Just wondering what the rest of you think about having promotional websites before you get published. Do you think they help or hinder, or make no difference? I ask because I've just got rid of my own website. I've still got a blog, but I've ditched the site (rather than pay £45 for another two years). It's been fun, but I finally decided that it really doesn't make any difference, and is a pain to update compared to blogging.

Colin M

I know a lot of authors have them, Colin, but just giving my tuppence worth as a reader, I don't see the point of them. The majority never change (except for the addition of a new title once every couple of years) so one may as well be looking at a poster.
Authors' blogs are far more interesting.


- NaomiM

My thoughts entirely. Once I've seen a website, I don't feel the need to go back. But a blog will get me wondering if I'm missing anything.

I didn't get a website until I got a contract, though people sometimes suggested it. It's hard to see the point before that, (unless you're doing it for friends and family) except I suppose if you're doing other writing-related things such as teaching or whatever. But if not, it's not going to make a difference to whether an agent and then publisher take you on, and what else is there to say? As you say a blog makes much more sense.

Emma

It was a lot more fun when it was a family site, with pics of the kids and stupid stuff. I took all of that when I tried to make it into a promo site, then looked at it one day and realised all the fun had gone.

My blog is a lot more active than my website, but I like the website as it's a good 'junction' for links to my stories, most of which are available online. It helps me direct those who take an interest without any fuss. Admittedly, at this stage it can seem a tad high falutin' and immodest - I held off having a facebook 'fan' page for that very reason - but all the same I think it's good to create and tend a promotional presence in today's net-based society.

JB

<Added>

Having said this, I can think of a couple of Big Name authors in genre who don't have websites and apparently don't give a damn about them. Hasn't hurt them.

I can think of a couple of Big Name authors in genre who don't have websites and apparently don't give a damn about them. Hasn't hurt them.

If they're big names already, I'm sure it doesn't. But I think it would be pretty foolish not to have one if you were starting out now. I'm always staggered to find one of my generation, as it were, not having a site of any kind, even if it's just a page or two, with details of agent and so on. I don't know about you, but if I'm mildly curious about someone, I'm not going to try very hard to pursue them, if a quick google doesn't throw up a site.

Emma

I don't think you need one till you're published. Perhaps a free Myspace or something, just to have web presence. But once you're published they are useful. I have been to a few schools recently where the kids had looked me up on the internet as a class before I came, and then they asked questions that showed they'd looked at the site. I am thinking about putting up teacher's notes or resources for the books on there, as .pdf for download.

It's working in a school that has helped make the decision easier. It's great for kids to look you up if you're a visitor, but as I'm in there 5 days a week, working with years 5&6, it often comes up. Bearing in mind that the work I have out there is aimed at 12+, it's probably best to keep the two worlds apart as much as possible. Otherwise, I can just see the day when a year 6 student waves my book in the air as an excuse for him/her using "f**k off" in a story.

[Edited by david bruce at 13:03:00 on 16 July 2009
Reason: at authors request]

Bearing in mind that the work I have out there is aimed at 12+, it's probably best to keep the two worlds apart as much as possible. Otherwise, I can just see the day when a year 6 student waves my book in the air as an excuse for him/her using "f**k off" in a story.

A writer friend who has had a rich and varied life, about which she blogs with few inhibitions and only a mild effort at anonymity, is now about to start a PGCE...

I am thinking about putting up teacher's notes or resources for the books on there, as .pdf for download.

I think that's a terrific idea. Similarly, I've got questions for book groups on mine, and all interviewers etc. have always looked at it too.

A writer friend who has had a rich and varied life, about which she blogs with few inhibitions and only a mild effort at anonymity, is now about to start a PGCE...

Oh god, Emma, I hope you've warned her. Kids can be horrible if they find out juicy personal details they can use against a teacher.

One thing some internet savvy agents advise is cleaning up a website if you're using it to showcase yourself and your work when you're in the submission stage.



- NaomiM

Naomi, she realised the problem herself and before she applied she made it completely anonymous by removing all references to her published work, so that the connection couldn't be made by the college she was applying to.

Emma

I hear some employers and now checking prospective candidates' Facebook pages, before hiring. And people have even been fired for posting derogatory things about their boss on such social network pages. It is a worrying trend.

This is a problem. Facebook renders your life very open but I hear that they're about to bring in varying levels of access, so some friends can see some things - like status updates etc - and some can't. The problem is that you're not as open with all your friends across the board, are you?

JB

I've been wavering on doing a website for some time now and finally decided I'd do it because I'll be sending my novel around to agents soon. It'll just be a showcase of short fiction and non-fiction I've published and the first chapter of the novel and a bio. I thought it would be good for an agent to be able to see some of my other work. If an agent's sitting on the fence and they can see the breadth of my stuff it might help. Or not!

I was also a finalist in a contest a while back and through that had quite a few agents contact me. I figure a website is also good for that kind of thing. So maybe they read a short story of mine somewhere or see my name as a contest shortlister, google me, read the first chapter of my novel on my website etc. etc. Who knows. It can't hurt. That's what I figured in the end.