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Is owning a website imperative? What do you think? If you have a website what web host do you use and why?
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Christine
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Jul 19, 2017 11:24AM
I've been keeping my costs down, low and am now wondering if a website is a must. It costs to make one, I would probably DIY (Do it myself), but with just one ebook and one new title coming out, ever so slowly, I wonder if it's a waste of money right now. Your thoughts?
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Hardly anyone uses mine to contact me - but at least they can if they want to and that is important. It probably depends on what else you have. I don't do FB or Twitter, so a website is probably a must-have. I need to update it....
Anna Faversham wrote: "Hardly anyone uses mine to contact me - but at least they can if they want to and that is important. It probably depends on what else you have. I don't do FB or Twitter, so a website is probably a ..."Thanks the thing, it's just another thing to do and I wonder if it's worth it. I am on YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google + (though not so much there). And it costs money to support it. Thanks for your input.
As you imply - if we're busy propping up our books, there's not much time to write another. However, there are some things which are important. Website? Marks out of 10? Five.I plan one day to make mine more active but I notice that others' websites have hardly anyone responding to all their hard work. For the moment, I'd put your efforts into getting more books written. I've got a list of marketing, etc. jobs to do when I've finished my current wip.
I've had my blog/website since the beginning (2011) and have published 8 books to date. I transitioned from the free site on blogger in 2014 to wix (easy to set up your own site, has a free option which I did for a year to see if I liked it/ it was worth it. Best way to tell is Google analytics, not comments.)If you went to my website, you would see that I am putting in tons of effort with my reader-focused blog posting 3-5 times a week, mostly with author interviews (builds good will in the community so they will return the favor when you need to promote your next books.) character spotlights, book reviews (again, good will, but also entertaining to readers to see what I like as a reader.) and poetry.
You would never guess from the comments section (which is MOSTLY dead) or from the interaction on my site, but I have 900 email subscribers (more than 80% JUST readers) who get weekly emails of a compilation of the blog. I have 9K followers across all social media platforms, where I share my posts regularly, and if you look at Google Analytics, I get about 1500 hits per post. averaging about 20K hits a month. Most of that traffic has nothing to do with MY books, but I get new subscribers every month, new followers, and authors I haven't met through events message me regularly to request an interview to promote their new release.
Now, running all that is a 20+ hour a week venture, and I can't really say that it contributes to my sales on books, necessarily, but it is getting my name established and recognized as a mover and shaker in the book world, and certainly many go on to read my books.
But if I had to go back to a full-time job tomorrow, this would probably be one of the first places I would cut back in my overall marketing and advertising efforts. I'd still pay for the website and keep my e-newsletter, though. At any time, you could lose access to your fans on social media, but that won't happen on your website. At any time, social media can limit your exposure to your fans without you paying to play, but with your e-newsletter, the only person who can limit your access is your individual fan if they decide they no longer want to see your emails.
And, most importantly, I own the website Heidiangell.com No one can buy that up and then force me to pay ridiculous amounts of money later to own the right to my own name. No thanks.
That's just my two cents and personal experience. If you really want to know if it's worth it, take a look at the top sellers in your genre, do they all have websites? (I bet they do.) You might want one too. Even if it starts out as a free site and hub for people to find you, and then you build it into more as you grow.
I don't have a website. I have a neglected blog and social media, which for me at least, is the most important presence when it comes to getting the word out there (other than actually writing books, that is).
Heidi wrote: "I've had my blog/website since the beginning (2011) and have published 8 books to date. I transitioned from the free site on blogger in 2014 to wix (easy to set up your own site, has a free option ..."I agree with Heidi. I have my website on Wix, though I am not nearly as active with the blog activities. She has some very good ideas. As for Wix, I have used Go Daddy, Ipage, and Hostgator in the past, and none, in my opinion, can compare to Wix. It is very user friendly.
