WordPress Is Still the Best for Author Websites By Yael K. Miller

Can Twitter Really Help You Sell Books? Book Marketing Strategies And Tips Ar...

WordPress Is Still the Best for Author Websites By Yael K. Miller

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This week, we continue to march in returning experts to share their book marketing tips with us. Yael K. Miller of Miller Mosaic, LLC is back to discuss why WordPress is the best platform for authors.

Keep your radar up, because in a week, our next big Book Marketing Twitter Contests launches and you can win some amazing prizes, some provided by Yael and her business partner, Phyllis Zimbler Miller of Miller Mosaics, LLC.

Now, on to Yael's post...

WordPress Is Still the Best for Author Websites

By Yael K. Miller

I previously wrote a post for Tony called "WordPress Is for Authors." Today I'm writing about how that's still true, and I'll be sharing an example of WordPress and a book author.

Names have been withheld to protect those involved.

A new novelist being published by a major book publisher had the first in a series coming out. Author Representative #1 knew me and my work and arranged for me to do the book author's website. Not the website for the book itself but the website for the book author.

This author had never used WordPress, never blogged at all, and admitted to not being "good with technology."

I put up the website and, as I was finishing the backend, I gave the author access to the how-to WordPress videos I have created. Immediately the author started to blog and change the site layout somewhat.

I was then informed by the author that the author would be hiring a web designer to make changes on the site. That's fine with me I said and it was.

I am not a web designer and I have never claimed to be. I put up websites using WordPress and either the Thesis or Genesis theme. And I have intermediate customization skills.

I'm connected on Twitter to a number of great WordPress designers, and I was pleased at the opportunity to be able to recommend one of them for the job.

Then I had a sinking suspicion – what if the author isn't hiring a WordPress designer but a regular web designer?

I wanted a face-to-face meeting – I begged for 10 minutes to discuss things that needed to be discussed before the web designer was hired. I got the 10 minutes.

In the meeting, the author told me that there wasn't going to be a book website. There was only going to be the author website. And the publisher told the author that the author had to run the site (and the social media marketing but that's another story).

Then the author tells me that Author Representative #2 and the PR person from the publisher didn't like the author's current website. And that they recommended a service that would put up a new website.

I asked: "Would it be a WordPress website?"

"No." And furthermore the author told me that Author Representative #2 and the PR person said: "WordPress can't do everything that a book author website needs."

"What was it that they said WordPress can't do?" I asked.

The book author didn't remember.

Let's take a step back here.

This author admittedly wasn't "good with technology" and yet, by watching my how-to WordPress videos and playing with the site, the author figured out how to change and add stuff to the website quickly.

And even though the publisher told the author that the website had to be completely run by the author, the author should switch to a non-WordPress website.

Taking a deep breath, I explained that there's nothing a book author needs that WordPress can't do.

I went on to explain that, if the author hired a "web designer" to put up a new website, this might be weeks or months before the site got up. The site needed to be up now for marketing purposes.

And then the author would have to learn a whole new set of site skills to update the site and the site most likely wouldn't be as easy to use as WordPress.

I said that, if the author wanted a more "traditional-looking" book author website, there were people who did WordPress customizations who could do this. And I found a person online while at the face-to-face meeting.

I don't know exactly what the author decided. But as of the time I'm writing this post, the WordPress website that I set up is still up.

Lessons learned:

It doesn't matter how major a publisher is publishing your book or how big the "push" the publisher is giving your book, you will have to run your website yourself.

WordPress really is easy to use even if you've never used it or anything similar or are "not good with technology."

Do not let your representatives or PR people or publisher push you around when it comes to the website. If you're running it, it should be what you can use.

WordPress is still the best for authors.

And see my blog post "What You Need to Know Before You Get a Website" for what you need to know even before deciding on WordPress.

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