Excellent advice on publishing from publishing powerhouse Jane Friedman. She talks about Traditional as well as Independent and Hybrid publishing. I especially enjoyed her advice on memoirs and audiobooks as well as her thoughts on paying for reviews.
Whenever I am out and about the first question people ask: “Do you have a website?” So I thought I’d talk briefly about the difference between a blog and an author website and if you need both.
First, no. You don’t necessarily need both, though I do recommend it for authors with several published books. But, first, let’s get into the major differences.
Though both are referred to as “websites” a website differs from the blog because it is something that is static and unchanging. It focuses on the author and his/her work without the distraction of other elements (like new posts). Sometimes websites just have one page and that’s okay.
The purpose of the website is to give immediate information about who the person is, what they do and how you can stay in touch with them and their work. These things must be understood immediately upon visiting the author’s website.
A blog is a platform where the author can connect with readers consistently by introducing them to who they are and their writing style through the kinds of posts they publish. Derived from the word weblog, blogs are technically also websites but the differences are important. A blog is constantly changing and presents the opportunity for readers to learn more about you as a person and become familiar with your work through your posts. They can get to know you as you are writing your book, not just by reading your published work. A blog is always changing as the writer is always posting new content and is much more interactive than a website. Because blogs are so interactive (comments, sharing options) they are better indexed by Google than static websites.
If you have no books out yet, I recommend starting with a blog. My recommendation is to use WordPress. Blogs that are integrated into Website builders like Wix just doesn’t pick up the same traffic. (Consider that WordPress powers 30% of the web). You can use the free blog to get a feel for blogging and writing publicly, and to introduce yourself to your potential audience and then upgrade from there. Don’t just talk about your writing, talk about your life. Who are you? Let us in a little.
Use blogging as an opportunity to be social, make new friends, and network with professionals. Blogs are interactive and a great way to keep your readers updated. It’s also the easiest way for you to get to know your audience on a level beyond the basics. You can tell by likes, comments or social shares what kind of content people like. This will help you produce valuable content.
If you have several books published I recommend both a website and a blog, with the blog accessible through your website.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a website, but it should be part of your budget strategy when you are ready to begin. Publishing books, my dearest Indie Authors, is not free. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to publish a book, but it will cost something. Create a budget for that something and don’t publish the book until you can afford to do so. If you want to become a Self-Publisher, you will need to be just as financially responsible as if you were starting any other business. Let’s take ourselves seriously as authors! And if you’re serious about publishing, you must consider thinking like a businessperson and the basics of all businesses are having a website where people can learn more about that business. If you’re a serious author, you should have a website. Period.
Because the blog and the website still have major differences, if you do this (have your WordPress blog act as your website) consider making a few changes to your blog:
…and purchase a domain name. If you intend to use your blog as an author blog you will want it to be something like: www dot yournamehere dot com, and not www dot tanyaforeverlove dot wordpress dot com. Yes, this blog is not named after me but consider that I have an author website that is named after me already and this blog is linked to that site. I can send people to yecheilyahysrayl.com and they can still access this blog and that’s what you want: a place where people can access all of you in one place.
I can tell people to go to yecheilyahysrayl.com and they will find everything they need on me (including this blog), but if you are using your blog as your website, remember, the major differences between the website and blog is that the website is static and gets straight to the point. There is no long list of posts to sift through and what the person does and who they are is immediately available. An author website focuses ONLY on you, the author, and your work. It’s unchanging and provides everything someone would need to learn more about you without the added commentary, widgets, theme changes and constantly updated articles. This means that if your blog is your website, change your blog name to reflect your author name, create a domain name of that name and then create a static page. While I no longer use a static page (I have a website for that), it worked really well for me in the beginning.
Make this a landing page. A landing page is a single web page used to promote a business or product. Click on my Stella Trilogy Page Here for an example. It was once the static page for this blog. Notice the number of comments. I also sold books through that page. By focusing on books with no other distractions, people could focus on the work. That’s what you want, and that’s what author websites provide. If your blog is your author website, you can provide that same focus by adding a static page.
After you’ve published your new page you’d want to make it your static page.
Now, when you tell people about your website they won’t be distracted by your recent blog posts, sidebar widgets, comments, etc. It will act as an author website but also a blog.
There are pros and cons to everything. One con of having a static page on your blog is that sometimes it can be harder for people to access your blog posts and follow you. If people have to look for stuff, they usually leave. This is one reason I took down my static page. Depending on your theme of choice, people won’t be able to access your blog posts or follow you with the static page up. With this theme I am using (2017) the static page doesn’t even show my follow button. Not good.
CreateSpace DVD / CD production is shutting down and it is possible that Createspace is being faded out, moving from CreateSpace to Amazon Media on Demand.
