Today’s post is a bit of a deviation from the trend that has been established up till now but I wanted to share something with you that might prove of some benefit.
A dot.com boon?
Today’s post is a bit of a deviation from the trend that has been established up till now but I wanted to share something with you that might prove of some benefit.
Think about building a website dedicated to your book.
Now I know I’m in a different place from many readers in that I am now published (still something of an alien concept). However, I always thought that the novel would benefit from a supporting online presence and had done quite a bit of work on one. Then my publisher and their publicist encouraged me to upload it. As I’ve developed it over the last month or so, it’s become clear that there are some real, tangible advantages.
First, you can do it for free. I believe there are a number of sites out there that facilitate building a simple site. I used Weebly which, for a non-technical person like me, was something of a doddle. I’m not endorsing it as such, only saying that it worked for me.
Secondly, you have complete creative rein over the content. So you can illustrate it with whatever images you think will help make it seductive and exciting, and write it in any style you wish. Basic content management systems make it dead easy to change, purge or grow.
Thirdly – and, I think, most importantly, at least for me – is that the length of an ideal web page forces you to articulate succinctly the core properties and values of your project. Let’s face it, we can all bore for England when we get started talking about our work. The discipline of the web means that we have to reduce our ravings to relatively short sections. Why are we writing what we are writing? How to encapsulate what is probably years of thinking, crafting, challenging into a few pithy paragraphs. What’s it all about? Who we are? And so on.
Fourthly, it can be a great tool when you’re out there networking or selling your talents. Slipping someone a URL or including a hyperlink in an e-mail, tweet or Facebook is a game-raiser in the eyes of a recipient.
Fifthly, it can be a living, breathing resource that’ll enable you to blog about your writing, talk about books you love and, generally, vent (if that’s what you need).
I’m not saying www.grossefugue.com is in anyway perfect. But I do find myself thinking about things I want to say about it and, perhaps, to engage with readers as they’re working their way through it or once they’ve finished it. It’ll also be nice to blog on a wide range of subjects that may even be relevant to the book. I’m ambitious; I want Grosse Fugue to have a long shelf-life and be something significant. I think a website will further and foster that desire.
Anyway, I hope the idea may appeal to some readers and they’ll investigate the possibilities.
Ian Phillips is a freelance writer for businesses whose first novel, Grosse Fugue, is being published by Alliance Publishing Press. Further information is now available at www.alliancepublishingpress.com. The website dedicated to the novel is at www.grossefugue.com and Ian’s tweeting developments @Ian_at_theWord.
Hi Ian.
I have renewed my subscription to,
http://www.servage.net/
I intend to build a personal website. They have some good deals for those who can afford to pay for a host. The advantages are too many to list.
I have visited your website. I have not had the time to study it in great depth, but I was pleased to see Tennyson listed in the Pdf file in your About Me section of notable people.
I also saw the philosopher Bertrand Russell, amongst the very diverse and distinguished cast of famous people through the ages.
When I began to write, I researched the aspects of the novel. I sourced the best advice from famous authors, and well-respected literary academics throughout history.
Russell had an excellent piece of advice for writers, which has stuck with me. ‘One thought one sentence’.
A few more quotes you might like to add to your collection.
Sylvia Plath - 'And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt'.
Ernest Hemingway - 'The first draft of anything is always shit'
Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will. - Goethe.
Does that last quote apply to Grosse Fugue?
I like this post. A website is an excellent way to self-publicize
Hi Christina,
As Zhou Enlai commented when, during the Cultural Revolution, he was asked for his views on the French Revolution: "It's too early to tell." I'm less exercised with hits than I am with knowing that the resource exists, I can develop it at my leisure and I have a readily available shortcut when people ask me about the book.
I like the idea of playing with ideas, putting them up on the web and seeing how they look with a bit of distance. It also gives me the opportunity to do something I've always wanted, which is to share my collection of quotations that I've harvested over the years.
Hi Ian,
I love this weekly 'update' for want of a better word. I look forward to reading what you have have been up to. I have always wondered how publicity has changed in recent years. Has the amount of hits been a slow steady growth or did you find that things happened quite quickly after setting it up or is it way to soon to telI? I found weebly.com and set up an account a couple or so years ago but unfortunately due to ill health in the last couple of years I haven't been on it in quite sometime. I'll need to get back to it again and start doing my blogs again.