The internet offers many opportunities for authors
The internet has not just been a boon for bankers, pornographers and organised crime; it's also been a boon for authors. In this article I outline some of the benefits authors can derive from the internet and some of the pitfalls inherent in the complex and often confusing world of new media.
- The internet provides the ability to communicate directly and cost effectively with your readers and potential readers via a website, and possibly, an email newsletter. Your website can market your book, it can be a valuable resource for information in your field of writing, it can enhance your reputation within your field of writing, it can be a medium of communication and feedback with your readers, it can assist with publicity as a media resource, and it can act as a direct sales tool.
- The internet means that you do not have to have your book in the local bookshop. So long as you can be found on appropriate keyword searches with the Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc) and book searches with online retailers (Amazon, Booktopia, SeekBooks etc) your book will be found by people interested in what you write about. This applies to non-fiction books particularly, but can also apply to fiction where your book has a context that is searchable. An example would be a fictional story of a child with autism, where the book could be found for searches on that condition.
- The internet can free authors from being bound to a trade publisher. It enables authors to use one of many self-publishing options, which can multiply your royalty tenfold, and - importantly - in the self-publishing world there are no returns. The absence of a trade publishing contract, however, means that the marketing and distribution of your book is up to you - but the internet offers efficient and cost effective methods of marketing and distribution. An effective website with good search engine optimisation, a good self-publishing house, a good online retailer, a realistic marketing plan and a small but continual investment in time, can make the marketing and distribution of your book relatively easy.
- With efficient and author-friendly online retailers such as Amazon you don't have to have e-commerce facilities on your website, avoiding the costs of having your own shopping cart - you can use the features on the Amazon website, for example, to market your book and direct the purchase orders to Amazon. Amazon fulfils the orders allowing the author to get on with the job of writing and marketing!
A great book to help you market and distribute your self-published book.
The time to start is now!
You should begin to develop your website well before your book is ready for sale because one of the factors in building a high-ranking website is time. It takes time to build Page Rank (for example) so you should begin as soon as possible. You can look up available domain names in the box below, but you should generally get advice before investing in a domain name as there are rules on domain name registration and possible search engine ramifications that should be weighed before you jump in.
There are three main options for getting a website: a Personal Web Designer, a Content Management System, and Do It Yourself.
The hard way: Do it yourself
While I'm a real advocate of DIY - that's how I got into this business - the learning curve is steep, it requires a huge investment in time, and getting to a finished quality product will be at least as expensive as the other options. Your minimum software investment will be between $1000 and $2000. You will need books on design, html and css coding, software tuition, search engine optimisation, and you'll need years to pull all that knowledge into a practical and cohesive whole. The best option for DIY'ers is to find a personal web designer who will get you started, while you learn to effectively manage your site. It's rather like getting a car: it's best to get Citroen, Toyota or Ford to build your car, but know how to keep it running smoothly yourself. Whichever way you choose to proceed you have to ask yourself 'Is this the highest and best use of my time?'
An excellent book to begin with to learn the important process of Search Engine Optimisation.
Great sites aren't great sites if they can't be found.
The best way: A Personal Web Designer ... (what? me? biased?)
The best option in most instances is a personal web designer.
- A personal web designer will build a distinctive site using current best practice, which means a site built in XHTML and CSS code. These codes work together to give the best looking, search engine friendly sites tailored to your specific needs.
- A website designer works from a detailed brief where they get to know your business, your goals and your vision. This puts them in the best position to provide a site that meets your current and expected needs and communicates your USP - your Unique Selling Position.
- Website designers provide a full design service, engaging in a full discussion about the elements of design and how best to capture the essence of your business - your book, yourself, and your field of writing.
- A web designer will optimise your site with search keywords, add a robots.txt file for the Search Engines, add a site map, use a suitable CSS or Flash menu, add a video clip, audio file, an image gallery or image slide show, submit your site to the Search Engines, configure your domain name email, use correct header tags for the Search Engines, add a meta site description for the Search Engines, check the integrity of your site in all major browsers, screen sizes and screen resolutions, add a contact form with anti-spam measures, spell-check and proof your site, create a favicon - an individual browser icon, ensure your site is fully indexed by the Search Engines, monitor your search rankings and a dozen other things.
And ... there's more!
