violating that, you can create long term repercussions which can hurt you career. Do you really want to do that?

In life, as in business, “who you know” can be very important. So next time you go to a workshop or a Con or even a restaurant, remember how important it is to treat everyone with the same kindness you’d like to be treated. Forget your personal feelings for a moment. If they are not your cup of tea, don’t have them over for dinner or hang out with them, etc. But don’t let yourself be rude to them. Don’t badmouth them because of some personal vibe. Just keep it to yourself, be polite, and you never know what will happen.

That’s a lesson I’ve learned from being in the creative/entertainment business since 1987. It’s always served me well and it’ll serve you, too.

For what it’s worth…

World Fantasy Report

Published on by Bryan

I keep putting this off but I have to blog something this week and I really don’t know why I haven’t just gotten down to it.  Maybe it’s because I don’t want to acknowledge that World Fantasy Con is over.  So fantastic an experience was it that I wish it could have gone on much longer than it did.  As much as I did in those four days, it passed like a flash, and looking back it wasn’t long enough.

Unlike many cons, World Fantasy is a literary convention focused on writers, editors, publishers and artists.  It leans heavily toward pros, semi-pros and aspiring pros, and it is all about one thing:  networking.  Sure, they have the World Fantasy awards.  Sure, they have panels.  But the heart of this convention is community.  And I felt a part of the community of Science Fiction and Fantasy in a special way.  I met some people I have long admired and wanted to meet, and I met others who are just getting started just like me.  Some of those were friends I’d already met on Twitter and Facebook.  Some were new faces.  Either way, it was a delight to be able to finally say “yes, I know these people.”

I spent a lot of time just meeting as many people as I could.  In some cases, I used the excuse of books to get signed.  In others, I used my position with Tangent.  At no time did I try to sell anyone my work.  Instead, I focused on just making a good impression and getting to know them.  In the end, I found people often asked me about myself in turn.  One person at the TOR party, upon hearing my dream of one day being a TOR author, introduced me to Tom Doherty himself as a great new writer.  Mind you, this was someone who had never read my work.  Doherty asked me what I was working on and who I was going to send it to, then suggested I send it directly to one of his editors.  I could have pinched myself.

Another time, I got to chat with editor John Joseph Adams, who happens to date a friend of mine.  JJ is a really nice guy and I enjoyed picking his brain about editing and his approach as well as anthologies.  I pitched him an idea of my own to get his opinion and he thought it was a good idea, then suggested some potential markets.  I already have one publisher interested and want to approach another just in case.

I also spent several hours with Mike Resnick, one of my writing heroes.  I’ve befriended him on FB and Twitter, and though I didn’t remind him of his promise to buy me a drink, instead we talked about my novel and how to market and he introduced me to several people who came by — Kay Kenyon, Gordon Van Geller, and others since Mike knows everyone.

Lastly, I spent several hours chatting with Jeremy Lassen and the publisher of Brilliance Audio about publishing and other topics.  They were very kind to this ignorant neophyte and explained things, offering the wisdom of their experience.

I also got the chance to give out some copies of my book “The North Star Serial, Part 1.”  Mostly to friends, including Mike Resnick, as a thank you for their support.   I attended readings of friends like John Remy, Sandra Wickham, JJ Adams, and Saladin Ahmed.  And I got autographs and brief chats with luminaries like Paolo Bacigalupi, John Scalzi, Peter Straub, David Drake, Gene Wolfe, David Hartwell, Gordon Van Gelder, and others.

With all the free food in the Con Suite and the free books, I was in unemployed person’s heaven.  I still spent a bit of money on a few books and meals and luggage costs, but overall, I just got the chance to hang out and relax.  The two or three panels a day I managed to attend were informative and enjoyable.  And downtown Columbus turned out to be a great experience as well.

For me, as I prepare to release my first book, I got a better sense of what a con might run like, which can help me prepare to participate more fully as a writer next year.  And I got a lot of brochures on various cons to help me learn about what’s out there.  Truly a memorable experience.  I’m so glad I went.

To Simon, Livia, Blake, Sam, Sandra, Erika, John, Christie, JJ, Saladin, Brenda, John, and the other new friends who let me hang out with them, such a pleasure.  I look forward to doing it again.

For what it’s worth…

World Fantasy Con, Columbus, Ohio

Published on by Bryan

World Fantasy is still a whirlwind for me, and I am in definite withdrawal.  I will post more reflections on this as I have time to process, but I will say that 30 minutes chatting with Tom Doherty in which he asked “when are you going to send us something,” 2 hours chatting with Mike Resnick and being introduced to all of his contacts as well as getting his advice on marketing, publishing, etc., and an hour picking John Joseph Adams’ brain on editing definitely justified the cost of the event.  Add to that meeting so many wonderful people from my Twitter and Facebook feeds and many new ones as well, just made me feel like a part of a big family and that’s really encouraging.

More on the panels later, but they were wonderful, even though there were many I wished I could attend but didn’t make it because of balancing sleep, panels, and networking.  The parties were fun, the free food unexpected, and the travel smooth.  I am so glad I got to go, and I so look forward to the next one.

Thanks to all who helped make the time so enjoyable and productive. Here’s some pics of the relative people:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085972&id;=1085393457&l;=10d94d796c

For what it’s worth…

World Fantasy Con, Columbus, Ohio

Published on by Bryan

In another day, I will be departing for World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio to meet up with 950 or so other authors, editors, publishers, artists and fans in the professional speculative fiction business.  This is only my second con and my first major con, so, naturally, I am very excited, but most exciting of all is the chance to meet people who have become dear friends via Twitter and Faccebook.  Some are well known like @ResnickMike and @PauloBacigalupi or @blakecharlton and @SamSykesSwears.  But others are up and coming like me:  @inkhaven @sandrawickham @johnremy @erikaholt @saladinahmed @inkgorilla @mosessiregar @johnklima and more.  I’ll see my friend Eric Reynolds of Hadley Rille Books, and meet some new people, too, including, hopefully some editors who have worked on favorite books of mine and perhaps a few agents.

This convention is much more industry focused, so the panels and attendees tend to have stronger ties to the publishing side itself and be less general fans.  So it’s a real opportunity for me to network.  I have postcards about my books to hand out, including URLs for this blog and my website.  I also have a few copies of “The North Star Serial, Part 1” to give away, and I hope to replace them with tons of books we are to be given free when we register at the convention.  Hopefully it’s stuff I don’t already have.

Dave Truesdale has asked me to extend his greetings to many people and Mike Resnick swore he’d introduce me to the rest.  It should be a great time.  And I hope to come away refocused and inspired to start a new project in November for National Novel Writing Month.  I really need to get back on the horse of my daily writing routine.  It’s been pretty much since May that I did that, which is a lot of wasted time.  I did write in the interim, continuing to work on the first draft of “Sandman,” and writing short stories as well as outlining some other projects and revising “The Worker Prince” in bits and pieces.  But what I need is to get back to the dedication I had before and churn out the pages.  I need to shake off this depression and anxiety and focus on my dream.  Being in the process of applying for MFA programs is helpful, and I think feeling a part of a larger community and making stronger connections with people who already support and encourage me will also be good.

Whatever the case, you know I’ll report on it here with pictures and notes.  Maybe I’ll even find time to blog a bit while I’m there.  Meantime, if you’re going to be there, be sure and look me up.  I look forward to meeting you.

For what it’s worth…