Anita wrote: "Heidi wrote: "I've had my blog/website since the beginning (2011) and have published 8 books to date. I transitioned from the free site on blogger in 2014 to wix (easy to set up your own site, has ..."Agreed, Anita. People keep trying to get me to switch to Wordpress, it's all the rage, but dang if I don't have the time to go learn another system! Lol. However, if you're a new author and not already accustomed, it might be worth the time investment. I know for my guest posts, several sites have requested that I learn it. Might have to just suck that up....
I have a website that lists my books, my events and appearances, has a blog part of it and also gives some information on my world. I don't update it often, but it's there if people want to see more about the books. You can get free ones that don't cost much, though buying your own domain name is probably better than using a blogger/wordpress one.
I have a website, also use face book and blogging. I think if you have the time and money, it would be worth it to use these media in promoting your books. Blogging on social and sensitive issues might whet your readers appetite to take a look at your books.
It seems a bit pretentious of me to have my own author web site when I have only published one book ( in 1997). But now I am about to publish my second and I have put nearly three decades into its development, so I have to use every means at my disposal to attract sales.
I have a website with Squarespace - it's a reasonable price and easy to use. I get surprisingly many visitors, and I have only published one book. It's great to have somewhere to refer people and good for storing bits and pieces, like Instrafreebie promos I'm participating in and hosting, advice for readers etc. I need to work to improve it, but it always seems to end up on the long finger. I wouldn't be without it though.
Hola,Madre mía, yo leo estas cosas y me frustro aún más. Lo único que he sacado en claro en estos dos meses que llevo intentando darle publicidad a mi novela es que si no pagas no hay forma. Y yo ahora mismo no puedo hacer frente a más gastos. Mi novela ha sido una autoeditación, por lo que ya me he gastado un dineral. Supongo que hay que ser un escritor consagrado para que invertir tanto dinero salga rentable. Enhorabuena Heidi por tus libros. Espero llegar algún día a ser como tu.
Un saludo a tod@s!
Pamela wrote: "I have a website with Squarespace - it's a reasonable price and easy to use. I get surprisingly many visitors, and I have only published one book. It's great to have somewhere to refer people and g..."Do you remember what template did you choose for your website on Squarespace. There are lots of choices. Thanks. Christine
Tony wrote: "I have a website, also use face book and blogging. I think if you have the time and money, it would be worth it to use these media in promoting your books. Blogging on social and sensitive issues m..."Thanks!
Luz Divina wrote: "Hola,Madre mía, yo leo estas cosas y me frustro aún más. Lo único que he sacado en claro en estos dos meses que llevo intentando darle publicidad a mi novela es que si no pagas no hay forma. Y yo..."
Trate de pensar en publicar las cosas por el menor dinero posible. No gastes demasiado. Esa ha sido mi filosofía aquí. :-) ¡Mucho éxito!
Since 2005, I've had a web site for my nonfiction title, plus four Wordpress blogs, two for nonfiction and two for fiction. One each is hosted, one each is free. I monetized the hosted ones for a while but I've dropped that, and may drop the hosted blogs and keep the free ones. Lately for my fiction blog I've been posting spotlights, book launches, and cover reveals for other authors as well as myself, and I participate in blog tours. Some of the blog tour posts include giveaways which enable me to pick up Twitter followers and newsletter subscribers.
Christine Calabrese wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I have a website with Squarespace - it's a reasonable price and easy to use. I get surprisingly many visitors, and I have only published one book. It's great to have somewhere to ref..."I went for one called Rover, with all the dogs on it.
I have half a blog and that needs all the upkeep I have energy for. But I am old and lazy...However it is beginning to garner a following so it may prove worthwhile.
I have a sit with Wordpress, and I've been happy with it so far. It's easy to change things around. They have plenty of free designs to choose from. I don't pay a fee, so 'wordpress' is part of the URL. I don't mind that, though. It's super easy to use and set up and equally easy to change things around if I want. I use it for blogging about 1-2 times a week, book reviews, and as an author site. My own complaint is that the free stuff seems to be a bit limited. I've noticed that a lot of the wordpress sites tend to look similar to one another. I found one book blogger whose site used the same style and almost the same font. It's okay, though, because her site look really nice.
I can't say that having a website is imperative to being an author. I advertise my books, but I mostly blog and do book reviews. As a reader, I can honestly say I've never gone to a writer's website.
