Awesome Author Sites, Tip #1

Q: Do you need an author website?
A: You betcha.

Awesome Author Site Tip #1: Yes, you should have a website. You probably don’t need convincing on this point, but I’m going to state three reasons why you need an author website.

They may not be the reasons you think:

1. To be found
2. To become “real”
3. To control the message

To be found

You would think this one wouldn’t need to be stated, but it does. You need a website so that you and your books can be found. How many people are trying to be writers right now? –a very big number. How many books are being published and vying for readership right now? –another very big number. With some notable exceptions (J.K. Rowling, anyone?), publishers are allocating smaller and smaller budgets to promotion. It’s often left to the writers to do for themselves.

To become “real”

This reason may seem rather existential, perhaps even self-indulgent, or silly, but never mind. It’s a valid reason for having a website because, these days, if you don’t have a virtual identity, people harbor suspicions about your face-to-face (or bricks-and-mortar) identity.

Case in point: I have a friend who runs his own very high-end contracting business. He’s got a storefront with professional lettering on the glass. He has business cards and a logo. He has office and phone support and a crew of able guys and gals. He has trucks. But he does not (yet) have a website. Which means, to some potential clients, that he is not quite “real.”

To control the message

As an author you have very little control over your books once you sign the contract. Your title, flap copy, and cover art all could and probably will undergo some substantial change at the behest of your publisher. You won’t have control over your blurbs, your reviews, or the word-of-mouth on your books. But you do have control of what your own site says about you. At least, you will if you have a website!