Early this week in an email group I’m on with other authors, someone posted a link to an article, asking if an author web site is necessary in this age of social media. Maybe the article even asked if it was worth the expense, although that question may have come up during the discussion that followed.
For me, the answer is a simple one. Yes, it is a necessary thing. Social media sites may come and go. Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest are all hot items now, but who knows where they will be in a few years. MySpace and ShoutLife spring to mind. (I’m surprised I remember what they are called.)
An author’s web site is owned by the author. She can control what is on her site. He can decide what it looks like. It is her intellectual property to do with as she pleases. He can decide how elaborate or simple it needs to be. There are few things, at least in traditional publishing, where an author is completely in control, but her web site is one where she is.
I ran a survey a short while back, asking readers how they use author web sites. The results were pretty much as I expected:
- 12% said they visit the sites of favorite authors regularly.
- 24% said they visit a site when they know a new book is coming out.
- 47% said that when they discover a new author, they visit the author’s site to learn more about him/her.
- 2% said they almost never visit an author’s web site.
- 15% said they visit their favorite authors on Facebook instead.
I happen to be an author who enjoys the designing and updating of my web site. It is another creative outlet for me. Sometimes, when the words just won’t come in my work-in-progress, doing some graphic designs for my web site will help jar them loose.
As for blogging, although sometimes coming up with a post seems to be just another blank screen for me to stare at, I still enjoy doing it. I like the interaction with readers. I’m an extravert. So sue me. LOL!
Autumn is here, and a couple of days ago, I announced to my husband that it was time to move furniture in the living room. Then I went right to work, pushing and shoving and rearranging. You know. Change of seasons. Change of living room appearance.
It should surprise no one to learn, then, that I also recently felt the need to do a bit of revamping on my web site. I have given it a new color scheme and a few other touches that are more “me” than before. It feels fresh and new, even if the content is basically all the same (just like the furniture in my living room).
If you haven’t visited my web site in a while, I hope you’ll take the time to look around a bit.
~robin
