Things are
moving along very nicely with our anthology.
Most of the stories are in and ready for a final edit under the beady
eyes that search out every error for correction and then some. Have I told you about
our plans? I think I have hinted but not
said much more because until now we needed the time to see how it would
go. You see the ladies and I, joined by
a good friend, have decided we would put an anthology together and
self-publish.
The
motivation behind this is two-fold.
Firstly it would give readers a taste of what we can do. We see this as mutually satisfying for us and
them. We get to flex our muscles
a little and readers get a choice in style, genre, and to discover new
talent. Well, I don’t know about the
last bit for sure but I threw it out there to you and the universe in the form
of hope and I am not too proud to add prayer in on the equation. The second reason is that we are hoping to
learn through this process and when we are fortunate enough to get reader feedback
we can then work towards improving. We
do anyway but how nice would it be to have our readers’ input.
This brings
me to the subject of today’s post – our website. We have a name but as of yet we have not made
any firm decisions other than we need a website before we publish. We have
begun to throw a few ideas around. All
of us on the blog believe this to be a necessity for ourselves and of course
the people that may read our books. Personally I love going to websites as my
list of reading grows. Let’s face it how
can you not when it gives a connection to the book through insight into the
writer and their other works.
Mind you
there are some incredible surprises at times and isn’t that fun? Over the years I have been amazed at the
different genres people can work in. We
are cheating a little by offering a few on our website by our diversity. We see that as a plus for you and us. However knowing we need a website and actually setting it up and designing it is
pretty difficult despite some artistic bents from my colleagues. A little bit of reassurance and some
understanding of what to start with came my way when I came across this post by
Cara Brookins. It goes a long way to curb the panic.
We don’t
have to do it all at once but we do have to make decisions on what needs to be
up there now and while we are at it we should also say thank you for pre-made
templates. I love reading Cara. She makes things simple and achievable.
Fonts, layouts, colour swatches can all be improved on down the track but an
overall structure connects us to you. We
have time to make things more interesting as we go along and we will welcome
any suggestions you may have. So for now let’s look at the pages Cara says are
important. She makes good sense and I am
hoping this post will give you an idea of how much we are willing to take on
board to give our readers the best we can. If we don’t take it all on board at
once it is only because we need time to discover what suits us all, we three, and
our reading friends. The link to Cara Brookins is below so you can have the
option to explore more for yourselves. This post is really about what any of us
can do to start with.
The About page is vital. We know it will
get the most hits so we need our personalities to show through including the
dreaded headshot. You may need a little
patience with us as we build on this. Remember the old saying, what comes first, the chicken or the egg?
That’s us. We are the chicken and the
egg so all we can do is lay (egg and chicken joke so you had better be
laughing) the foundation with this one and offering links and other bits and
pieces will come. There are also three
of us and readers need to know they can find the individual with the benefit of
what may be some interesting extras. Or not? We are still exploring this option.
We can’t do
without our Books page. Patience will be needed once again but I
promise we intent to fill this. Nothing
is more frustrating than not knowing if you are reading at the beginning of a
series or when the next one is coming out.
We are aware of this and also about the links to purchase. Are you starting to worry we are getting
ahead of ourselves? Please don’t! We
believe in ourselves so we are planning ahead by arming ourselves with
knowledge. We know how important it is to have links to make all manner of
things possible, accessible, to our readers including the next page – our blog.
Our
following has been slow and steady and we don’t want to lose you so the blog is
a given. Cara stresses a blog can bring in as much as 55% more traffic. For us it means continuing the hard work to
improve the blog along with our writing but we love the blog as it is a means
to give back to our readers on a different more personal level, and also to fellow
writers by talking about their books. I am not at all reluctant to share an
enjoyable reading experience? No reader ever is and it is a great way to give to our readers. Of course we are selfish and want your
attention on us but how can you trust us if we are not prepared to give. Sorry
guys you are stuck with the blog and if you don’t like something then you can
tell us on our contact page. This is the last but not least page necessary
for us as beginner websiters. Contact forms allow readers, and
agents, editors, reviewers and so many others to find you without compromising
privacy. We are working on this.
There is so
much more we can do with a website but slow and steady wins the race or so Mr Turtle or was it Tortoise, told us a long time ago. No trying to
make jokes with that last phrase as it is too close to home and our hopes and
dreams, but we are fervently hoping he is right whatever he looks like. Wish us luck because it won’t be too long
before we will be telling you about our website,
and the work involved on the way...?
Let’s leave that for another post.