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Building a Writer's Web Page
by Staci Ann Dumoski

Why should you, a writer, want a web page? Two reasons. Either you have sold a book and you want to complement the publishers marketing efforts, or you want to market yourself in hopes of getting more writing assignments. In either instance, a well-designed web page can go a long way to increasing your sales.

With a web page, you will be able to sell your product - you or your book - to a worldwide audience without having to leave home. In this day and age, when email queries are becoming more and more common, you can direct potential editors to your site to view electronic clips of your work instead of dealing with troublesome email attachments. Not to mention that simply by having a web page, you are demonstrating a certain technical savvy, that indicates you are hip to the latest trends in the publishing industry.

So of course you want a web page! But how do you start? The process of web building can be divided into three major areas: Content, Presentation, and Distribution.

CONTENT
The first step in designing your page begins away from the computer. Sit down and outline what you need to include.

A list of credits demonstrates your experience as a writer; it should include any publications you have had as well as any writing-related positions you have held.

If you have a long publishing history, you may want to just put the highlights on your credits list, along with a link to a complete bibliography. Don't worry if your credits list is short or non-existent: you can make up for this with your samples and experience.

Choose up to a half-dozen samples of your best work to include. These will serve as your "clips" when you point potential editors to your site. These clips should showcase your versatility as a writer: in other words, don't include six articles about housebreaking your dog, Millie, or editors may doubt your ability to write about anything else. Your samples should also demonstrate your competence with the language; you need to impress upon the editors that you can write well.

It is not necessary that your clips be published pieces. Conversely, if they have been published, be certain that you are not violating any online rights agreement you may have made with a publisher. If the article is published online, you can place a link directly to the site where it was published.

While it is perfectly reasonable to let your credits and samples stand on their own, chances are you will want to include some statement of experience: your education and background, how long you have been writing, your general area of expertise, and so on. This should be brief and to the point, focusing on your career as a writer (or on the experience that you will build on as a writer). If you want to tell your life story, do it on a separate biography page.

You might want to include a separate listing for awards you have won or any associations you belong to, which should impress editors with your professionalism. You will also want to include contact information. If you are concerned about safety, list only your name and email address. A photo of yourself will round out the profile nicely.

If you are marketing a specific book on your web site, you will probably want to relegate all of the above information to an "About the Author" section. Highlight the book on the first page of the site, with a good-sized image of the cover, review blurbs, an excerpt, and the Table of Contents (if applicable).

HINT: Become an associate of Amazon.com or some other online bookstore; each time someone buys the book through your site, you will earn additional money from the sale.

PRESENTATION
Now that you know what you want to include, it's time to think about how you are going to present it. Again, do this away from your computer.

Start by making a flow-chart showing how the different pages will be linked together. There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to organize your pages: your first page can be a brief introduction to yourself and your work, with links to secondary pages of credits, samples, and so on.

Or you can list everything together on a single page divided into clearly labeled sections. Keep in mind, however, that each of the samples you provide should be on it's own page. Next, think about the appearance of your web site. Make a sketch of the layout for each page, showing each section, heading, image and link. It is also time to decide on the look and feel of your page. While it isn't necessary to use graphics of any sort, well-designed graphics can enhance the layout of a page, calling attention to important information. A coordinated graphic set will provide a finished, unified look to your pages, adding weight to the content and cultivating the reader's impression of you. Many sites offer graphic theme sets free for personal use; with a little searching, you are sure to find something that suits you.

While there is no dictating taste when it comes to choosing the graphics you use, do keep in mine that you are creating a professional image for yourself.

Once you've established the look of your page, it's time to actually build it. Don't panic. Basic HTML is easy to master. If you've never used it before, you'll probably want to pick up an introductory book. There are many available that provide a clear introduction in simple language, such as "Creating Web Pages for Dummies" or "HTML 4 For the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide".

You'll also find many resources on the web. One of the oldest and best is the NCSA's "Beginners Guide to HTML" located online at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html. Here you'll find a succinct rundown of the most basic elements of HTML. Alternatively, if you don't feel up to learning a programming language, you can try one of the many HTML-editors that are available, such as Microsoft's FrontPage or Homesite from Allaire. These allow you to create web pages with the ease of a word processor. Or you can hire someone to do it for you; a basic site will probably run you between $200 and $500, and it is tax-deductible.

DISTRIBUTION
Now that you've built your web page, where do you put it? The most obvious place to look is your own Internet Service Provider: most companies provide web space along with an email account. There are web-hosting services online, such as Geocities, Tripod, and Angelfire, that give you free web space in exchange for displaying advertisements on your pages.

For a slight fee, you can obtain web space without advertising on hosts such as SimpleNet, Hypermart, and Dreamhost. You can even buy your own domain name and have it hosted by one of these services. Consider, also, online communities that relate to your genre or field of expertise, such as SFF.net for science fiction and fantasy and Romance Foretold for (obviously) romance. These communities not only provide web hosting, but give you access to resources, message boards and newsgroups with other professionals in your field.

Of course, now you have to get people to visit your page. If your page is meant mainly to provide background information and clips to editors, then this isn't as much an issue: you will include the URL with any correspondence you exchange. However, if you're trying to sell a book, you want to be sure as many people as possible find your site. Include your URL in the signature file for all email messages (check your email program's help files for directions on how to do this). Join mailing lists and newsgroups related to your subject: each time you post everyone in the group will see "Jane Doe, Author of This_is_My_Book, http://www.someplace.com/~doe" and at least a few of them will go and check it out.

Register your site with all the appropriate search engines and index sites: there are specialty index sites available for almost any topic you can imagine. HINT: To get the most out of search engine registration, be sure to include META tags in the headers for your pages (see below).

An increasingly popular way to get people to visit your site is to join one or more "webrings". Webrings allow web surfers to travel between a series of similarly themed websites. All it takes is registering your page with the ring, and placing the provided code and graphics on your page.

Webring.org has literally thousands of webrings available: choose a couple that suit your topic and sign up.

Offering a unique resource is another way to attract visitors to your site. If you write cookbooks, put up a few of your best recipes for people to use. If you write parenting articles, create a list of links to the best parenting resources on the web. If you're a fantasist, write an essay on fantasy world building and make it available for all. People who find your resource will also find you!

Finally, a few notes on maintaining your site. Remember to review it frequently to make sure everything is still in place and that all your links are still active. This is especially important if you are using online publications as sources for your clips: e-mags are notorious for moving directories and files around, and you never know when your article may disappear. It is not a bad idea to include a "last updated" notation on your page, either; keeping your page current shows you are attentive to detail.

As in all marketing ventures, it is important to know your target audience and investigate the best ways to reach that audience.

By now, you should have a good grounding in the steps involved in building your writer's web site. If you're still unsure where to start, head out to the web and browse some sites of other professional authors. See how they have handled the content and presentation on their own pages to get ideas for your own. View the source code to learn how they achieved particular effects. And don't be afraid to send email asking questions about the page. Most people will gladly respond to your inquiries. But the best way to learn what works and what doesn't is by actually doing it.

So writers, go forth and spin webs!

For you Momwriters who have bothered to read this far, there's a special treat for you on my newly designed home page: a Momwriters banner that you can put on your -own- page! You can pick it up by going to (Link not available at this time) and right-clicking on the Momwriters banner: this will save it to your own hard drive. When you build your page, be sure to add a link to the Momwriters home page at www.momwriters.com !

Have fun!

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