Book Trailers (tm) & Author Web Sites discussion

I hope everyone pardons me for making a new thread, but the one that's currently active is so large I can't open it without my computer freezing up. :(

I just made a flash site for my book using this special website, which helped out great. I'm using the free version, which comes with ads right now, but if I like it I may move to the premium membership.

I'd like to know some of your feedback on the design, content, setup. I'd love to look at any of your sites as well to get an idea of what other people have done.

Here's my link: http://www.wix.com/svlehosit/lucifer-...

Hey Sean

I like your site design. The only comment I would make is to have an option button for background music. I know that I often listen to music on my laptop when I surf the web. It's always jolting when I come upon a site with music and it mixes with the tunes I am listening too :]

I like the flash aspects of your site though :]
Great work!

Thanks for the feedback! I understand what you're saying with the music though. I'm planning on adding that, I've just been wrestling with where to place it and not interupt with the layout.

Hi everyone.

I wanted to stop in and let you know about my new Author/book marketing site I just launched last week. Publisher's Weekly covered it on 12/8 and it was in Pub Lunch and Shelf Awareness last week. The site is an aggregator of all of your important marketing information - including your Social Media links, downloadables, buy buttons, and book trailer - about you and your book. We constructed the site with SEO in mind so your books pop up high on the search engines.

Please stop by and take a look at the highlighted sample book (click the green circle on the home page).

The link to EverPub is http://www.everpub.com

If you have any quesitons, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Best,

Neil Levin

Hi Neil,

Thanks for posting the link to your new venture. Do you have samples of your work? As in links to author websites that your company has created?

Thanks tons
Dee Marie

Dee wrote: "Hi Neil,

Thanks for posting the link to your new venture. Do you have samples of your work? As in links to author websites that your company has created?

Thanks tons
Dee Marie"

Sure Dee.

Here's a great example Dee. This book uses most of the available components of the site:

http://everpub.com/books/ninety-five

And here's a title that just went up yesterday:

http://everpub.com/books/themayanmagi...

Let me know if I can get you any more information.

Best,

Neil

I've seen the question, "Would you rather your site be pretty, or effective".
I think you came up with the wrong answer, Sean.
I'm not a big believer in flash (too flashy?) and my general reaction to "wait around while this thing loads" is to split.
If there is music playing I'm out of there right now. Very intrusive. Ever think that I might be listening to my own music? Lots of people feel that way.
Designers love doing this stuff, but it probably actually hurts.

So you wait for the flash to load and what do you see? Nothing. A picture that just sits there. What was loading? Where are the dancing mice?
Sometimes too fancy a wrapping makes people wonder if you're trying to overcompensate for substance.

I hate to toss cold water, and I'm sure you paid a lot for that site.

But I would like to hit authors with the idea that the flashiest website is not necessarily the best. And may be the worst. You aren't trying to get friends to tell you how pretty it is, you're trying to get people to buy your book

Hi, I am counting down the days to the release of my book, Ridin' Around. This is a first try at a video using 30 yr old pictures and a new, original song. My website is www.ridinaroundbook.com . Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5f2d9...

Hello everybody!
I'm Kirstin van Dyke, the author of Code Name: Silence.
If you'd like to check it out and/or give me some feedback, here's the official site for the book: CodeNameSilence.com

Thank you!

I'm Stacy Juba - I think I've already posted the web site for my adult books, however I just created a new site for my patriotic children's picture book The Flag Keeper. The link is http://www.stacyjuba.com/flagkeeper

Thank you!

Vicki wrote: "My name is Vicki Hopkins. I have an author website and I also make separate sites for my books for more exposure. You can find me at:

http://vickihopkins.com
http://phantomofvalletta.com
http://..."

A lovely informative website, Vicki.Beautiful looking books. You must be very busy working and writing. Laurel

Hi everyone:) My author website is http://lenorewolfe.com

All you need to know about me and my work can be found here: Russell Cruse.

Links to books, Web Log (yes, I know) Snippets from Works in Progress - that sort of thing. Come and have a look around and let me know what you think.