B.B. wrote: "I have a sit with Wordpress, and I've been happy with it so far. It's easy to change things around. They have plenty of free designs to choose from. I don't pay a fee, so 'wordpress' is part of the..."Really? Never? Well, I guess my excursians to websites tend to be as a reviewer. But my teen boys are constantly checking out the websites of authors they're reading to see what else they have, if they are doing anything cool. We're in a kind of geek hub in the US and have author book signings out here regularly, so they will bookmark and earn points to be able to go and buy the book.
They're almost as big of fan boys as their mom is a fan girl, lol.
I don't think a website is a must, but it can be a nice touch to have one. I opted for a domain hosted by godaddy. I was able to get my author name dot com. I really don't know much about websites so I just use godaddy products for the drag and drop website builder. I also use their email marketing service to send a professional-looking newsletter. There are probably better and cheaper ways to achieve the same result but I don't have the energy to figure out how to do so :D. Before I set up the website, I included my email address at the back of my books which readers used to send me messages and ask when the next book in the series would come out. I like having a website and email list so I can provide that information more efficiently. In about 10 months of having the website and email list set up, 50 people have subscribed. I received a handful of pre-orders through the email newsletter, but it's certainly not where the majority of sales come from. As far as ROI, I doubt I will see it from the website. It's more of a luxury at this point. Hope this helps :).
Heidi wrote: "Really? Never? Well, I guess my excursians to websites tend to be as a reviewer. But my teen boys are constantly checking out the websites of authors they're reading to see what else they have, if they are doing anything cool. We're in a kind of geek hub in the US and have author book signings out here regularly, so they will bookmark and earn points to be able to go and buy the book."Honestly, aside from fellow authors asking me to check something for them, no, I'm not inclined to go to an author's website. In fact, back before the explosion of Indies, the only author who had a website I was familiar with was JK Rowling and I found it a bit too busy (she would make a game of hiding spoilers in the Flash based site) for my liking.
Once I got my Kindle, it was the free books that would hook me in and typically, I'd look for links to their other books or social media, but if they had a link to a website or a newsletter sign up, I'd pass and just go search for other titles in Amazon.
These days, I'm far more likely to get updates via social media, Amazon, and especially here on Goodreads, since most of the authors I'm interested in reading are Indies I've discovered through this group.
I don't believe it's imperative. I think it's a good idea just to have the presence, but to date, I've had one organic interaction from my website. The rest I'd driven there when I was maintaining a blog.Unless you're pushing your website constantly or you have the most amazing SEO driving people to your site, a website is going to eat your money. You could just as easily use the Amazon Author Central page as a way to connect people to you and your work.
Edit: Author Central gives you better metrics over a standard website also.
I really like having a website. I run mine through GoDaddy and built it mostly myself, aside from having my graphics designer give me a custom background and a few other pieces to make it look streamlined and professional.Although I have an author newsletter, I didn't want a true blog that I have to spend so much time writing content for. And even though I only have one book released at this time, I try to always run things by how I want to grow into them. I know it's a saga, so those will all post in time.
It gives readers a place to:
- buy my book
- download my first 2 chapters for free
- view my sample discussion questions for book clubs
- have people sign up for my newsletter
- participate in giveaways
- view a small feed of my social media/instantly follow either of them
- author bio
- announce events
- see real deal photos of the novel's setting (tour the palace)
-contact me
- and eventually... I'll have a downloadable author-read audiobook sample (first 2 chapters). I'm planning to record this through Audacity in the fall.
I just like having everything available in that website hub. And I like that there's a central site that I can post a link to that's crazy easy to remember when I'm talking to either old friends or complete strangers.
Ian wrote: "It seems a bit pretentious of me to have my own author web site when I have only published one book ( in 1997). But now I am about to publish my second and I have put nearly three decades into its ..."Having your own website to promote both you and your book is far from being pretentious; it is an absolute necessity in todays digital world. If fact, I observe that any site you visit to request promotion for your book always asks for 2 things: your website URL and your social media URLs. Websites today are fairly cheap and many are self managed. You can try Godaddy or Wordpress among many others. Good luck with your new site.