A good designer will ensure that you own your domain name and website. This means that you are free to move to another designer if you want to, and you are free to move your hosting from your designer's preferred hosting partner if you find a better hosting deal. There are generally no contracts with a web designer - unlike CMS websites - so you're not locked in. After your site is built and delivered - and some designers offer a few months of free updates - you pay only for their time to make the changes or provide continual search engine optimisation (see 'Budgeting'). A good designer will build with the Search Engines in mind to give you the best start in ranking well for the search terms you choose. Search Engine Optimisation is critical because great sites aren't great sites if they can't be found! The range of costs varies considerably from designer to designer so shop around, talk to a few designers before you commit, and don't rush in. A micro business should be able to get a great site for under $1000 (see 'Budgeting').You will find that many web designers don't have a rate card, which means that they will charge more for a large businesses and less for a small business for the same work - and may discount if you apply your charm or try a 'struggling author' pitch. You could also try a web designer during December and January as these are sometimes quieter periods and you're more likely to get a discount. My advice: Get a good web designer, charm them for a good price, and leave the DIY for managing your site and marketing your book. There are excellent books on internet marketing such as 'Aiming at Amazon
Content Management Systems - a mixed blessing
Many self-published books are available only through Amazon, and provide a good revenue stream to their authors.
- CMS do not provide distinctive sites. They are, almost by definition, formulaic. Look at some and see what you think.
- You don't own your CMS site in the same way that you own a site designed by a web designer. With CMS you own the content but you cannot walk away from your CMS contract with your site intact - your site can only operate on the CMS operator's platform.
- With CMS you have a continual and usually high monthly cost, usually between $150 and $300 per month. This cost, however, usually includes your hosting charge.
- With a CMS website you are locked in - you cannot change to a hosting company that provides more competitive rates or better features without losing your website.
- The service is generally impersonal. A good web designer, on the other hand, will generally be readily available to talk to, will provide personal service and be on-hand to help you for years to come. A web designer will usually meet you (gasp!), take a detailed brief, and work intensively with you over the month or two it may take to complete your site.
- In my experience, a well built site in XHTML and CSS with good Search Engine Optimisation will outperform a CMS site on Search Engine rankings.
Sellers of Content Management Systems often state that your website is 'free' but at a fixed minimum cost of $150 or $300 per month where you are locked in, your website is subsidised by a high on-going charge. At an annual cost of between $1,800 and $3,600 claims of free sites are misleading at best.
When budgeting, allow about $1,300 for top-notch professional assistance, then about $300 for subsequent years.
The budgeting breakdown
With a personal web designer your domain name will cost you between $25 and $35 pa. Your hosting cost is dependent on your site's data transfer needs but you should budget around $130 pa unless your site needs lots of large video files or very large image galleries, in which case your costs could rise to $180 pa or more. The prices charged for website design, construction and search engine optimisation vary markedly, but budget $990 and any discount is a bonus. Ongoing costs of maintenance and updates are usually quoted on a time basis. Budget for $66 per hour, but most updates are relatively quick. Budget between $132 and $198 pa for updates and maintenance. This makes the total budget for the first year: $1,315; and second and continuing years: $325 up to the point where you want to redesign your site substantially. These are guidelines only, and are quoted in Australian Dollars.
A self published book, published through Agio Publishing House and sold exclusively throufgh Amazon.
With a CMS you pay for your domain name yearly and you have the CMS monthly charge, but your hosting is included and you can do many updates yourself. Get a few quotes, make sure you're aware of what costs are not included in the monthly charge, what your data transfer limit is and compare the two approaches and the finished products.
The pages on your site
Your Home page is the first page people see when they visit your site. Your home page must clearly and quickly present what your site is about, what sort of information it contains, your USP (Unique Selling Position) - what's so special about what you do, and what options a site visitor can take. It should provide a reason for the site visitor to want to know more about your book. An About page says what the site is about in more detail, particularly if there's an interesting story or philosophy guiding the site. There will be a Sales or Content page (although it's generally not called this) where the services, products or main content of your site can be accessed. This is where you detail your USP and strengthen the reasons for the viewer to know more about and purchase your book. It may include an excerpt from your book to provide a sample of content and style. Here, particularly will be a link (text link and image link) to an online retailer such as Amazon or an internal link to a shopping cart for the viewer to purchase your book - although these sales links may be on other pages as well. A Resources page provides the site viewer with information or links to related products or services that you recommend. These links should be reciprocated wherever possible. If you want the discipline of writing a regular article for your site and want feedback on these articles you can have a Blog page attached to your site where you write about your field of expertise. Blogs are generally overvalued but have a higher value for authors, especially where your blog can become part of a future book. A Contact page will contain the contact information you wish to disclose, but usually means a contact form with an anti-spam image verification system that send you the contents of the form as an email.
'The web has become an essential part of standard business practice. We're at the point where we just assume that a business, regardless of its size, will have a useful website.' - J N Robbins.
With the right assistance, the process of getting yourself a website can be a great experience, and your website can become an indispensable part of your writing career. Like any small business, however, authors have to evaluate the return on investment - what dollar value is this investment going to return? At what point would my book sales and other related income exceed my yearly costs? Please read the associated article 8 Reasons for getting a website, where this is discussed further.
If you have any questions on these subjects you're welcome to call us on (02) 9810-5206.