author websites

If you plan to pursue writing as a professional, long-term career, I recommend starting and maintaining an author website even if you’re unpublished.

If you're preparing to pitch your nonfiction work to agents or publishers, you may have heard about the necessity of platform. What if you don't have one?

One of the first choices you have to make for your author website is determining its theme or template. It sets the tone and even defines the site.

When embarking on a process that is new or unfamiliar, often you don't know what you don't know. A checklist helps you recognize what you don't know, so that many months later, you're not beating yourself up for complete ignorance. Without further ado, here are some of my most favored checklists, from sources I trust.

Getting traction for your online presence—especially a new blog—can feel like an impossible task when you're an unknown writer. But it can be done.

I'm proud to have a feature in Writer's Digest magazine on how to monetize your website and blog. I detail eight methods.

Last year, I began regularly contributing to Publishers Weekly on the topic of independent authorship and publishing. Here's a list of all my columns so far:

Just about every writer would love to have more readers—more readers of their books, their blog, their articles, or whatever creative work they’re producing. But few writers have given much thought to having a call to action that's associated with their work.

How do you treat subscribers after they sign up for your email newsletter? An autoresponder can usefully and effectively welcome people to the community.

Pop-ups have long been despited by the Internet world, but the difficulty is: They work. Here's how to implement them in a way that won't annoy visitors.

Wondering why you don't have more blog traffic—or if it's worthwhile to continue your blogging effort? Here are the mistakes that commonly afflict authors.

If you’re considering WordPress as your platform of choice, here’s what you should know as you prepare to build on it.

Web design expert Ron Bueker discusses the pros and cons of using WordPress and Squarespace to build your author website and brand.

What authors need to know about current marketing practices and emerging business trends in the book publishing industry.

Author Gigi Rosenberg describes how she redesigned and relaunched her author website primarily on her own, only hiring assistance at the end.

Here are 10 questions to ask before you choose a Wordpress theme for your site.

If you have a Wordpress-based site, then you know that one of the first choices you have to make (and then

The chain of events goes something like this: An author's book nears its publication date (or perhaps the author is attempting

Note from Jane: Today’s guest post is by Simone Collins (@SimoneHCollins) at ArtCorgi. See her earlier post on The Advantages of

Today's guest post is adapted from Red Hot Internet Publicity by Penny Sansevieri. Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas there’s