question for the studio audience

[eimarra]

I'm working on creating an author Website. I have several short story sales, plus articles on writing available from Vision: A Resource For Writers. Yet I still feel that no one's going to want to visit my site, that I'm wasting my time until I have a book (or more than one) published.

So, how do you get past Impostor Syndrome?

Comments

[temporus.livejournal.com]

Excellent question. Wish I had a good answer, but I'm in the same boat as you. Except I've got even fewer publications. :(

[eimarra]

You'll get the publications. My son got old enough that I had more free time to write; yours will, too. I know I'm going to miss the time I spend now with my daughter, but I'll relish it as well. Bonnie tells me parenthood is full of such ambivalence.

Hmmm. Perhaps I should work on this idea and write an article about it for Vision. (I'd say do a presentation for GSHW, but why would they listen to me? the rest of the year's already booked.)

[saetter.livejournal.com]

I have (a lot) fewer publications, but I also have a brother who builds websites for aliving. He had some free time, so now I have a cool site.

Now I just need to get someone to pick up my book to make it worth having...

[eimarra]

I know I can build simple Websites; I built one over a decade ago for my business. It's not as cool as yours, but it gets the job done. However, all the posts about author sites that I've been reading mention the need to create recurring visitors -- getting people to come back for more. I just don't feel I have anything that compelling to say on my site, either on the About Me page or on a blog.

As for your book, it will get picked up. I'm about halfway through this time, and absolutely loving it. (Though of course I have some comments. ;-) )

[saetter.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to reading your comments, and suggestions on how to make it shorter...

As for driving traffic, unless you have some unique platform, a website is just a space on the internet for people to find out more about you. I don't worry about traffic to my site (which gets about 25 hits a month). Once I get a book out there, I'll add things like book artwork and maps, maybe bonus short stories and the like, but the thing I look for in author sites is news about their next book.

THAT's what they (me) should be working on, more than website content. Extra content is fun, but there's not a author website that I go to except to find news or an occasional forum.

[eimarra]

Are there no author blogs you go to regularly, either? Not just to see what they're working on, or how they're doing it, but to see what they want to talk about? I think Scalzi and Gaiman do an excellent job of connecting with people through their blogs, whether they're talking about their new releases, their pets, or the sunsets in Ohio. Unique platform? I suppose, though for Scalzi at least, the blog came before the fiction success.

However, according to an article on Publishing Trends at the end of 2008,

Codex found that the main thing respondents want on fiction authors’ sites is exclusive, unpublished writing, with 43% saying they’d return for it regularly. “Exclusive content appears to be a missed opportunity on almost all sites,” says Hildick-Smith, and women find it especially appealing. Visitors will also return to authors’ sites regularly for schedules of author tours, book signings, and area appearances (36%); lists of the author’s favorite writers and recommended books; “explainers,” or inside information about the book (36%, with men finding these especially appealing); downloadable extras like icons and sample chapters (33%); and weekly e-mail news bulletins with updates on tours, reviews, and books in progress (33%). And fans under the age of 35 are especially interested in contests, puzzles, and games, with prizes like autographed copies of books.

It's an interesting article, and it convinced me to really think about having a site that's more than a business card or bibliography of my short stories.

[eimarra]

I should note that of the content that they list, pointers to my recommended books and updates on books in progress are about all I can do right now. With possibly contests for books that I've purchased extra copies of thrown in as leavening.

[saetter.livejournal.com]

"But do naked author Facebook photos lead to increased sales? Well, that’s a question for another survey."

LOL

Well, that's something that'll gain certain... interest, anyway.

[annelyle.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a sensible approach - I've often thought that once I have a book out, I could release deleted scenes, background material and so on via my site to attract visitors. I already have some info on there to pique interest, but there's not much point making it exclusive until I have some fans :)

I've been running my blog for five years, and I have very few visitors, but that's not really surprising with my modest publishing history. On the other hand I consider that I'm building content for when I _am_ published. Anyone who wants to find out how I went from wannabe to "real" author will have plenty of reading!

I confess I don't often visit other writers' blogs, but then most writers prefer to concentrate on their fiction rather than blogging - which is fine by me. OTOH I do like to be able to visit an author's site for general information about what they've written, who they are, and so on. If the blog happens to be worth commenting on, that's a bonus.

[eimarra]

Heh. Funny, most of the authors I read *do* blog. Some of them startle me with their prolific posting, in fact -- blogs, Twitter, guest blogs, and still putting out the fiction regularly.

My plan is not to import entries either from here or my Blogger account, but to start a new blog. I'll let the Blogger one go inactive -- I haven't been doing much there this year that's interesting, anyway, and I'll still use this one for the more personal or questioning stuff, I think. So my blogging history isn't going to be there for new readers.

You sound like you have a sensible approach, planning ahead based on where you are now. Also, modest expectations. A level head, as always. :-)

[saetter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link.

I tend to route most interesting author blogs through my livejournal, which I guess is bad since their site doesn't get the "hit." The only blog where I actually go to the author's site on a regular basis is Patrick Rothfuss. Aside from wondering when his next @$#^$@% book is coming out, I find the man hilarious. No platform to speak of, but his sharp wit and fun train of thought is a blast to follow.

Most author blogs don't pull of the subtle balance of business, peeks into the writer's life, and general interest. (I know my blog doesn't, when I even post these days). Pat does a good job of this.

I have a LibraryThing applet on my site as a way to show what I'm reading (something I do enjoy checking out on other author sites).

Puzzles and games? Well, I guess it shows I'm over 35. :D Interesting.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Er, you can get past Impostor Syndrome...?

[eimarra]

Wow, if you haven't, with your beautiful writing, maybe I don't need to worry about it. I'll just . . . do my best and pretend it's good enough.

[david-bridger.livejournal.com]

Before I was published mine was designed to be my calling card, aimed at publishers and agents. I didn't offer any free reads at first, until an agent encouraged me to put some up.

[eimarra]

Thanks for the input, David. Are you feeling better? (I don't want to contribute to your relapse.)

My plan is to have links to my short stories (those available on-line), but not to put excerpts of longer works until they're actually under contract. Who knows what will happen to them with editing?

[david-bridger.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, Erin. I'm no better yet - just waiting and hoping. Thanks for your thoughts.

How I get around that is to put a brief excerpt up, and then replace it later with the edited version.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the really underlying problem is that you don't believe you're an interesting person in your own right, before or after writing.

[eimarra]

Well, yeah.

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

You're not an imposter, you just haven't had a book published yet. Nothing wrong with that, so long as you're working on changing that :)

[eimarra]

Thanks, Jon.

I don't feel that I'm an impostor for not having a book published yet. It's because, as Bonnie pointed out above, I don't think I'm very interesting, so I don't see why anyone would care to come. But she's managed to talk some sense into me, and I'm going ahead anyway. ;-)