Sunday, February 7, 2010

Websites & Attracting Attention

My website is almost up and running, and as such, I've been thinking of ways to publicize it, as well as myself. More than that, though, I've been thinking about content, which brings me to my question of the day: What should be included on an author's website?

So far, I have the page titles: Home, News, About, Stories, Poetry, Photography, Bits* and Blog**. The Home page has (for the moment) an ad for Aigaion Girl, which will change based on what I'm trying to publicize at the time. The News page is where I'll put information about new books, book release parties and whatever else I can think of that's newsish. The About page, obviously, is a little blurb about me, and the Photography page will have a bunch of pictures which I took last year (when I have some more $$, I'll have it adjusted so that I can upload and my own content for that page). Where I'm confused is with the Stories and Poetry pages. The more I'm thinking about this, the more I'm wondering if they were really necessary - especially, because right now, I really only have one story that's ready for public consumption. The poetry page is a bit easier, because I can include the full text of my best poems... but again, is it necessary? Will people be interested in reading my poems?

This, of course, brings me to my other question, which is: How do I go about getting my name out there? I have some ideas fot this. Once A/G is actually available for sale, I'm going to invite all of my friends to take that silly FB quiz and ask them to ALL invite their friends as well. Then, at the end of every single possible result, include a link to my site. I'm also going to put my website in the signature of my emails, so all of my correspodence has it, and anything I send out that gets forwarded has it as well. I know I want to have a book release party, to which I'll invite everyone I know, but beyond that, I'm kind of at a loss.

I read somewhere (I believe in my Writer's Market Guide) that a writer should spend ten minutes a day networking, which I think is probably true, especially when you consider the way that the famous writers of yore always seemed to travel in packs. The problem is, I'm not really sure how to go about doing it, or who I should be networking with. Plus, even if I knew a tonne of people, I always feel weird about taking advantage of my connections, even if those connections are happy to help.

So, there you have my little (and long-winded) dilema. Enjoy your day ;)

*Bits is the page where I can upload whatever I want: flash fiction, pictures, whatever.
**The Blog link links to my personal blog.

6 comments:

E said...

I wish I had some answers for you. Of course, on the networking front, somebody may someday go to the archives of Devereaux Court to write a biography on a Very Famous Author and then there we all are, but I wouldn't bank on that just yet.

Yeah. It's hard, because if you go too far, you get accused of shameless conceit and them no one wants to read your stuff. But if you don't go far enough, no one knows you exist. 'Tis a fine line.

Athena said...

That's my problem, because I don't want to take advantage of people, but at the same time, I don't want to wallow in obscurity for the rest of my life.

Rhiannon said...

You're going to hate this idea....but...twitter.

Seriously. Random people will follow you.

And then email Neil Gaiman on his blog and ask him if he'd mind putting up a link to your site. He often does things like that. And even if it's a quick message in the midst of many, your site traffic will probably quadruple.

Might also work for getting us a few more DevCo contributors, too...not that it isn't awesome with just the three of us. >:)

Athena said...

I thought about twitter... it's just so... ugh. I'm not a fan. But I guess if random people follow me. But what the hell would I say?

Athena said...

I started to sign up for twitter today, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe when I actually have something to post, I'll feel better about it.

Athena said...

http://twitter.com/AthenaMcCormick

There. I did it. But I'm not happy about it.