Selecting a plan And remember, when you’re pitching you work, your website is the first place an agent or editor will look for to learn more about you. While blogging can be less formal, less researched, and more geared for online skim-reading or social sharing, to do it well requires the same kind of practice and skill as crafting a novel. For instance, highlight “A list of my published works.”. Imagine a publisher trying to decide between you and another writer trying to break into the business or pitch a book. How to Find The Time to Blog … This is not an exhaustive list of what you could blog about, but it gives you an idea of the most common options. Get your growing tribe interacting with you and with each other by posing a simple question or taking a brief survey on their favorite things: books, movies, celebrities, you name it. Initially, you’ll have no shortage of ideas, and your first readers will share your insightful advice on social media and help you build a traffic base. Here is where you can collect email addresses and build a list. How to Make an Author Website 101: Five Essential Tips 1. On Oct. 7, I’m offering a live class that tackles everything you need to know to get started (or to help you determine whether blogging is right for you). If your book is strongly regional, create an insider’s guide or travel guide to that particular region. Through your social media presence? Just two more steps before your website is ready to go live on the Internet! If people saw only your post headline (e.g., on Twitter), would they feel compelled to click on it? The list ties in with the article, "The Author's Dilemma: To Blog or Not to Blog… Picking a domain name Once you have settled on a theme you like, click “Install.”, Once the theme finishes installing, click “Activate.”, On the next page, scroll down to the banner: “New theme activated. You can write about the research, news stories, or current events that play a role in the construction of your books or other work. She finds (or hears) advice that blogging is a good way to accomplish #1. But I’d recommend Bluehost regardless. It’s well-supported, continually developed, and runs about 20% of all websites today. Submitting payment information Box, etc. You make sure each post is categorized and tagged appropriately. Pick one that suits your taste. Cover template – Make additional changes to the page template such as the … It’s used by 25% of all websites on the Internet, including mine, and it’s the service I teach you to use in this guide. WordPress is a simple tool that helps you easily create a good-looking website. The chain of events goes something like this: My unproven theory: We have many authors blogging poorly because of this series of events. This is easier than it sounds—just use your name! Some blogs have such a minimal design that it’s difficult to see the bigger picture of what the blog offers. It basically means celebrating and bringing attention to authors, writing, and books—the things you presumably love and want to support. Keep your domain name simple, professional, and clear—not quirky or extravagant. You may have to do some work in coming up with an angle or voice that stands out. Hook, grab and hold. In the audio and transcript, he outlines tips for blogging and also how to make money from your blog, and why writers have a real advantage as bloggers. Note from Jane: This post was first published in 2012. Pretty much anyone under 30 will be computer literate and can help you quickly master this. Video: Author Branding (28 mins) How to decide on and create your author … Goodreads Authors are the only Goodreads members who can have a blog on the site. Frequently Asked Questions Use the toolbar in the middle of the page to filter by category: You can even filter the features you want. Nor should you feel like it’s a burden to come up with ideas; ideally, your problem is too many ideas. You can determine later if it’s something you want to pursue. While that may seem a remote possibility now, new authors are discovered every day. I don’t recommend your home address for such a public venue. Where the difficulty lies: Lots of literary citizenship activity exists online, in many forms. Make sure your bio includes something that is unique about … Where the difficulty lies: You may run out of material quickly, or not have a very high frequency of posts. In that, my position is somewhat stubbornly Zen: if the action is too forced or contrived, the blog may be doomed from the start. If you haven’t got an author blog or website yet, here are the most popular free blog sites for you. Creating a “Writing” page Step 4: Add a description of your writing. For most budding authors and bloggers, I recommend Bluehost as your hosting company. Remember: this is your website. The tenants simply rent. Some people may be able to get by on one post a week, but it’s a struggle to gain traction without volume. author pages build credibility for your site as a whole and for the individual authors and their individual brands You will now see a new heading that reads “Congratulations. Remember brevity and professionalism, but be sure you include what visitors—including agents and publishers—would want to see. This model is ideal for unpublished novelists, memoirists, and poets. Why am I so forthright about this? ", You will then be directed to your site builder. Where the difficulty lies: Some categories are fiercely competitive, such as travel and cooking. Fans of your work may enjoy the intimacy (though some authors prefer to have an air of mystery). Imagine enjoying your very own great-looking site, bearing the .com name you choose (Hint: it should always be your name). If you’re interested in blogging, but worry about the time commitment, then consider creating a multi-contributor blog, where several authors in the same genre (or targeting similar audiences) band together. Through search? Key benefits: If you already teach writing or mentor other writers, you probably have some content you can re-purpose to fuel your early blog posts. Does your About Me on your blog need a makeover? Let’s make your site look professional! If you need a strong introduction to guest posting how-to, visit this excellent Copyblogger post. Share links – Make it easy for people to share your blog … Next, give your visitors access to a welcome page (some call this the landing page) where they can get acquainted with you and your site, even before you start blogging consistently. