Announcements

One of my clients, the personable Nicolás Nóbile, of Alquimia9.com, has written a book that sums up his philosophy. I’m so proud of him for sustaining this effort — English is his second language and even if it were not, his topic is one that’s difficult to write about with clarity. I think he’s done a remarkable job. The book is available now, from Lulu — see this page for information.

Late May and June were chockablock with experiences I didn’t blog.

Under my Hit Those Keys umbrella, I produced and launched three new sites:

1. Deborah Brodie: Freelance Editor, Book Doctor & Creative Writing Teacher

   Wow. I loved working on this site. Partly for nerdy design reasons—creating all the text ornaments and paying such close attention to the typography was really fun. But, mainly, this project meant what it did because Deborah herself is both a consummate professional and an entertaining correspondent. I sincerely believe that any aspiring author couldn’t be in better hands than hers.

2. Lindsey Lane: Children’s Author, Columnist, Playwright

   Also Wow. One reason I still craft sites the way I do, one at a time and with an insane attention to detail, is because I get to know such interesting people. Visually, this site is pleasing because I can see clear markers of my style, yet (and the feedback on this has been universal) the site really says Lindsey. I can already tell that I’ll be adding her blog (more on this in another entry) to my daily reading roster.

3. Martha J. Groom: Assoc. Professor, Conservation Biology, Ecology

   This woman rocks. Conservation biologist and twin mom, she keeps an unbelievable number of priorities in balance and helps save the planet, too. Okay, in the interests of full disclosure, she is my sister. And, of course, my services were a gift on this one. Still, what a privilege to know each other in a new way, as two professional women in collaboration.

Over the next few weeks months I will be listing and elaborating on my best hints about whether and how to design and maintain an effective author site. These are some of the same topics I illustrate at length in my “AuthorSites” talks to writers’ groups, beginning with the talk I did last May for the Illinois chapter of SCBWI.

Author Sites: Hybrids

But before we begin I first have to say: Author sites — and I’ve designed and produced over two dozen of them to date — are tricky. Why? Because they are hybrids; they are part personal and part professional.

Your site is personal because as a writer, there is always a part of you in your work. In fact, your site needs to be personal because discovering something of the author-person is one of the main reasons some of your visitors googled you and found the site in the first place. If you are going to place yourself on the web, you need to be prepared to share.

Your site is also a powerful promotional tool for your work. Teachers, librarians, booksellers, parents, editors — people responsible for getting books into the hands of book-lovers — all are potential visitors to your site. These visitors will be looking for signs that you are a professional, someone who can be trusted with a child’s sensibility or an avid reader’s attention.

Straddling Conventions

There are conventions regarding personal sites (it’s probably okay and maybe even expected to post pictures of your dog) and conventions about professional sites (it’s probably not okay and maybe even a downright bad idea to post pictures of your dog).

There’s no one-size fits all rule for where you, the author seeking to put up a site about yourself and your work, should place yourself on the continuum of personal-to-professional. We can probably, in the comments and in future articles, come up with some guidelines, but all I am asking of you here is to begin thinking about the balance you want to achieve. I’ll touch more on this as we go along.