My website is: https://sites.google.com/site/belinda...

I have several free author resources listed.

And, if you are interested I can post your e-book on my site as a giveaway in exchange for a review. Click on the Free books button to see how it works.

I know this is a little off topic for this group, but have any of you tried using a service to send out emails to promote your book? If so, I was wondering what type of impact it had on your book sales. Thank you for any feedback you might have on this subject.

My author website is http://thinkingskull.com/

My book series website is http://spookychronicles.com/

When you do a lot of different work and wear many hats, how do organize your information to make people aware of the individual work that you do? Do you simply make a single page with samples of everything hoping that something will appeal to a viewer, or do you rotate various projects to highlight the most recent one?

I looked at your Thinking Skull website, Kevin. You seem to be on the right track. A bit about each different work on the main page then enlarge upon it on extra pages. Readers can choose then if they want to read on.

Hi there,

Please check out my author site at:

http://kerganedwards-stout.com

My first novel, SONGS FOR THE NEW DEPRESSION, will be published in October!

Thanks so much,
Kergan

Kirstin wrote: "Hello everybody!
I'm Kirstin van Dyke, the author of Code Name: Silence.
If you'd like to check it out and/or give me some feedback, here's the official site for the book: CodeName..."

Absolutely love the title, Kirsten. The web page is really neat. Fun story.
C.K. Volnek

Kevin wrote: "My author website is http://thinkingskull.com/

My book series website is http://spookychronicles.com/

When you do a lot of different work and wear many hats, how do organize your information to m..."

Nice job Kevin. I agree with Laurel, you are on the right track. It's easy to move around and get to where I want to go. Nice job. Love the Spooky Chronicles!
C.K. Volnek

My author website is http://cliffball.webs.com

Hello,

My first novel, "Beatitude," comes out in October. My author website is http://www.larrycloss.com

Larry

FINALLY - posted all the pictures from the ALLON - Shannan & Torin photo shoot with my daughter in costume as the series heroine and a real wolf. Take a peek and enjoy!
http://www.allonbooks.com/ShannanTori...

Just completely overhauled my author/creator website. I reintegrated the blog to the front page, then added a sidebar with thumbnail graphics to my main projects with author profiles below it. This was all in an attempt to streamline the content and allow quick browsing for anyone interested. Thoughts?


http://ThinkingSkull.com

Good website, Kevin. I was interested in your blog about self publishing. Many famous writers in the past have self published. They weren't so lucky as today's writers who can self publish in a wink for virtually no cost. But had to pay for so many hundfeds [maybe] of print copies which they had to hawk around. Cheers

Phantasia in the Suburbs - a lighthearted short story.
What happens when your partner spends all of her spare time writing a fantasy. Free read on http://laurellamperdwriter.webs.com

Laurel wrote: "Good website, Kevin. I was interested in your blog about self publishing. Many famous writers in the past have self published. They weren't so lucky as today's writers..."

That little project is taking shape the same way I got into being movie critic 15 years ago; I started talking about movies I'd seen, and people genuinely were interested in my opinion. Having committed myself to becoming familiar with all the great tools out there now, people are again coming to me for advice and it seemed a natural way to pool some of that data for myself and for anyone interested.

Belle wrote: "I'm Belle DiMonté, fantasy novelist, editor of a fantasy ezine, author of 2 poetry collections, and crazy cat lady. Nice to meet everyone!

How many cats...?

I write from the heart!

www.simonvincent.com

Belle wrote: "I'm Belle DiMonté, fantasy novelist, editor of a fantasy ezine, author of 2 poetry collections, and crazy cat lady. Nice to meet everyone!

I'm online here: www.belleofmountains...."

Interesting website, Belle. Congratulations on your blog. All the best with your novel. cheers

I've had an author website for years - but I just relaunched with a new design. Check it out:

http://www.franknappi.com

Greetings -

I have a rather elaborate website for my novel, AMERICAN FEVER: A TALE OF ROMANCE & PESTILENCE, in which an East Village blogger fights an H5N1 avian flu pandemic that rocks America and unleashes national repression, even as his personal life explodes with promise.

