| You are on the final draft of your manuscript and | | | | marketing maven has such a large direct |
| almost ready to publish. It's not too soon to start | | | | readership, he no longer needs a traditional |
| thinking about your author web site or blog. Along | | | | publisher. Check out his clever web site that |
| with publishing your book, you must have a web | | | | reflects his whimsical personality. |
| site or blog to create the buzz about your book | | | | Michael Stackpole (michaelastackpole.com), famous |
| and to interact with your readers. | | | | science-fiction writer, has a robust web site, |
| Like your book, your web site is a reflection of | | | | featuring his many books and opinions on the |
| your style and tone. Be prepared to spend $350 | | | | writing biz. He manages to present numerous |
| or more and be sure to reserve the domain | | | | titles and a variety of content so it's organized |
| name for your book. Or you can do it yourself | | | | and attractive. |
| (nearly free) at various publishers, distribution, or | | | | Conroy (patconroy.com), Kingsolver |
| author community sites. Check out free blog sites | | | | (kingsolver.com), and Shreve (anitashreve.com) |
| like WordPress and Blog Spot. | | | | are among my personal favorites. Having read |
| At a minimum, you will want a web site or blog | | | | their books, I resonate with the individual tone and |
| allowing for a description of the book, your bio, | | | | feel reflected at their web sites. Finally, I couldn't |
| link for buying the book, reader comments/posts, | | | | leave out Larrson (stieglarsson.com) whose |
| and a means for collecting names and e-mail | | | | newspaper style site features his books, movies, |
| addresses. Consider giving away some of the | | | | and stories about the man himself. |
| book or holding a poll, contest, or game that | | | | A few AuthorAssist clients are making some |
| requires the participant to buy, read, and react to | | | | serious noise in the fiction-writing world and have |
| your book. | | | | web sites of note: Richard Alther |
| Regardless of where or how you will create your | | | | (siegfriedfollies.com),who is getting his second |
| site, take the time to visit other authors' web | | | | book published, Kerry Cohen Hoffmann |
| sites to get a sense of the scope and variety. | | | | (kerrycohenhoffmann.com), author of three |
| I've highlighted twelve sites in this article, some of | | | | published books, and Morgan Hunt |
| well-known authors, such as Pat Conroy, Seth | | | | (morganhuntbooks.com), who spins a mystery |
| Godin, Barbara Kingsolver, J.A Konrath, Stieg | | | | series. Several clients have written nonfiction |
| Larsson, Anita Shreve, and Michael Stackpole. | | | | books to highlight and promote their careers: Dr. |
| Konrath (jakonrath.blogspot.com) is a self-published | | | | Sunil Sharma (sunilsharma.com), a happiness guru, |
| author with amazing marketing skills. In his latest | | | | and Alan Krugel, author of The K-9 Chronicles |
| effort, he is creating buzz about his e-book, | | | | (thek-9chronicles.com) featuring his rescue of 911 |
| Draculas, to be launched October 19th. He will | | | | rescue dogs. The clever animations and videos |
| e-mail an advance copy if you promise to post a | | | | among these sites are sure to spark some ideas |
| review on your blog or web site by October 18th, | | | | for your own web site. |
| including a link to Amazon's pre-order page, and | | | | Be sure to research web sites featuring your |
| post the same review to Amazon's Draculas on | | | | favorite authors and books in your genre or |
| the launch date. He also provides the first 50 | | | | profession. First and foremost, create a style and |
| pages for free download and pre-order of the | | | | tone reflecting your book(s) so you are poised to |
| e-book. | | | | create buzz and sell lots of books. Then it's on to |
| Seth Godin (sethgodin.com), author of 12 | | | | having a presence at other social media sites such |
| best-selling books, caused quite a stir when he | | | | as Facebook and Twitter. Meanwhile, have fun |
| announced his next book, Linchpin will be the last | | | | creating your web site. |
| book he publishes in the traditional way. The | | | | |