Monday Author Website: Rachel King

Today's site isn't exactly what I expect of an author site, and reminds me of the work of several of the mixed media artists that I have the privilege to "play" with on occasion.  But this site can certainly hold its own, even amongst stiff competition.

Rachel King, New Zealand Author

I stumbled across Rachel King's website while looking for something else, but it intrigued me enough that I stayed to take a look around.  I like the layout and the arranged randomness of the home page, which includes images relevant to her novels, a text box with a brief "Latest News" section, and the list of links to her work, about page, and blog.  

The pages within her site all carry over from the same theme, and their simplicity makes it easy for the reader to navigate through.  I especially like the sidebars for each novel (Magpie Hall is my example, here).  The cover image for the novel sits atop four icons that link to separate links:  (1) about the book; (2) background; (3) reviews; (4) buy the book.  The simplicity is striking in an age of cluttered pages, and the originality of the icons really helps her site stand apart.  

I was certainly intrigued enough by her design to click through to her books, despite the fact that I was somewhat crunched for time.  So I'm recommending three things:  go take a look at her site, then check out her books and her blog.  I've ordered a copy of Magpie Hall, which I'll be adding to my summer reading pile.

Monday Author Website: Caroline Tiger

In my aimless surfing, looking for good author websites, I've discovered a few interesting things.

First, there are a lot of "5 Elements Your Author Site Needs" pages out there, all with varying suggestions, and many without a real idea of the function / purpose of an author site.  In my technical writing classes, I repeat time after time:  know your audience and your purpose.  If you haven't identified these, you're going to waste a lot of time writing copy that's not going to get read or used the way you intended it to be read or used.

Second, there's not a lot of what I'd call "real" information out there for authors on website building.  Yes, authors know that they need to follow the rules of web design and the rules for writing copy for the web.  But no one really addresses the extra elements that author sites need and, if they do, they don't go into enough detail for my liking.  I want to know more, damn it!

Thirdly, and call me nit-picky if you will, there's often no rationale behind why element or concept x should be included in your site.  Personally, I want to know why something should be there, especially if I'm spending time and money to add it!

Anyway, enough blathering, and on to today's site.

Caroline Tiger's Web Site

This simple, easy-to-navigate site provides the reader with connections to Caroline's latest book and articles, gives a brief overview of who she is and what she does, and links to her three blogs.  At first glance I like the site, and can see why it ended up on one of the lists of "good author websites" I surfed through last week.

The layout is easily scanned, the links across the top of the page are simple and clear, and the page is not overly lengthy.  No scrolling is required on either my desktop computer or my iPad in vertical orientation, and only minimal scrolling is required on the iPad on horizontal orientation.

The information is clear and concise, and her "About" section gives an information-packed overview of who she is and what she does (and has done).

A closer look, however, reveals a few problems, none insurmountable, but a bit off-putting, just the same.  While I like the set-up of the home page (brief about section, recent book and blurb, and recent articles), the most problematic for me are the artifacts in the Welcome text, which can easily be edited out.  In addition, the font size shows up quite small on every computer/monitor/smartphone/tablet combination I've tried ... it doesn't seem like a big thing, but even little problems or irritants to a potential audience can result in that audience moving on to another site.

That being said, I quite like her "Books" section.  It's easy to see what she's written, there's an informative little blurb for the top three books, and she's included a small image of the cover.  I also like the mouse-over text for each image, which begins "Read more about book x."  I'd like to see the same type of blurb for the books in the "Other Books" section on this page, and I'd also like to know which of the books listed is the referent text for the Financial Post's comment, as this isn't information that's listed anywhere.

My only other quibble with Caroline's site is that it doesn't appear to have been updated recently, and neither have her blogs, which might make a reader move on to another site, if it seems that nothing much is happening at the moment.

Regardless, I like this site, and it's drawn me in enough that I'd probably go looking for her books the next time I'm in the library.

Monday Author Website: All Things From My Brain

This post is first in a series on author websites.  I''m interested in what works for readers, what keeps them interested in an author (and that author's works), and how authors can use their websites to attract and keep a diverse and lively audience.

All Things From My Brain

I found science fiction author Patrick Hester's blog (and website) while, ironically, looking for information on how to prevent Scrivener from doing odd formatting things when I cut and paste text from elsewhere into it.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find a number of good tips for using Scrivener, so I'll be sure to be returning.  

The addition of useful information (on whatever topic is relevant) is excellent, especially if it's updated frequently.  Patrick's Scrivener Quick Tips are a regular feature on his site, so I'll be sure to revisit Patrick's site for further tips.  And revisiting is certainly something that we want to see ... I've lost track of the number of cool sites that I visit once and never return to, either because they're static or because there's nothing there to draw me in and keep me returning.  

Of more interest, however, than Patrick's Scrivener Quick Tips, is the Writing Progress sidebar that Patrick has placed on the right-hand side of his blog, underneath the usual authorly stuff (Follow Me, links to his latest books, and an Other Stuff I've Written section).  

I quite like the idea of showing progress.  I've seen it used elsewhere, but think that it works particularly well for authors as it gives readers, waiting with bated breath for the next installment my their favourite author(s), an idea of how things are progressing, what to expect in the upcoming months, and when they might expect to see excerpts and complete works.  In some ways, it may even help keep us writers on track, knowing that we've got those numbers out there for readers to see.  

I like the graphical representation, rather than a list of dates, as it gives readers an at-a-glance view of what's coming next.  As a fan of authors who sometimes take a very long time to write (Jean M. Auel, Diana Gabaldon, and George R. R. Martin, just to name a few), I'd love to see this because then I'd know to expect something this year, or next, or even the year after.