Author Websites

After the insanity in the Tenner chat the other day died down, Karen Kincy, Tenner and author of Other (Flux, July 2010) asked the the remaining bloggers in the chat about author websites- what is good, what is bad, etc. I promised her a post about it, so here it is!


-I don't like it when the whole site is like one boring color and has the same boring font all over the place. I don't want black text on a white background with a couple pictures. That's boring. Find a fun layout! Make it ~interactive.~ Have some animations! Make it look pretty! But don't clutter it up. Pretty sites: Kristin Walker's, Jessica Verday's, Jenny Han's, Maureen Johnson's. Simple can work too- Courtney Summers's site is cool and has an interesting layout. Edit: I don't mean your site has to be all fancy with a million colors. I just don't like sites with only 2 colors- a background and font. Put a picture a design or SOMETHING fun.

-I don't like it when the website isn't updated. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a thing under a book cover that says things like "Coming in April 2009!" when it's July 2009.

-I don't like it when the summary of the book is either two sentences or five paragraphs. One or two paragraphs, please?

- I don't like boring bios! Those "___ is the author of ___, ____, and ___, which was a ___bestseller/made ___ list. Author got their MFA/Bachelor's degree/other college stuff in ___ at ___ college." are no fun. I know there have to be "official" ones to go on the book, but put a funner one on your site. Show some ~*PERSONALITY!*~ A short bio and a long (but not too long) one on the same page are awesome, even if you have the official one as the short one. But if you have a bio about your school stuff/writing awards, at least put some fun stuff on the same page, like Jenny Han. Or do a separate fun one. Bios I enjoy: Karen Healey's, Lara Zielin's, Maureen Johnson's, Courtney Summer's

-I love when the website ties in with the book. Jessica Verday's site has darker colors and a spookier mood to it to fit with The Hollow. Maureen Johnson's homepage has New York City stuff that fits with Suite Scarlett. Or even a page that ties in with the author's book- John Green has a page explaining anagrams, which play a huge role in An Abundance of Katherines, for example. Basically, if you're book is about vampires who perform sacrifices to the Greek gods, I don't really think you to have a bright yellow site with daisies on it.

-FAQ pages- good. But don't make them with all boring questions. I've seen many a boring FAQ. Again, show ~*personality*~ while still making it informative. Courtney Summer's FAQ has common questions, but she makes it FUN! If the FAQ is really long, separate it into sections so I don't need to ctrl+f. Maureen Johnson has a fabulous FAQ page. (As you can probably guess, Maureen Johnson has a spankin' site that I love.)

-Author blogs- I'll point you to Adele's post on the subject, because I agree with pretty much all of it.

-"Books" Page- Have one! Cover, summary, release date, are all awesome. If something really weird happened that inspired your book, that's cool too. Apparently people like playlists, but I don't really care about them. I don't often read excerpts unless I'm extremely excited for a book, but post one if you can. I'm sure other people read them more than me. xD

-Contact page- have one PLEASE. I like when the author has a thing to people saying whether or not they like interviews, or if they say who to contact for a review copy.

-Events page- If you have book events or are going to a conference or something, WE WANT TO KNOW. And geez, update this page too. Some people have events from like last year listed.

-Extras- Extras are awesome! Short stories, quizzes, sneak peeks, and contests are all awesome to have. Tera Lynn Childs, for example, has a bunch of great extras.

I also like the whole "send a SASE to ___ and get ___ from me!" thing. I've never done it, but it's a cool concept. People like swag. Heather Brewer and Elizabeth Scott do the swag thing.

-Other stuff- Please have a good picture of your cover on your site. xD One without any lines or anything around it. I don't want to go to google image search to find a picture. I'm lazy.

In short- I like pretty, informative sites that don't bore me. Boring is bad. I like when authors show some personality.

Awesome author sites and why they're awesome:

• Maureen Johnson- Fun, pretty, entertaining (read her blog, people!), informative, and easy to navigate. All authors should aspire to have a website as great as MJ's.
  
• Kay Cassidy- Simple, cute, easy to navigate. Extra things. It's just good.
• Jessica Verday- Fits with the book, has tons of info, interesting background, fun stuff in the sidebars. And it's pretty!
  
• Kristin Walker- cute, fun (look at those pictures of Kristin on the bio), definitely looks like a site for a YA author. It's got stuff that screams "teen!"
• Heather Brewer- It's purple! Cute. And she's got great extra stuff- the bling and forum.

Obviously I am no website expert, so don't listen to me if you don't want to.

Anyone else want to chime in on what sites they like or what they like/don't like in an author website? Comment pleeeease. :D