“Now, how, and wow!” — the secret to nailing an author website and why every author should have (a basic) one
"Every breath you take, and every move you make…every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you.”
— The Police (Whose lyrics now sound super creepy thanks to social media.)
Whenever people used to ask what superpower I’d like to have, it USED to be reading people’s minds. Then social media happened. So, now I’m kinda over that. Thanks to social media, I feel I know quite a bit too much about people.
I’m going to be real. Ask any author what they hate most about their job, and their answer will most likely be having to have a social media presence, doing constant promotion, and the expectation to keep up and “engage” with fans, friends, or followers.
Not only should authors be engaging with people who will potentially buy your book, but they should also be supporting other authors by cheering them on every time something good happens to their book.
I think I can speak for many when I say that, as we promote our books or articles, upcoming speaking engagements, or reviews on social media, most of us are just humans who now need to be on social — all of us trapped in a body of someone who has other shit to do (like writing, or rewriting the paragraph you’ve spent four hours on. Or staring out in space, as I wrote about here.)
Publishers do nowadays ask authors to start having a social media presence, well before their book is even published — so fans relatives can pre-order, which builds momentum and gives them a sense of potential book buyers.
Social media is also a world where people don’t realize the difference between a regular post and a tell-all they should probably save for their therapist (which, admittedly, I think is part of the fun).
Writers and authors, however, not only need to show their “numbers” to potential publishers and agents, as I wrote about here, like how many “friends” you have on Wastebook Facebook. (Actually, nowadays it’s all about TikTok and Instagram.)
The problem with publishers’ expectations that authors and writers need to grow a following and “engage” is…
It is really fucking time-consuming.
I often find myself thinking, “I just don’t have the time to have a fake life on social media today,” as I post a photo from Feb 17, 2019. Just like the horror of a repeat outfit, it is unacceptable!
But may your life be as awesome as you pretend it is on Instagram.
There is the argument that, although many writers and authors hate social media, we also love it because without it, we wouldn’t get as much procrastination done! (Which is another part of a writer’s job.) There’s only so many times you reorganize your closet.
Authors, even if we love to be active on social, or have been told we have to be, all find ourselves at a certain point posting, “Due to my current deadlines and actual writing and editing I have to get done, all social media will be turned off until further notice.”
Being on social media is not only time-consuming. It’s hard to keep up with!
Being behind on the latest social media trends — which even I often am — feels sort of like driving in one lane behind a slow driver until you decide to change lanes, only to realize it’s an even slower lane because mother-fucker now you’re now stuck behind a bus.
Sometimes I see writers or authors I actually know in real life, and I want to kindly tell them, “ I like you a lot! Can you, please, please, please stop with all the filters and editing of your photos! What if you go missing? How can we find you if you’ve made yourself look like 20 years younger, 20 pounds lighter, and have filtered out every single one of your head-to-toe natural body freckles? Or what if you need to go out and sign your books? No one is going to recognize you!”
All authors, at any age, should try to use social media, especially if they want to bring attention to their book and get people excited about it!
My advice? Get that $100 bill ready and get your kid who likes you the best one of your kids, or your favourite most patient grandkid to teach you.
There is no quicker way than to bribe ask a younger member of your family to sit beside you for two hours and teach you the basics.
When it comes to promoting, which I tackle here, especially when it comes to social media, I find that I either give too many fucks or none at all. I can’t find a middle ground for moderate fuck distribution when it comes to finding the time to post and promote on social media these days — a necessary evil of modern publishing.
But when I’m looking for an author to tag or a book to link and I can’t find them anywhere on social media, I feel like I’m hunting down a criminal. All I want to do is interview them about their book, thus giving them press, which hopefully leads to sales.
Now, I’m not suggesting that authors who truly hate social media suddenly start dancing around with their book held high. I can’t bring myself to do this either!
What I am suggesting is that all authors at least have a basic website, where you can direct people to buy your book, have a brief bio, and a contact form for media requests or speaking engagements.
There have been so many authors I’ve tried to find and can’t due to a lack of online presence. Some have self-published their first book, but I have nowhere to send my followers to buy it, which means a lot of lost opportunities, media appearances, speaking engagements, and press opportunities — all of which lead to sales, sales, sales.
So this week, I spoke with Dave Gordon, who has helped more than 50 authors set up a basic website. (You know I’m all for outsourcing things, as I write here.) He shares why authors need a simple website, what should be included, what mistakes authors make on their pages, and what he calls, “Now, how, and wow!”
(If you read my interview with author Marissa Stapley, whose novel Lucky was the first Canadian Reese’s (Witherspoon) Book Pick ever, I simply Googled her name, found her website, and poof!
I shot her an email, and she got back to me in less than an hour, making my job a hell of a lot easier (and hopefully leading to more books sales for Lucky and her “backlist” titles — fancy publishing lingo referring to all her novels published prior to Lucky!)
