Creating an Author Website before Your Book is Published
How to toot your horn before you have a horn to toot
When I wrote the first draft of my first book, I thought that would be the hardest part of being an author. Then I went through the revision process. I ramped up the emotion and tamped down the telling, killed the precious babies or at least moved them to the use later file, and analyzed each scene for critical components. That process was just as difficult as the first, and surely the next stage would flow more easily. You see where this is going.
I’m now in the agent querying phase, which is laborious and requires fierce attention to details (what submission platform to use? what personal details will show I’ve researched this agent? what tiny omission or extra few words will trigger the reject button?) but the process hasn’t been difficult. Except for the realization that agents expect to see an author website. Even authors who’s books are yet to be published. Without a domain and some decent content, the author is is lost in a sea of wanna-be writers, all shouting for the agents’ attention.
The author website is part of the platform agents and publishers look for, if they have any intention of taking on an unknown writer. It holds whatever evidence the author can drum up to show their writing chops. For me, that includes what I write on Medium, plus examples of my freelance work in magazines and journals, and the few stories and prose I’ve submitted to other publications. But is that enough for an author website?
A website to highlight who I am and what I write
Several years ago a friend gave me her great-grandmother’s journal. She’d written it in her last years, as a way to look back at an adventurous life — the inside perspective on a life lived outside the expectations and norms set for a young woman coming of age in 1900. Since then I’ve been diving into research to understand her world, crafting the characters and events that shaped her character. Now its time to share this story with the world.
That means I need an author website. I had no other book length projects to give me credibility, and a small number of pieces I’ve published through different channels. Instead of relying on past accomplishments, I’ll need to show who I am and how I write. I had to let potential agents and publishers get to know me through the website. I knew that — but opening up and tooting my own horn is not my superpower. To share more of my self I decided to use some of my paintings from traveling, each with a short story or message about that journey.
To hire or DIY? Finding an approach that works
Task number one is to get your domain, and most people who live in modern society know how to manage that. If that seems too complicated to take on yourself, you’ll definitely want to hire a web designer for the whole kit and caboodle of creating an author website.
I’d rather put my money toward hiring a good editor for the book than a web designer, so I chose to DIY. The choice comes down to a balance between experience and the time/money you can invest. With some help from user-friendly platforms and the wealth of knowledge found on YouTube, it seemed possible.
Squarespace is a popular choice for author websites. It seems user-friendly to put together simple sites. But since I was already familiar with Wordpress, I started there. My first downfall was to get caught up in the many templates. So many options! And none of them exactly right. I kept switching from one layout to another, adding “wonder blocks” until the whole site became a wonder indeed — a wonder of confusion. My blood pressure blew up and I found relief only by deleting the whole site. I had to look elsewhere.
Years ago, I began using a simple platform called Journo Portfolio as an easy online portfolio of freelance pieces and a contact page. I’d ignored it for a while, because it seemed too basic. Now I was desperate for simplicity, so I took another look. (BTW this is not an affiliate kind of endorsement!) In the years since I began stashing stories on this platform, they’d overhauled the options into a more visually pleasing space with flexible modules for both art and writing. It took a few evenings to come up with the bare minimum of pages: About me, A Writing Portfolio, Travel Journal Paintings and Stories, and my Dive into Historical Fiction.
Because I feel very protective of my book until it is published, I don’t want to write about the actual story line or people. Instead, I chose to write about my writing process. The research, the character development, the story arc. How to add real people in to a real story, and how to create fictional characters as needed.
Is this the best approach, or even a good one? Honestly, I have no idea. But it feels like who I am, and the best I can do for the moment — until my book gets published and I need something new and improved.
For that, I’ll definitely hire an expert.