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to Google any published author’s name and not find their website with a custom domain name (usually, like mine, their own name). So how does this answer the question, “What do I blog about?”. Believe it or not, it’s rare to come across an informed, thoughtful, and careful interviewer and interview series. Ideally, starting out, you should shoot for several times per week. I talk about the basics of author websites here. Give me about half an hour, and you—and anyone you tell about it—could be admiring a gorgeous new site all your own. Create a list of favorite reads by genre/category, by mood, or by occasion. Novelist Brandilyn Collins uses Seatbelt Suspense®. Their promotional prices apply to the first term only. Remember, the headline is often the only thing people see when they’re surfing online and looking at search results, so it’s one of the biggest factors in whether your post gets read. If you’re interested in blogging, but worry about the time commitment, then consider creating a multi-contributor blog, where several authors in the same genre (or targeting similar … Creating a tagline But not rightly so. Is Your Writer’s Block Really Writer’s Indecision? … that get shared on social and discovered through search. However, I don’t want to be totally defeatist here! Your site is now live, click here to view it.” Do that to see your new website! Create a blog header . This could also involve regular posting of specific media, such as photos or videos. On the next page, create your password, click the checkbox next to “I have read and agree to…,” then click “Next.”. On the left sidebar menu, Click Authors. Don’t get wordy. Check back here on [date] when I plan to blog on [subject]. As a full novel takes a long time to write, blogs … That becomes another showcase of your writing, and it also lets others contact you. Think about themes, hooks, or angles for an interview series on your site, and run them on a regular basis—but only as frequently as you have time to invest in a well-researched and quality interview. I Spent Nearly Two Decades Writing and Editing My Book. Another complication: “Blogging” has become a somewhat dated term. If you’re considering multiple websites, you’ll want to study the more extensive plans. If that’s beyond your capabilities right now, trust me, someone in your orbit will be able to show you how to do this. It works beautifully with how-to or prescriptive nonfiction categories, and it can also work with memoir as well. With social media (Twitter, but mostly Facebook) available for everyone, Amazon and Google Play offering author pages, and GoodReads making it possible to interact with readers directly, author websites have somewhat become less interesting. You want it—and you—to appear as engaging and professional as possible. Visit site.”. That turns your text into a clickable URL, and it will now look like this: A list of my published works. If your blog is high-quality, and generates conversation, they’ll be likely to recommend you or send you traffic. Then you have to revise it, workshop it, revise it some more, write a query letter, do query research, … Launching your site A very popular way to make people aware of your blog is to link to others’ blogs. It is so easy to create a new page, a banner or a section to announce your product. Start reading and sharing their content, and comment at their blog. You use WordPress or Squarespace, which are already optimized for search. You can do this by downloading a new theme. Then you will be taken to a “Welcome to Bluehost” page to create a password. This takes you to your dashboard. How do people find your blog? She knows she needs to market and promote the book and/or build a platform. The longer you blog, and the more of an audience you build up, the more you can ease back on frequency. If I learned it, you certainly can. You want to make it very clear to new visitors that you are the one writing. }; Step 3: Copy and paste into the text box the URL (web address, like www.JerryJenkins.com/books) you want to link to. Tell of your previous projects, and add links (clickable web addresses) to them. Scroll down to “Appearance,” and hover your mouse over the link. But if you make a continual series of impressions over a long period of time on the same topic, then it starts to click: “Oh, this person is blogging, and they’re regularly covering this topic.” Some writers assume, “Oh, everybody knows I’m blogging because I posted about it,” but no. This would be a good place for a photo of you and a brief bio. Add contributors - Depending on their permissions, contributors can add and publish their own content. When you’re done, click “Save and Publish.”. If your site is self-hosted, then install. Her book for creative writers, The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), received a starred review from Library Journal. I want to encourage experimentation. Such writers probably know off the top of their head the questions that get asked most frequently, the topics that are most popular, and the problems that surface again and again. Creating your account The next page asks if you would like WordPress to create a “Contact Us” page. A potential reader should be able to easily tell if they’re going to benefit from or enjoy reading your posts on an ongoing basis. If you look at a month’s worth of your blog headlines, they should convey a strong message about what you cover on your blog and who it’s for. Click “Visit Site” to see your new theme! This will be that first page visitors see at your site—the welcome or landing page. Such series also offer you an excellent way to build your network and community relationships, which has a way of paying off in the long run. Here are several models to consider, based on how challenging I think they are (assuming you want your blog to “pay off”). It Finally Found a Publisher. … Since more than half of website visits are made on mobile phones, this is crucial for your blog’s aesthetic. Why you should have an author website Q&As or interviews with people in the community (usually authors). 1. Click the blue “Log In” button and enter your email and password on the next screen. 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