And, candidly, going back to my 20-minute rule when it comes to finding good story ideas, I have the same rule when it comes to finding authors. If I can’t find a contact for you in less than 20 minutes, I give up. And it’s really not my loss. But it could be yours!
Now, how and wow! Why writers need a website I01: A Q&A with website wiz Dave Gordon
Source: https://davegordonwrites.com/
RE:BOOKS: Many writers hate social media. Why do you think this is? You’ve worked with a ton of writers. Your thoughts?
DAVE GORDON: Yeah, I think some of this has to do with the tedium of coming up with pithy, quasi-interesting, read-worthy thoughts on a regular basis. We’re already churning out creative words for our work, so asking us to do more “creative” is asking us to do more work. Plus, much of social media tends to be trite, banal or superficial. Writers tend to be storytellers, and there isn’t much of that in a 140-character tweet.
RE:BOOKS: If they hate social media, can you tell us why authors or aspiring writers should at least have a website?
DAVE GORDON: Four reasons.
So people can find you easily on Google
So people can learn about who you are and what you write, in a single click
So people have an easy way to contact you
A one-stop-shop- for an “action” (see the next question)
RE:BOOKS: What should be on an author’s website—the bare minimum!?
DAVE GORDON: What I call the Three Powers of Persuasive Messaging.
Now: a call to action (i.e.,: what can I convince you to do now, while you’re visiting? Read my blog? Buy the book? Come to my book launch? Join my e-list? Hire me as a writer?)
How: This is where you explain what makes you (or your work) different, and how you are unique!
Wow: a tidbit, something about you, something about your writing/book/career that will have people going “wow!” This is the “cool thing” you want people to share at the water-cooler.
All of this can be done in a simple site, with a couple of tabs.
RE:BOOKS: If they want to be a little more ambitious with their website, what else would you suggest they add?
DAVE GORDON: Since a website is all about promoting, think of the “frills” of marketing yourself. Some examples:
Writing samples or sample book chapter(s)
Media clips (podcasts? Online news links? A YouTube link to your book talk? Etc.)
Testimonials (no more than three) from other writers, clients, or CEOs. A sentence or two about how your book is amazing, your writing is incredible, or you have a knack for ABC.
RE:BOOKS: What are some of the worst mistakes you see authors make on their websites?
DAVE GORDON:
Bio vagueness. Here’s an example: “Cathy has been hired as a consultant all over the US and Canada, and published in many places.” So where? Why the hiding? Leads me to think her clients are very few, unknowns, small potatoes, or defunct. Even if you’re starting out, there are ways to specific “name drop.” Eg: pay your own money to book a meeting room at the local library to do a talk, and have your friends come. Then, at least, you can say, “In 2022, I spoke on X at the Davisville library.”
Bio overkill. The worst is when people get bogged down by your spiel, and then… click away! We don’t need a whole Megillah on winning the high school poetry contest, how you were in the improv troupe in college, or the back story to why you decided to be a writer. Ten lines tops – keep it simple, short, punchy, fun.
If the photo on your site looks like a yearbook class photo, that is double-plus ungood. Get a decent photo or two, and spring for a professional to do it. It should reflect your personality and the brand of your book (serious? Thought-provoking? Fun?).
RE:BOOKS: Thoughts on timing on when authors should have a website up?
DAVE GORDON: Yesterday. Toss something up, even if it’s simple. It means you don’t have to scramble when you need it most and risk sloppy mistakes because you rushed it. It’s also about saving yourself time later, when you have more to add to the site.
RE:BOOKS: Can you point us towards an author's website that you think is amazing?
DAVE GORDON: www.SaraGruen.com. It’s simple and straightforward, and not gratuitously flashy.
RE:BOOKS: How often do people need to change up their websites, so they don’t become outdated or look outdated?
DAVE GORDON: I wouldn’t say “change” as much as upgrade or update. At least every six to eight weeks put something new on the site, if possible. One of my mottoes is: keep ‘em coming back. So whether that’s a small tweak here or there, an addition to the “news” section, a blog entry, a new photo – something, anything, so that people say “Oh! That’s new! That’s different. Good to see she’s curating the site every so often.”
Punch it into your calendar, actually, so you’re reminded to update the site at regular intervals.
RE:BOOKS: How do authors’/writers’ websites differ from other people in other industries?
The thing to remember is, there are thousands of us writers out there. It’s especially tough to get above the noise. That’s why it’s important to focus on the Three Powers of Persuasive Messaging.
To make things more complicated, there are people who think they can write for websites, but can’t, and people who can write, who second-guess their abilities. So as I say, in order to succeed, you need two things: the will, and the skill.
And — obviously — a good website.
Dave Gordon’s work has appeared in National Post, Globe and Mail, Washington Times, BBC News, Baltimore Sun, Toronto Life and 80 other media sites. He is also the author or editor of nine books. Learn more about him here!
If you would like to reach out to him, his website is DaveGordonWrites.com. Or you can find him here.
Until next time, flip your hair and flip the page (“I’ll be watching you…”)
xo
RE