So, I feel ready to put my writing out into the wide world, but in my research so far I have found that a lot of agents/editors saying that they expect an author to have a website that they can look at to find out more about them and their projects. But right now, I have nothing published, except for one poem in an anthology, and two ongoing novel projects that are not yet completed (though I am in the midsts of revising one).
So, what on earth should I be putting on a website? Or should I just not bother yet and instead concentrate on getting those first few publications of short stories and try to build a readership? Whenever I look at authors whose work is published on E-zines, they have a website to link to, and although my instincts lean towards the actual writing is the most important thing right now, I wouldn't want to look unprofessional by not having a website if that is the general expectation.
Chicken and egg, chicken and egg...
Cheers.
Charlie, you're a writer: write a blog about that quiet life you live and why you chose it. Pick something out of the local paper and expand upon it. Make a story out of the bare bones that you have. What makes the clock turn where you live? What makes life there so different? Mine's not perfect in any way, but it's about France as I see it. Have a look: http://www.fromthetopofthehouse.blogspot.fr/ Our life here is quiet, but there's still plenty to say about it!
My friend in Tenerife puts up more pictures and far less text than I do - but then I'm mouthy; what can I say? It's down to personal choice.
I'd forget the website for now: you've nothing to put out there, unless your novel is, for example, a historical one and you can talk about the era in which it is set, and why it interests you. Making a website work for you means it's got to add to your novel-writing persona. At present you haven't got one, so there's no point. It's also a point of contact between you and your readers: you haven't got any yet, so the same applies.
Some novelists don't have a marked difference between a blog and a website, so by coming up with the one, you could be laying the groundworks for the other, or indeed providing a viable alternative.
Go to Amazon, pick out a few first-time novelists who write things similar to your work and visit their sites - see what other people are doing. You may think, well, that was a waste of time - in which case, you'll know you aren't going to start any such thing yourself.
I started my blog (just using a simple blogger template and no custom URL, so it was all free) when I started looking for an agent. I blogged about writing, about the books I enjoyed, and took part in blog 'tours' when I was tagged by other bloggers, as my contacts and experience grew. That was all that was needed, really. It doesn't have to be a huge burden, but it meant my name was out there should anyone go looking, along with a way to contact me. That's actually how I got the offer to blog for THIS website - I was approached because some of my blog posts had caught the eye of Writers & Artists.
I would say it's never too early - chart your writing, comment on other writers' blogs, and start getting into the community
Hi Lorraine,
I'm in France too! But if I blogged about it, it would read something like this:
One, no, two orange cows passed my back window today while they chowed down on long wet grass. Then a tractor drove by... etc, etc. Okay, my life isn't quite THAT boring, but you get the gist.
Anyway... believe me, I know the reasons for the requirement. I get it. I've read and read and read about the importance of it all. And I have an FB account, though it's a personal one. I find FB and Twitter extremely boring. Even so, I get the relevance of them in regards to platform.
But I'm not asking about them. I'm asking about websites, and what a non-existent (in terms of publishing history) author should be using in terms of content, if anything at all until they have something to actually shout about (bearing in mind you don't want to put too much of your novel up there because anything more than three chapters could make it void for trad pubbing, and you don't want to be churning out bad writing advice and gaining a tainted reputation for it).
I plan to sub my first novel by the end of this year/beg. next, but it seems to me before I do that I need a website. If I've had no shorts published by that time, what's the best approach for that? Putting your own shorts on a website will make them void for future publication too, though I do realise they can be a tool to garner readership.
All author websites I have read have already published their work one way or another, and yet I have read that agents expect to see a website, even for previously unpubbed authors.