Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Website Design for Book Authors


I mentioned last week about finding a book that teaches authors how to sell books on the Internet. I haven't read it all yet, but I've read enough to know I need to change my website.

The message was to keep it simple. People tend to scan rather than read web pages, so we only have a matter of seconds to get their attention. I'll go into details about the book later when I write a review.

What I want to show you today is what I came up with for the first page of the redesigned website.




If the image above is not clear, go to http://sidneywfrost.com/ to see the real thing.

From this initial page, you'll eventually be able to link to:

  • Events: This will be a page that will show any scheduled events such as book signings, virtual blog tours, etc.
  • Media Info: Here will be links to various sized images of the book cover and the author, plus a link to press releases.
  • Blog: This links to http://christianbookmobile.blogspot.com/.
  • Author: This will be a page containing my bio.
  • Description: This will be a more detailed description of the book.
  • Review: This will be a summary of book reviews


As you can see, I'm still in the design phase, so if you have any suggestions, let me hear from you.

2 comments:

  1. E-Mail from Peg:

    I never attempted to build a website, but for any kind of advertising the simpler the better. This tells all anyone needs to know, but it's plain, isn't it? As I say, I don't know what's good. When I want to find an author or a book I have heard about, I use a website called fantasticfiction.co.uk/ So far I have found everyone I've tried - and it lists the author's books in series, genres and chronological publishing dates. (So you know which is first in a series using the same character.) Don't know how one gets on their site...... but something like this would give you more exposure, hey?

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  2. E-Mail from Rollo:

    Looks really good to me. I wonder if it would be wise to make the links a little more prominent and include links to locally owned bookstores that you know have the book available? I'm sure B&N/Borders could care less, but Book People and the store you are singing in in Georgetown might like it and a link to them might even sell a copy or two. When I want a book right now! I occasionally go to a bookstore and pay full price rather than wait for Amazon to deliver it.

    Also, it just occurred to me, maybe a link to your next book - just a brief preview and a "Coming Soon" note?

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