Yvonne wrote: "Ian wrote: "It seems a bit pretentious of me to have my own author web site when I have only published one book ( in 1997). But now I am about to publish my second and I have put nearly three decad..."Thanks!
Squarespace is integrated IngramSpark I believe.
Thomas wrote: "I don't believe it's imperative. I think it's a good idea just to have the presence, but to date, I've had one organic interaction from my website. The rest I'd driven there when I was maintaining ..."I am on author central and am sending my pinterest photos to it. I'm not sure I understand it's full potential.
It's like one doesn't actually exist these days if they don't have a website. Think about any business or restaurant you want to patronize. If they don't have a website you might wonder, "Are they out of business?" or maybe even just "What's wrong with them?" It is kind of funny that our sites lend us credibility and legitimacy, since they're just PR facades we're creating for ourselves, but that's the climate we're in these days.I use Wix. Their templates are really user friendly. They're cheap and often have sales to make it even cheaper. You'll want to get a custom domain name. We get ours (I have a few and the husband has several) through GoDaddy but I'm sure there are many other good sources, too.
Once you have the website you'll realize the benefits.
Crystal wrote: "It's like one doesn't actually exist these days if they don't have a website. Think about any business or restaurant you want to patronize. If they don't have a website you might wonder, "Are they ..."A web presence and a website are not the same thing. Plenty of businesses use social media as their web presence. As authors, we have a presence on the sales platforms we use as well as any additional points of contact we wish to add. Not having a website might have been bad for business in the nineties, but there are plenty of ways to stay visible and accessible.
I think it's pretty necessary, imo, especially if you run a blog or want to promote your business.
I resisted getting a website for a while, but everyone kept asking if I had one! So I got my custom domain from name.com and went with squarespace because they're pretty easy, really customizable, and have good tutorials on YouTube. I discovered that I actually LOVE writing blog posts! I would say it's necessary in this "what's your website?" Society, and you might discover you have a lot of fun with it.
I learned so much, and had such a great time building my site, I ended up building my husband's site for his business too!
It might take some time to explore your options, but it's well-spent once you type your site into the browser and watch your work of art pop up.
It feels like Publishing a book lol.
I'll jump in and say that I have in the past had jobs where I had to find people (not for anything nefarious--for interviews and publicity) and I am currently doing a project where I am trying to hunt down several authors, journalists, and translators. Even in the internet age it can be surprisingly difficult to get in touch with people. So while I wouldn't say that as an author you absolutely have to have a website, I would strongly recommend having some method of finding out about you and letting people get in touch with you. You never know when someone like me might want to contact you for an interview! Or more importantly, when an agent or editor might want to get in touch with you.Of the authors and translators I'm currently trying to contact, only the most commercially successful (not a coincidence, I'm thinking) has an actual website with a page on it that has contact info, including the email address of his publicist. I emailed her, and lo and behold, scored an interview of sorts! Even though the author himself is currently in a war zone, he does a lot of interviews and even took the time to respond to my questions. Again, not a complete coincidence that he's the most commercially successful, I'm thinking.
One of the other authors is very active on social media and I was easily able to find him on Facebook, Twitter, and LiveJournal, but I have yet to find an email address or other method of contacting him directly. The others don't seem to have much of a web presence at all and I've been trying to track them down by asking around, contacting their publishers, etc. It just occurred to me that I might be able to get in touch with them via Goodreads, so I guess I'll give that a shot. Some of these people are, okay, on the run from the Russian government, so I can see why they might keep a low profile, but that doesn't seem to stop them from publishing books and doing interviews, and some of them are NOT on the run, as far as I know, so that's no excuse for not being easily findable.
The conclusion I've come to from this little experience is that it's very important for authors and translators to have some means of random people getting in touch with them, that will show up on the first page of an internet search. You don't have to have a website per se, but an email address prominently displayed on your social media with an invitation for people to contact you is very helpful. Especially since it's actually kind of awkward for random strangers to try to get in touch with you. Even though this is something I have a certain amount of experience in, I still feel weird about sending random DMs through social media to people I don't know or have only met once ten years ago.
