Keeping Up With the Joneses in the Design and Development of Your New Website and Blog Over the last three Saturdays, we have outlined preliminary steps for building an author website and blog. Today we talk about design. But before picking out tiles and swatches for your new electronic home, look at your neighbors’ houses. Do some window shopping. Compare yourself to the Joneses by scouting out other authors’ websites. And get to know your author-neighbors. First, make a list of the authors who have written books in your subject area or genre. Add to this list some authors whose work you enjoy. Then search online for their websites and click through every page. Look; read; browse. Pay attention to where your eyes wander. Each author has a unique style, voice and signature as part of her or his “brand.” What do you like about particular sites? And just as important, what don’t you like about certain websites? What features or design elements would you like to appear in yours? Take notes so that when you search in WordPress for a “theme” or template, you will have an idea of how you want your pages to look. As you study the websites and blogs of authors, keep track of URLs for their websites and links to the author’s Facebook Page, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Notice not only where they are located on a page, but which platforms are used. This market research isn’t just an opportunity to window…
When you are building your author website from the ground up and trying to keep expenses low, it helps to have a friend who knows a thing or two about website design and development. You know, that friend you have that helps you out in a pinch and who can show you the ropes? Who asks only for your friendship – and maybe a free… [Read More]
Filed Under: Author Website, best Twitter practices, DIY online platform, free, social media icon sets, social media lessons, start a blog in 2012, stock images, writer DIY, writer's blog
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Swenson Book Development, LLC was in the thick of publishing madness two weeks ago – two members of our team, myself and Jill Swenson, checked out the trade floor and events at Book Expo America. BEA is the place for movers and shakers of the North American publishing industry. From event interviews of famous musicians-come-authors to Harlequin Romance shilling for their latest salacious-covered paperback, from bustling New… [Read More]
As an editor, I see the use of passive voice as a red flag in a manuscript. It strips out all the action and agency. Makes the text boring. Passive voice frequently appears in academic writing. The stuff no one wants to read. You can edit your own book manuscript for passive voice and hone your talents as a powerful writer with a few simple… [Read More]
Filed Under: action, Active Voice, agency, Passive voice, reader comprehension, Verb tenses, voice of victims
That container gently bubbling in the kitchen, a jar of vegetables and spices and antiseptic salt, is an exercise in patience. It’s a testament of expectation. It’s going to be your sauerkraut in just a few weeks if you can just wait, and taste, and trust. Ellie Sandor Katz’s seminal work, Wild Fermentation, has been considered the gateway text into a world of natural fermented… [Read More]
Writing dialogue is about capturing a character’s voice and revealing her or his motivations. Good dialogue engages the reader in a dynamic exchange between characters. It quickens the pace when there is no action and moves the plot forward. Bad dialogue only relays expository information, which doesn’t feel real to the reader who can’t believe your characters would talk like that to each other. Although… [Read More]
Filed Under: Dialogue, Grammar, Italics for internal dialogue, Punctuation, Quotation Marks, Rules, Style