We turned over the Hungry Monkey site to author Matthew Amster-Burton much in advance of the book’s launch, and what with one thing and another, I forgot to post about it (even though I did put the site in our mini-portfolio). But it seems I am actually somewhat timely in announcing it now, because the book is just now shipping, and Matthew’s first few appearances are coming up soon. Go check out the Monkey!
Posted by Stephanie Leary in Client News at 5:02 pm • comment
I’ve been working with Edward Willett for the last several months to consolidate his extensive web presence — separate blog, podcast, and site — into one big WordPress-powered site. There was a lot of copy-and-paste work to do, and we divided that work between us, doing a little bit here and there rather than one wrist-destroying marathon. The new site went live this week, just in time to promote Edward’s new book, Terra Insegura.
Posted by Stephanie Leary in Client News at 4:53 pm • comment
Over on my blog, I’m soliciting comments about IndieBound, especially in terms of how authors choose to link their books on their websites. Come share your thoughts!
Posted by Stephanie Leary in Marketing at 10:04 pm • comment
Today I stumbled across a marketing tip: use LibraryThing to find reviewers for your book. I’m ambivalent about the idea. On the one hand: that’s clever. On the other hand: that’s essentially spamming the LibraryThing user. What do you think?
Posted by Stephanie Leary in How To, Marketing at 5:21 pm • comment
Getting into Twitter? Here’s how to customize your profile background and upload it to Twitter. (via this enormous list of tutorials, services, and inspiration galleries)
Posted by Stephanie Leary in How To, Marketing at 8:08 am • comment
Building a Better Author — Lori Devoti has a great list of helpful things authors can do for their readers, including tips for improving websites and contacting readers when a new release comes out.
Posted by Stephanie Leary in How To, Marketing at 1:15 pm • comment
We are so excited to announce that Linda Warren (one of our first clients) is a finalist in Romance Writers of America’s Rita contest. Her September 2008 release Texas Heir (a Harlequin American Romance) finaled in the Contemporary Series Romance category with eight others. Congrats, Linda!
Posted by sarah in Client News at 9:03 am • comment
Writer Unboxed has a lovely post from author J.A. Konrath on self-promotion. Of course, I was most interested in what he has to say about websites, and I wasn’t disappointed:
2. Provide Internet Content. People are looking for two things on the net; information and entertainment. They aren’t looking for advertising.
If your website or blog is just a big commercial, it will be ignored.
But if it offers, for free, compelling and constantly updated content, surfers will find you. Even more importantly, they’ll find you through the content, not through your name. Anyone who already knows you can find you on the world wide web–that’s not a victory. Your goal is to get people to find you when they’re looking for something else.
Yes! This sounds tricky, but it’s not too hard. Consider the first item on Konrath’s list, writing short stories. What do you do after the story comes out? If your contract allows, post it online! Now, when people are looking for an urban fantasy story featuring trolls or this year’s Hugo-nominated stories, or what have you, they find you.
Konrath himself accomplishes this goal by blogging extensively about self-promotion, and writers of all sorts find his site that way.
Post your short fiction. Blog about something. Give people something to find, and something they can link to.
3. Link. The more people you can trade links with, the higher your Google ranking, the easier it is for folks to discover you.
This is what made Google better than other search engines: instead of just indexing each site independently, it views them in the context of all other websites. Your content is evaluated not just on its own merits, but its credibility with other sites is taken into consideration. How? In the way those sites link to yours.
The simplest way to get linky is to create a blogroll. However, Google loves sites that are timely and frequently updated. Even better than the blogroll link is the link within a blog post (like the ones that kicked off this entry).
Konrath has summed up the two-step process of establishing a successful website: post things that people want to link to, and link to other interesting sites.
Posted by Stephanie Leary in How To, Marketing at 2:59 pm • comment
The Writing Excuses podcast tackles author websites — 15 minutes of smart authors talking about what their colleagues do wrong (and occasionally right), what not-yet-published authors need to do, etc. (Here’s a transcript, if you prefer.)
Posted by Stephanie Leary in How To, Marketing at 9:57 pm • comment
In my spare time (!), I’ve been reworking a very simple content management system that was abandoned by its creators several years ago. If you’re a minimalist, or your host doesn’t let you have a database, check out Whisper.
Posted by Stephanie Leary in Announcements at 1:33 am • comment
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