Since the protagonist-blogger is selling masks, gloves, and goggles to withstand an influenza pandemic, the site presents itself as his blog. (The entire book is posted, entry-by-entry, with 1,500 live links and with illustrations that include art submitted by contributors around the world.) It also presents ways to buy his goods via Amazon, along with a cultural merchandise page that he creates to sell the books, movies, and music he mentions in his posts (from YouTube videos of original Byrd Gene Clark to some for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

Please pay a visit and tell me what you think:
http://www.americanfeverbook.com/

Best & thanks, Peter Christian Hall

Been adding lots of new content to my website. Anyone interested in checking out the sights and sounds can do so at http://kevishendrickson.weebly.com.

Interesting post on book blog - Coworker Issues Don’t Let Them Trip You Up http://justthinkingjustsaying.blogspo... from Give Yourself Permission http://amzn.to/JQvjrr

Fight or Flight! Times are Challenging article on book blog http://justthinkingjustsaying.blogspo...

New article on book blog - Celebrities are OK – “Pay homage” to Yourself! http://justthinkingjustsaying.blogspo...

This book blog has useful information - Use Your Online Social Connections, Secrets of a Great Blog Following http://justthinkingjustsaying.blogspo...

I finally got the Goodreads links up on my website, they work quite nice.

http://www.simonvincent.com

I am an author and a web specialist, seo specialist. I am offering a special deal for authors as i am an author myself. I have a web design and seo company, so whilst i have various sites changed, i am offering full seo audit reports for 75.00 to Good Reads Authors. This report will involve a full analysis of your site, seo and sem strengths and weakneses, backlink analysis, social media analysis and marketing structure with a full optimization report. Contact me at http://seo-specialist.net/sell-more-b...

I write multi-genre romance, my website has several pages with links to others. I'm self-published because I choose to be; my hectic writing/day job schedule make it hard to hit a deadline if I had a publisher. I do my own book trailers, covers, web banners, etc and love creating those for others as well. I have a store and blog links there too.

http://deannajewel.com

My blog is open for authors who may want a promo spot for a week. Please use the 'Contact Me' button my website to reach me with a week that would work well for you. Giveaways seem to attract more readers so let me know if you'd be doing that as well.

Oops - think I posted this in the wrong (inactive) thread before - apologies for the double-up.

Anyways - any feedback appreciated:
http://www.mattpike.co/

There are many individuals who just can't afford to have professional sites designed or marketing plans that help promote them - especially in this current climate. I have decided to help my fellow authors and have created an wordpress and seo school on my seo site. Membership is free and if you join you will get access to over 6o teaching videos to help you. All i ask is you sign up for my email list as i have many gifts, ebooks and tips to help you. Also bear with us as we are still developing the platform. Remember guys, its free to you so its a no brainer. http://seo-specialist.net go to seo school

I've redesigned my website to coincide with the launch of my latest novel CAFÉ INSOMNIAC. It's quite vivid. I hope you like it.

www.mark-capell.com

Promote your book for free on aaiight.com just ensure you watch the tutorial to maximize your listing

My Author webpage

www.authorbiancaharrison.com

Since I hired a web designer for a good price, I got a new website: http://www.pamelakkinney.com/

Brand-new, totally revamped website design, Wordpress dot com host template with custom domain and $30/yr CSS editor, images by yours truly. Thoughts or opinions?



ThinkingSkull.com

Bianca wrote: "My Author webpage

www.authorbiancaharrison.com"

That looks great! I like the way everything comes into view as you move down to it.

Hi all,
I'm new to this site and this discussion group so I apologise if I am over stepping the boundaries. I use wix.com like some of those listed above and I am happy with the service so far. My link is:

www.allmuckandmullets.co.uk

HI Everyone,

I hope you are having a marvelous day. I currently use weebly. My website is www.tamluvs2write.com