Tangled in the Web

We've taken many a fantasy trip into the future of publishing here lately. Assuming, however, that people continue to read books in some form or other, the question of how to make sure those readers know about--and invest in--our books is vitally important. When I first approached the other Women of Mystery about starting a blog, I did so because every editor and agent I'd spoken to said the same thing: authors, even unpublished authors, need to have web presences.

This is not news to me. For my "day job," I make and sell glass beads, and in retail, too, you need to have a web presence. With one, enormous exception.

No web page is better than a bad one.

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

I know, and I am sorry. And I have more bad news: just like you can't ask your friends to tell you what's wrong with your writing, you can't ask them to tell you what's wrong with your website. First of all, they may not know. For example, if your site is heavy on the graphics or Flash animations and your friends are all geeky types running high speed connections, they may not even realize that some people will leave your site without reading a word because the images take so long to load.

And then there's the question of text. You're a writer, so your site will probably have a lot of text on it. But studies have shown that people don't read text on a web page the same way they read it on paper.

In fact, with the exception of those passages of text you're using directly from your book, those teasers tempting readers to go out and buy the book, the writing on your website will probably bear no similarity to the deathless prose of your novel whatsoever.

People like to see lots of open space on web pages. Short paragraphs, bullet points, text that can be easily skimmed, that's what people want from a web page.

But wait...there's more. They want to be able to go to your web page by using your name. So if the domain associated with your name isn't taken, get it now. You don't have to use it right away, but you don't want someone else to take it while you're busy figuring out what you want to be when you grow up!

"I was going to use MySpace."

I'm not saying you can't, since it's easy enough to "point" one domain to another. [For example, if you go look at my temporary, under construction site at laurakramarsky.com, you're actually going to a subdirectory of my eCommerce website at http://torchsongsglassworks.com/laurakramarsky/ , but the pointer takes you directly there so you don't see. -edit: this site is down for a while while I decide what name I will be using for publication]

But before you go set up your MySpace page, consider whether that's what you want. Recently, a discussion thread on a list to which I belong debated the relative merits of gather.com and myspace.com. I have to say, nothing I read made me even slightly interested in joining either "community." A couple of people mentioned that their participation in those sites had resulted in book sales, but it sure sounded like a lot of work for relatively little reward. (I can't help it--because I run my own business, I'm always doing cost-benefit analyses, and it was really hard for me to stay out of that discussion.)

And then there's the question of professionalism. Do you really want your web "home" somewhere that the first thing people see at the top of the page or all along one side is a banner ad over which you have no control? What if the sponsor of the day turns out to be a company promoting something you stand wholeheartedly against? (Not to mention the question of having one's hosting site in the news weekly because of some pedophile or the likes of Lori Drew.)

"I can't afford a fancy web design."

And you don't need one. In fact, simpler without ads is far better than fancier with ads. I've said this before, when talking about the "numbers" trap--the desperate counting of website "hits" without considering the cost-benefit ratio of gaining those hits. Rather than thinking of your website as something to attract new readers, think of it as a way to keep in touch with readers you already have. Those readers are your best bets for finding a new audience--you need to keep them up to date so they know when to tell all their friends you're coming out with a new book!

They have to be able to say to a friend at a cocktail party "oh, you can find her website at..." and not forget the name of your site. They have to know their friends won't be freaked out by the kind of things you say on your site, which probably means you should steer clear of majorly controversial topics on your website unless they are things you tackle in your books (and is another good reason not to have ads you can't control on your site). And they have to know that their friends, who listen to books on tape (or on CD, or on their iPods) because their eyes aren't so great, will be able to read your site.

"Everyone says you're supposed to use your site to make connections."

I hate to sound like your mother, but if everyone said it was cool to jump off a bridge, would you do it? If you're not comfortable "making connections" online, joining a "myspace" group won't help.

You want to make your connections however best suits your personality and use your website to keep them. If you make new ones through the web, that's great, but if you set the goal at selling books and finding new readers, you're going to cause yourself a lot of angst. Because you're always, always going to be trying this thing and that, wasting your time attempting to determine whether various tactics are paying off.

Believe me when I tell you that you have the connections and you'll make more as you research and write your books. If you're feeling "unconnected," as if there's no audience for your book, you're much better off considering why that is rather than trying to correct it with an online shot of some kind.

"So I just stick up a web page and leave it there? That's it?"

Nope. How many books are you planning on cranking out this year? Did you try NaNoWriMo? Did you write a complete novel, edited and perfect in the month of November?

No? Me, either. So I won't be churning out twelve books a year, which means my readers might get a chance to forget I exist. I can't let that happen. So I have this blog, and eventually I'll get my author site up.

(But no spamming! Donna Andrews--whose website exemplifies simple, effective design--has a great post on why you don't send email to people who don't ask for it over on the Sisters in Crime blog.)

Look, you wrote a book. And you're planning on writing more. You can commit to writing a post once a week. Heck, give your readers tastes...commit to putting a paragraph up on your site every Monday. By the time your book gets into bookstores, your readers will be salivating over the full text.

Or don't. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable; if maintaining your web presence is a chore, it's going to show. Writing is hard work. Let the web stuff go slow and easy.