So put yourself in the shoes of someone trying to get in touch with you! Do a web search on yourself and ask, "If someone wanted to find me for an interview, could they do so? Would they feel comfortable contacting me just by looking at my web presence?"
Shirani wrote: "I think it's good to have a website even if you don't have much on it. It gives a professional look and you can direct anyone to the website if they want to find out about you or your book. A good ..." What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
E.P. wrote: "I'll jump in and say that I have in the past had jobs where I had to find people (not for anything nefarious--for interviews and publicity) and I am currently doing a project where I am trying to h..."So I did that and am easy to find if you just put in Christine Calabrese author. Humm. :-) Still wondering.
I highly recommend having a website. As several others have pointed out, there are a lot of sites that require websites for giveaways, interviews, etc., plus it's nice to be able to have everything in one place that you control. A website doesn't have to be fancy or expensive, but it should look professional.I also agree with all of E.P.'s points: You don't want to lose out on a sale/interview/PR opportunity just because someone can't find you or your website.
In addition to getting organic search through my blog, I use my website as a place to showcase my article writing and to provide an easy-to-find press kit for my book. It's so easy to send a reviewer a link where they can download all the assets they need in one place.
Also, if you ever decide to go the agent/publisher route, they'll ask about your author platform, of which a website is usually considered a part. And the sooner you start working on it, the sooner you can start growing your traffic. One of the services I offer is coaching clients (writers, businesses, etc.) on social media and the web in general, and so many of them come to me just a few weeks before their book/product is due to come out. By then, it's often too late to see any substantial results from a website alone, so I always recommend having even just a single page up as soon as you can.
I blog less than a dozen times a year, but I still manage to maintain a good SEO ranking. It really doesn't require as much work as people think, and the benefits far outweigh any downside.
It's called The Writer's Space and I try to promote indies. I do interviews, once a month and book reviews (although I have a long list of books to read right now) If anyone is interested let me know I'll be more than happy to feature your books in the promo section and give your books more publicity."I would love to take you up on your offer, but do not want to violate the SIA rules.
Wishing you the best of success with your Indie author website!,
Marcia Kreutzmann
Hola,Gracias Christine por tu consejo y gracias por desearme suerte, la necesito jajajajaja :)
Hoy quiero lanzaros una pregunta por si podéis ayudarme. He leído en varias páginas que a veces los autores no somos conscientes de la importancia de tener una agente literario. Conseguirlo no es fácil, puesto que son ellos los que deciden ayudarte a publicitar tu obra o no, y por supuesto tampoco es gratis. Mas dinero :( que ésto tampoco es una buena idea...En fin mi pregunta es si alguien conoce el caso de algún autor que haya tenido un agente literario y le haya merecido la pena. Muchas gracias
I have two websites. The one for my books is useful to describe books for readers, to print reviews and to serve as a sales funnel. I can sell books on site or direct readers to Amazon for print books and Smashwords for eBooks.The other is for a professional organization I manage. This one serves as a permanent, though changeable brochure, but also as a means for authors to access and pay for the service. This one is not-for-profit and peer-driven.
I think a website is necessary these days for credibility and visibility. I am fortunate that my son runs a hosting company in Australia.
JL Bowers! Thanks, Everyone has been so helpful. I think I've made my decision. Square space website... it'll be a learning curve. I'm sure I'll be fine.
