Paged Media

25. Fancy fonts

“What is with the fancy script font on everything? I can’t read it. It gives me a headache.”

Fancy script should be used sparingly because it is so hard to read. In general, we recommend saving more ornate fonts for headlines. Keep your content and the majority of your site in a web-safe font.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 10:05 am • comment

24. Hit counter of sadness

“‘63 people have visited this site since September 15, 1998.’ Wow. If you can’t rustle up more interest than that, I very much doubt I’m going to be entertained by anything you’ve written.”

Keep the counters behind the scenes. Nothing’s sadder than a site 63 people have visited since 1998 except one that says so on the home page.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 10:03 am • comment

23. Pixel font sizes

“Your text is too small for me to read, and you’ve sized it using pixels. I can’t resize it using Internet Explorer, the only browser I’m allowed to use at work.”

Prior to version 7, Internet Explorer was afflicted with a bug: it wouldn’t let visitors resize text specified in pixels. Unfortunately, a lot of people are still stuck using this outdated browser. The solution? Use any other unit of measurement to define your font sizes. We’re quite fond of ems.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 10:02 am • comment

22. Upcoming out of print releases

“‘Upcoming release! Publication is scheduled for June 2001.’ Hang on, that’s already out of print. Are you still alive?”

Even if you aren’t actively publishing, keep your site up to date. Blogs are a good way to keep your site up to date when you don’t have any books or short stories coming out.

Click through your entire site every six months or so and make sure the links still work and past events aren’t described in future tense.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 10:00 am • comment

21. So yesterday

“Your web ring is so 1997. You expect me to believe you can write convincingly about the future?”

Web rings have not been cool for ten years or so. Take our word for it.

See also: frames, splash introductions, scrolling marquees, spinning email envelopes, menus that don’t tell you where you’re going until you get there, and… well, we’ll save the rest for another day.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:59 am • comment

20. Surround sound

“I’m surfing the web, bopping my head to my favorite mp3s. I land on your site. Your Flash intro starts up, interrupting my song with some screechy sound effects while your animation seizes control of my browser window, stretching it to weird proportions. I flee.”

Sound effects to your website might sound cool to you, but not to readers who might be surfing in an office cubicle or next to the sleeping baby’s crib.

In general, people loathe embedded sounds, scripts that seize control, and other unexpected disruptions of the natural order of life on the web.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:58 am • comment

19. Disagreeing with you makes me evil

“The first thing I read on your home page is your latest blog entry — a screed against people who voted for the other guy. Like me.”

Airing your political stance is one thing. Bashing your readers for disagreeing is another.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:56 am • comment

18. Buying used books makes me evil

“I’ve heard your name, but I’m not familiar with your books. A friend has recommended that I check out your work. The first thing I read on your home page is your latest blog entry–a screed against readers who are stealing from you by purchasing used copies of books, buying ARCs on eBay, loaning your books to friends, checking them out from the library, or reading them via services for the blind.”

If you are going to bash readers, do it in handwriting and then burn the paper. Don’t do it publicly. You never know when a book borrower will go out and buy your entire backlist. The blind reader might recommend your book to a dozen of her sighted friends. The eBay buyer might write a glowing review on his wildly popular blog.

We suspect that unless you’re a NYT bestseller, obscurity is a bigger problem for you than rampant book swapping. However, even if you disagree, it’s probably a bad idea to make sweeping accusations toward your readers on your website. Offending your customers is never a good business plan.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:54 am • comment

17. My browser is not good enough for you

“‘Your browser does not support frames/JavaScript/Flash.’ Neither do printed books, but you seem to communicate through those just fine.”

Believe it or not, a simpler website is more likely to be seen by more people. You really don’t need a lot of fancy stuff to have a great website. It is all about content.

Keep in mind as well that more and more people (especially people under the age of 25) are surfing from their cell phones. At best, they’ll never see all those whiz-bang features; at worst, they’ll be locked out of the site altogether.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:52 am • comment

16. Cookie cutter graphics

“I recognize the Celtic clip art on your site from fifteen other sites I’ve seen. I do not have high hopes for the originality of your writing.”

Go easy with the images from Aunt Betty’s Background Emporium. Not only are such graphics the hallmark of the amateur designer, but a cacophony of them can easily drown out your text and your book covers.

Posted by admin in 50 Ways Your Website is Not Helping You Sell More Books at 9:49 am • comment