There's been some general discussion here about good and bad sites for promoting books. Well, let's get specific.

If you've seen somebody you think has done a great (or wretched) job of website design, post a link to it here. There are a lot of different approaches to this, let's see some, maybe discuss them.

To start the ball rolling, here's a site by a guy who isn't the world's greatest writer but has a done a really good job of getting his titles out there.

I consider the site busy and "strip-mallish", but it's WORKING for him, apparently.

Whoa...I didn't realize it when I started this thread, but check it out...he's changed the site!

Here was the one I was talking about:

http://www.jakonrath.com/index.html

Here's the new version:
http://www.jakonrath.com

He cleaned up the goofy site that had worked for him and now has a dark, slick, boring one.
Think it will do better for him?

Any others?

The boring one is certainly easier to navigate. Click click click and all the pages pop up. New window for the forum with 176 members. Seems to be working well and attracting attention. Boring is good.

Oh, I agree.
I should have explained that this idea came to me from a post on a self-publishing forum, about "why do writers want websites that are pretty instead of effective".
And the poster had a point.
On the other hand, if people get the reaction you did...it's not very effective is it?


Anybody got any examples of good author websites? Not just your own, anything that stuck out in your mind as a good way to promote work?

Most of the PA authors have websites - usually Freewebs, which is okay
especially if you go ahead and spring for a domain name. The ones I
hate the most are those with butterfles and other "cutsie" things
flitting over the page. Worse yet are those mouse icons and MUSIC!
There ought to be a law against automatically playing music!

And then there are those who put their family photos on their book website.

And then there are those who give a synopsis of their book - complete
with bad grammar and poor spelling. That really makes me want to rush
to get their book.

And then there are those who use their website like a blog.

Yeah, but do you have any links to exceptionally good ones?

Go to criminalbrief.com and you will find a large number of interesting sites by successful writers. Scroll down on the righthand column to find them.

Gee...Thanks, elfie...

Back at cha...

I attended a very good session on website design for writers, taught by Ginny Stibolt. She is very much in favor of clean, easy-to-navigate sites that don't contain a lot of techno razzle dazzle.
I would eventually like to have the time and sanity (there's a laugh) to really design one from scratch instead of using one of Frontpage's templates.

JoElle's site is very easy to navigate and gives the reader a very clear idea of her personality and books. Hats off to elfie on the work she's done on it.

Ginny Stibolt has a good website, too--chocked full of articles and ideas. She really knows her stuff. This year, I was fortunate to attend the second half of her workshop on website design. I came home and removed some things I thought terribly clever....hmm...

Here's Ginny's website. Check it out.
http://www.websiteideas4writers.com/

Like JoElle, I seldom if ever go to the websites of authors I'm reading. It never occurs to me to do so. I suppose if I were an obsessive fan, I would go to some of them to read their linked blogs or keep up with upcoming appearances in case one was near enough to attend. Otherwise, no point.

I often wonder about the purpose of an unknown writer's website. If people have never heard of a writer, they're not going to randomly type his/her name into a google search and end up on the website. The website is just as obscure as the author and the book. Paradox! By the time people are coming to the website, one no longer needs it.

Hmmm, I'm missing something here, I just know it.

Malcolm

Something that this discussion got around to on another site was that there may actually be two different design strategies: one for established authors and a different one for new authors.

The fledgling author is trying to hook people, build sales and readership. They can't lay a big spread of covers across the screen and need things that build confidence, like reviews.

An established author like Steven King or Neil Gaiman have no need to sell anybody or show reviews: they are doing something different, involving stroking their readership and maintaining the relationship.

I think there might be something of that in the two different Kornblath sites I mentioned earlier. He got where he wanted with the "yard sale" site, then switched to something more conservative...and tossed in a forum. It would be ridiculous for a beginning author to have a forum.

That transition might be some sort of cyber coming-of-age for a writer.

Malcolm, I see what you're saying there, but I think there is a purpose behind sites for established authors. The bigger they get, the more likely they are to have a site, right?

A good analogy, I think, is Coca-Cola. They're probably the most successful, best selling, most famous brand name in the world. And they spend millions on advertising. There's a reason for that.

Another analogy. Just because you've been married for years doesn't mean you want to stop bringing flowers and chocolates and being winning.

The successful writer's readership is like a herd of family that needs to be husbanded and stroked to keep it growing.

One more analogy here: LL Bean was running TV ads for awhile. During a time when I was a marketing director in the outdoor catalog field. When I first saw this like, legacy company, known to everybody, spending money for ads I laughed. But after thinking about it and discussing it with some colleagues (several of the catalog people in Seattle--pretty much capital of outdoor catalogs at the time with Early Winters, REI, Eddie Bauer, etc-- used to get together quietly because our companies took a dim view of us contacting each other) I came to the realization that what they were doing is what is called "long tail" these days.

They were going after the small remaining and emerging prospects they didn't have yet. And were spending much more per list name to get them because there was no where else to grow at that point.

I've created a page for marketing my book, but I don't get much feedback regarding my efforts. For anyone wishing to give their opinion, please check out this link:

http://www.squidoo.com/book-isbn-1419650513


Any and all constructive criticism is welcomed.

Joe Breunig
Reaching Towards His Unbounded Glory

I have created a website www.kaimaparamban.com to promote my novel 'The Azure of Solicitude'.

Please visit my website and let me know valuable comments.

I like your website. It is clean - not cluttered.