“Bit by bit, Amazon has been shutting down different parts of Createspace. First they launch KDP Print, a competing/replacement POD service, then they shut down Createspace’s publishing services unit, and now they have shifted the DVD and CD production to another part of Amazon. As a result, there isn’t much left in Createspace besides the book POD service.” https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/07/25/createspace-dvd-cd-production-is-shutting-down-with-accounts-moving-to-amazon-media-on-demand/
This is important if you use Createspace for paperback copies of your book. It is possible CreateSpace POD is going next. I am still reading into it but it is advised that if you have paperback books published through Createspace that you move them over to KDP Print before CreateSpace is officially out and you have to rush to move. Below are some articles you may want to read (in addition to the article link above.)
And here’s an article on how to move your titles:
Dear Indie Author / Self-Publisher, that thing you are doing, that step you’re taking, that move you made….
…is not a waste of time and don’t let anyone tell you that it is. Time is never wasted. Everything is a learning experience IF you choose to see it that way. People like to tell you not to do something because it hadn’t worked out for them or because they can’t see any good in it. If you sow negativity about every mistake then you will reap negativity and nothing will ever work. But, if you sow positivity by turning those mistakes into lessons then you will reap positivity by acquiring a new skill. You will be blessed with an understanding you didn’t have before and the courage to take risks that are no longer bound by the limitations of others. As an Indie Author you will be bombarded with advice so you have to be very conscious of what works for YOU and what doesn’t. Sometimes the only way to know this for certain is to do the work. Knowledge is only power when it is applied. At some point you must make the difficult decision to stop researching and have faith in the work. Just do the work.
What is your name, and where are you from?
My name is Vivienne Sang. I was born and brought up in the north west of England in a town called Northwich, not far from Manchester. At present, I live in the south-east of England not far from the town of Eastbourne.
What job do you think you’d be really good at?
I don’t know if I’d be really good at it, but I would like to have been a vet.
Nice. How many siblings do you have?
My father died when I was very young and my mother re-married. She had a girl with my step-father, my half-sister, but my step-father had already got 7 girls and 3 boys with his first wife, so I have 10 step-siblings as well.
What skill would you like to master?
I do some painting when I have time. I would really like to become a good painter.
What state or country do you never want to go back to?
Belgium. They insist on signing their town in the language of the area, in spite of the rest of the world calling them something else. Liege, for example, is called Luik, I think. Now I don’t have a problem with this, per se, but many countries that have different names for towns sign them with both. We got lost trying to find Liege.
Also, we nearly ran out of fuel once because there were no fuel stations on the main road and we had to go off into a village and by chance found one. Also, Brussels is a nightmare to get around.
Unfortunately it’s on the way to many places in Europe I do want to go back to!
Yea. I can see how that can be confusing with the language. I love history. Who is your favorite historical figure?
Leonardo da Vinci. He’s not only a great artist but also scientist and technologist, too. I went to his home in Amboise in France where they had built scale models of his inventions using only the tools and materials he would have had. Brilliant.
Let’s talk about writing. What genre do you write in?
I write mainly fantasy, but have recently published a historical novel based in Roman Britain, and have another almost done. I think historical fiction is much harder to write, So much research is needed that you can get away with when inventing your own world. Having said that, I do try to make my world as scientifically realistic as possible, so that does involve some research.
That’s true. Historical Fiction does require lots of research. Are you married Vivienne? Children?
Yes, I’ve been married for a very long time. 53 years! I have two, a boy and a girl.
Awwue. Congrats! 53 years, wow. Relationship goals!
What are your thoughts on race? Define racism.
There is only one race. The Human Race. People who judge others on the basis of ‘race’ are ignorant. People should be judged by their words and actions only, not on how they look. This applies to disability, too. and everything that makes us different. We should embrace our differences.
Racism is deciding you don’t like a person or group of people you know nothing about on the basis of some physical thing, such as the color of their skin, the slant of their eyes or some other superficial, irrelevant thing.
About.
Vivienne Sang was born in Northwich, Cheshire in the United Kingdom. She was educated at Northwich Girls’ Grammar School and at Elizabeth Gaskell Teacher Training College in Manchester. She taught Science, Maths and English in Salford and Heywood, Lancashire until she had her first child.
After staying at home to bring up her two children, a girl, and a boy, Vivienne returned to teaching when her son started school. At this time, the family lived near Southampton but moved to Redhill in Surrey where she taught in Croydon.
When she took early retirement in 2001 Vivienne moved with her husband to East Sussex.
As well as writing and reading, Vivienne enjoys many crafts and also paints. She enjoys cooking and walking on the Downs as well as cycling.
Vivienne enjoys traveling and has visited many countries in Europe and has made two visits to the USA.
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