Hey Christine! I saw your question about a website, good question. Speaking from my own experience, and I just started this journey in January. It looks like you've already decided, so I'll just reconfirm your decision. Yes you want a website! I can assure you, I'm well aware of a shoestring budget. I'm on one, and it has been my goal to spend only where it's necessary. I have actually just recently learned how to publish completely free(I use to pay for formatting on e-books). Anyway I've been all over the net learning as I wander through this endeavor, and it seemed like owning your own web/blog site was and is a good investment. I bought my domain and a years worth of hosting for $83.00 from Go daddy with WordPress.org. For the money I probably couldn't have done any better. I did that back in March, I've just now got it to resemble something that I was after, I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it, so I did it myself. That's not to say I spent the last 4 months buried in it, I put out 4 books in that time too. The cool thing is I published those books through Amazon/Kindle. I put a link and a picture of a couple on the gallery page of my site and it takes you directly to my Amazon author page. I haven't done the paperwork yet, but supposedly Amazon will give me 4% of sales generated off of my site. I look at the site as something with staying power for a time to come. I have my website there and a blog there, and the rest is up to me as far as what I'm doing with it. I'm doing books now, but those books are pushing songs, so for me the web/blog site was pretty crucial. I still have some tweaking to do on it, and I'm still learning as I go, but I don't think you can go wrong with one. It was a terrible pain in the ass for me to set up, but I'm not exactly what you would call computer savvy. Once you get yours set up, and you're driving traffic to your site, the sky can be the limit. You just have to figure out how to drive the traffic. I started with one book at the end of January, now there's 7 and the site. Another book in the works, and songs to record, and I'm looking at that site to carry it all, and I still don't know what the hell I'm doing. I thought I would share that with you. Good Luck! RobertP.S If you want to see a true DIY site go to Storysongtales.com. As I stated I still have some tweaking to do, but you'll get the idea.
I couldn't agree more that is super important to have a website. I refer people to my website to learn about my book, sign up for my blog and learn about me. I include my website in my signature block in my email and I have discovered that several people have gone to my website as a result. I ask people to go to my website to sign up for my VIP Readers list. They receive a newsletter that comes out every 4-6 weeks with announcements, quotes, articles, and various promotions. For me, my website is an integral part of my promotion for my book and definitely worth the investment.
JL wrote: "Since I just published my first book, I didn't want to invest in a webpage for just one book(though I did purchase my domain name for the future). I DID make a landing page for my book. I used book..."JL, thank you for posting this. For the past few weeks I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to send people to my offer when they go to my landing page. I designed the landing page on Mailerlite, but didn't have a clue as to what to do after that. Now it seems you have provided the answer. Would you mind messaging me the link to your webpage? Thanks!
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R.A wrote: "Hey Christine! I saw your question about a website, good question. Speaking from my own experience, and I just started this journey in January. It looks like you've already decided, so I'll just re..."You have a nice site! Very simple yet elegant! Great job! What a wonderful idea! Creating songs from stories. I write little jingles for classroom management, as I'm a teacher. Fun! Much success and thanks so much for taking the time to give your input!
Beverly wrote: "I couldn't agree more that is super important to have a website. I refer people to my website to learn about my book, sign up for my blog and learn about me. I include my website in my signature bl..."Thanks so much! So I'm on the right track here! :-)
T.J. wrote: "I resisted getting a website for a while, but everyone kept asking if I had one! So I got my custom domain from name.com and went with squarespace because they're pretty easy, really customizable, ..."Thanks TJ, your experience is valuable! Taking the time to write a little about it for all of us, especially me, has helped me navigate my decision. All my best and much success! Christine
Christine Calabrese wrote: "I've been keeping my costs down, low and am now wondering if a website is a must. It costs to make one, I would probably DIY (Do it myself), but with just one ebook and one new title coming out, ev..."If you only have one social media presence make it a website. It gives you an air of professionalism. You don't even have to spend alot of money to have a really nice website. Especially since you're starting out, you can do a single page or even just a blog. There are many different options through Blogger or Wordpress that are free.
I use Wix for both of my websites. It is also free to use unless you want to get into having your own domain name, which you can purchase cheaper through a hosting site.
If you need any help with it, feel free to ask. That's what I do!
Ps - Calabrese is the last name of my lead character in Demon Hunter! Teehee
If you look at my previous post, you will see that you can make a highly professional website absolutely free at weebly.com
Cynthia wrote: "Christine Calabrese wrote: "I've been keeping my costs down, low and am now wondering if a website is a must. It costs to make one, I would probably DIY (Do it myself), but with just one ebook and ..."Ha! That's a cute tidbit! Calabrese! :-)
