Quick Question: Author Websites

13 Responses to 'Quick Question: Author Websites'

1. James on July 13th, 2007 1:23 pm

   Content, via feeds. Predictable? Yes. But I only visit an authors website if a post pops up in my feed reader (and then only if I have to).

   Having said that, if I do visit an authors website and the design is 10 years old and looks terrible, it *will* put me off visiting ever again. A nice clean modern design works for me (and modern is of cause a moving target).

2. Ariel on July 13th, 2007 1:25 pm

   Good point mate. One thing I could do with looking into is manual generation of feeds for static content pages - bibliographies in particular.

   Anyone happen to know a good, open-source stand-alone RSS feed generator?

3. briruc on July 13th, 2007 3:50 pm

   I'm about as far as you can get from the cutting edge of the interweb, so forgive the slightly wide-eyed newbieness of this, but I increasingly find this feed thing very interesting - since I discovered them (I'm late climbing on to most passing bandwagons) like James, my visits to actual websites have plummeted and I'm reading a ton of content purely on rss feeds. Is this the harbinger of doom for website designers (sorry, Ariel :)) and the beginning of an age when the internet is ruled by subscription content?

   Probably not, I suppose, but it does make me think a) content will be king, if it isn't already, b) how do those who are in this for the cash monetise an rss feed if people are never clicking thru to the actual website to see the adwords and banner ads?, and c) as Ariel has just said, how can you get people reading feeds to look at all the other static content on a website, short of persistently pointing at it in feed-ed content?

   Does it mean that ultimately (which in this case would be defined as 'quite soon') what you'll end up with is disaggregated content - news and stuff pushed out through a feed-enabled blog, extracts, short stories or other related stuff pushed out thru a separate feed-enabled stream, interviews and book trailers pushed out through a youtube channel, audio stuff thru a podcast, artwork, covers and photos thru flickr or equivalent? And author websites will actually just be a gateway to all this other stuff rather than 'objects' in their own right? Which I suppose is what some of them are becoming already ... OK, I'm rambling so I'll shut up now.

4. Ariel on July 13th, 2007 5:14 pm

   Brian, I think you're absolutely right. Content is king and will definitely remain so, but the methods by which content is distributed, located and shared will become ever more sophisticated and varied. We're already seeing the growth in importance of varied, specialist distribution channels (RSS, Flickr, YouTube etc.) but I think that just means there's an even greater need for a single point of aggregation to act as a jumping-off point for someone looking for information or inspiration (or a reason to buy an author's books). And most importantly, it should be one that the author controls.

   You can't completely rely on a service like Wikipedia to do that for you, because it's open to editing - possibly malicious editing - from any user who feels like it. Google is effective at digging up disparate material but can't effectively capture and organise everything in one place on a search-by-search basis. And fansites are fine as long as they're well-maintained, but prone to the age-old issue of what if the fan loses their enthusiasm.

   Whereas a central point of initial reference - a well-designed, well-organised homepage - allows the author to control the flow of information about themselves and their work; making sure that the latest, most relevant (most sales-worthy?) material is given proper prominence. Yes, it's a gateway, but it should also be an object as well; it has object value as a means of emphasising and enhancing the most useful information about the author at a given moment in time (buy this book, right now) as well as a means of pointing the way to all the archived material that's available elsewhere.

   And at that point my sales pitch kicks in: (well, to anyone who isn't a client of mine already, unlike Brian, who already is...) why spend your precious time working on a website, exploring the social media options and churning out press & PR material (however expertly or not) when you could hire someone to make sure all of that side of things is properly taken care of for you..? Leaving you, the author, to get on with the important job of actually writing... :)

5. Paul Raven on July 13th, 2007 6:22 pm

   If I might suggest side-bar box of recent items on other sites about or concerned with the author in question (e. g., interviews, reviews etc)?

   Easy enough to make a 'set and forget' solution (RSS again; Google searches, T'rati feeds, &c). Adds value and credibility to the author's site, and also encourages more content about the author to be created because other sites will know they'll be getting a link-back from it. Marketing2.0 and all that.

   In exchange for this fiendishly clever tip, I hope that - once you're totally swamped in web-dev work, of course - you'll foist of some of the PR material work to some hungry young copywriter you know ... ;)

6. Ariel on July 13th, 2007 6:41 pm

   Paul mate, that's a superb idea... and I hope you won't think I'm being a bastard when I say I've already got it on my to-do list...

   Seriously though, I've been meaning to run thorough Google searches on all my author clients and then make sure that all the pertinent and relevant results are included in some sort of 'elsewhere on t'web' section on each site, it's just a question of finding the time to process that volume of information for my entire client list.

   I'm currently planning on taking September to plough through my 18-month admin backlog, but that'll depend on how everything goes through August, of course.

