Get Your Book Published and Sold - 12 Great Author Web Sites for Promotion Ideas

You are on the final draft of your manuscript and almost ready to publish. It's not too soon to start thinking about your author web site or blog. Along with publishing your book, you must have a web site or blog to create the buzz about your book and to interact with your readers.

Like your book, your web site is a reflection of your style and tone. Be prepared to spend $350 or more and be sure to reserve the domain name for your book. Or you can do it yourself (nearly free) at various publishers, distribution, or author community sites. Check out free blog sites like WordPress and Blog Spot.

At a minimum, you will want a web site or blog allowing for a description of the book, your bio, link for buying the book, reader comments/posts, and a means for collecting names and e-mail addresses. Consider giving away some of the book or holding a poll, contest, or game that requires the participant to buy, read, and react to your book.

Regardless of where or how you will create your site, take the time to visit other authors' web sites to get a sense of the scope and variety. I've highlighted twelve sites in this article, some of well-known authors, such as Pat Conroy, Seth Godin, Barbara Kingsolver, J.A Konrath, Stieg Larsson, Anita Shreve, and Michael Stackpole.

Konrath (jakonrath.blogspot.com) is a self-published author with amazing marketing skills. In his latest effort, he is creating buzz about his e-book, Draculas, to be launched October 19th. He will e-mail an advance copy if you promise to post a review on your blog or web site by October 18th, including a link to Amazon's pre-order page, and post the same review to Amazon's Draculas on the launch date. He also provides the first 50 pages for free download and pre-order of the e-book.

Seth Godin (sethgodin.com), author of 12 best-selling books, caused quite a stir when he announced his next book, Linchpin will be the last book he publishes in the traditional way. The marketing maven has such a large direct readership, he no longer needs a traditional publisher. Check out his clever web site that reflects his whimsical personality.

Michael Stackpole (michaelastackpole.com), famous science-fiction writer, has a robust web site, featuring his many books and opinions on the writing biz. He manages to present numerous titles and a variety of content so it's organized and attractive.

Conroy (patconroy.com), Kingsolver (kingsolver.com), and Shreve (anitashreve.com) are among my personal favorites. Having read their books, I resonate with the individual tone and feel reflected at their web sites. Finally, I couldn't leave out Larrson (stieglarsson.com) whose newspaper style site features his books, movies, and stories about the man himself.

A few AuthorAssist clients are making some serious noise in the fiction-writing world and have web sites of note: Richard Alther (siegfriedfollies.com),who is getting his second book published, Kerry Cohen Hoffmann (kerrycohenhoffmann.com), author of three published books, and Morgan Hunt (morganhuntbooks.com), who spins a mystery series. Several clients have written nonfiction books to highlight and promote their careers: Dr. Sunil Sharma (sunilsharma.com), a happiness guru, and Alan Krugel, author of The K-9 Chronicles (thek-9chronicles.com) featuring his rescue of 911 rescue dogs. The clever animations and videos among these sites are sure to spark some ideas for your own web site.

Be sure to research web sites featuring your favorite authors and books in your genre or profession. First and foremost, create a style and tone reflecting your book(s) so you are poised to create buzz and sell lots of books. Then it's on to having a presence at other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Meanwhile, have fun creating your web site.



For a decade, Patricia Benesh has been providing personal coaching and a range of "success-oriented services" to fiction and nonfiction writers at http://AuthorAssist.com. No matter what your writing level or publishing goal (traditional publishing, self-publishing), AuthorAssist helps ensure you are ready to get your book published, promoted, and sold. Get complimentary feedback at http://AuthorAssist.com/complimentary.html.




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