   But there are already a couple of projects that I have in mind that might just be able to use the talents of a hungry, young (and freshly pierced, I noticed...) copy-writer. I'll be in touch, if I may. Just as soon as I've got time to write the email... :/

7. Ed on July 13th, 2007 11:03 pm

   Set the feed up to only reveal part of the update, that way we have to visit the webpage to read the whole thing and all the hard work is still seen :)
   Of course, there are hopefully always new readers discovering a writer's work and the initial website is usually their first port of call to find out more.
   A bibliography is essential, preferably in date of release order and how they are linked if trilogies and such.
   Back catalogue is not always readily available so status can be helpful, as per the Mark Morris site.
   And content in story anthologies is useful too, this is something a few publishers neglect to mention.

8. Joe on July 14th, 2007 8:20 pm

   I'd agree it is handy to have a link to reviews etc - maybe a press or media section which has links to reviews, interviews etc as well as related web sites, such as some of the often good ones dedicated fans create to give detail to a series.

9. Ariel on July 17th, 2007 2:15 pm

   Ed mate - Good point about the anthology inclusions. A couple of my more prolific short story writing clients have included lists, but not everyone remembers to send me the info... ;)

   Joe, the fan-sites idea is a good one as well, especially where the fan-sites are particularly well-produced.

   Thanks to everyone for their comments so far! Some great food for thought - keep 'em coming though, the more the merrier!

10. Jen on July 17th, 2007 2:58 pm

    From a totally non techie pov, a diary dates section is always good - listing appearances and publishing dates in an easy to find place instead of having to trawl through news pages. (Unless you can do something clever with tags on news blog pages)
    Also an archive section that has copies of the interviews that aren't available anywhere else on the web. And fiction extracts from recent works, with longer extracts if the book is out of print.
    And copies of any articles or reviews the author has also written that aren't available online.

    As to what not: I really hate when the front page of a website wants you to download something before you can view it properly. And too many fancy pics/animations etc. on the front page that make it slow to load mean I won't even bother.

11. Ariel on July 17th, 2007 3:11 pm

    Hi Jen - Excellent suggestions all! The full content archive is a great one (time-comsuming, but worth-while...), and I think the diary dates idea is even better - the sort of simple, but effective add-on that would really help fans in need of quick info, as you say - and not something that had occurred to me before, either...

    I do always try to make sure there's an extract from every published work on all my client sites, as far as possible, anyhow. But longer extracts for OP titles is good as well. Or even take it a step further - if the rights have reverted to the author and they have a file copy, then why not make it for sale via Lulu.com (or similar) - that's something I've thought of in the past.

    As for software downloads, you're absolutely right again. It's a big usability no-no... why should someone have to download Flash, Quicktime, whatever, just to view something that they might not even be interested in seeing anyhow... I'd suggest that slow-loading isn't so much of an issue in these days of increased broadband take-up, but then for folks still stuck on dial-up it would be... but still, too many animations is a definite off-putter, yes.

    Thank you!

12. Del on July 17th, 2007 5:00 pm

    I think your sites are instantly recognisable Ariel. You have created a great template of not only what a writer is, but also what the fans/media/industry are looking for from an authors website.

    The diary idea suggested by Jen is a good one, fits nicely into RSS and provides added value to the users. Which made me think of your question on the subject of Facebook, one of the benefits I have seen on Facebook is the concept of Networks. If you belong to a physical network, say Manchester, then you can see all the events in your network i.e. signings, book readings etc, this can fit well into an additional way of exposure for writers and associated events. I have yet seen a decent API to integrate this info into the author’s website for Facebook, but early days.

    I had previously looked for a widget for WordPress for diary/event management but came up a blank, but Google has a good API for their calendar application which might prove useful. http://code.google.com/apis/calendar/overview.html

    The other thing I would add is the usage of RDF (Resource Description Framework) a cousin of XML where objects can be defined to have properties and distinct values and can be mapped directly and unambiguously to a model. As you are talking about specific objects i.e. Writer, Book, Review etc I think a RDF definition would enhance the static data by providing a data engine to what would normally be the disparate and unrelated static html of a website. I can’t do the subject justice, but check out wiki’s description here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web.

    As more and more website use RDF (patience is the key here) the idea of finding all related articles, interviews and reviews for an author would become more of an automated process, but until then…

13. Ariel on July 18th, 2007 10:08 am

    Hi Del - Blimey, vertibale eight-course banquet of food for thought there mate, cheers!

    I have been meaning to send a quick memo round to my clients on the benefits of the various social media sites, it's just a question of finding the time. The UKSF community seems to have leapt into Facebook feet-first in the past couple of weeks - George Walkley at Orbit set up the 'UKSF' group and things seem to have gone on from there, which nicely proves your point about the benefit of Networks.

    I'll check out the Google Calendar stuff, although the three letters 'AI' always fill me with the non-programmer's dread of the technical. But I think I might be able to do soemthing with the RDF concept there... thanks again!

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