Category: Columns

Can the Extra Squeeze Team Explain the Difference Between an Author Webpage and an Author Facebook Page?

Rebecca Forster 

USA Today Bestselling author of 35 books, including the Witness series and the new Finn O’Brien series.

Some days I long for the old days: books were created with a typewriter, manuscripts were Xeroxed and sent off to agents and editors, fans wrote real letters and books had covers.

Then I shake off the longing and realize this is a brave new world and I am knee deep in the muck of indie publishing. One of the first things I did was secure my domain name in my own name – not the name of a specific book or series. It wasn’t until years after my first indie book was published that I realized that I had scored big without even knowing what game I was playing.

That was how I constructed my first website too – through trial and error. Some thing worked but mostly the whole site turned into a hot mess without focus. The reason was that I didn’t know what the purpose of my website was, nor my Facebook page, nor my Twitter.

My original website had tips for new authors, my books without links, a picture gallery of my travels, even a few recipes. I constructed that site so that people would really, really like me, as Sally Fields once famously said.

But then I met Robin Blakely. She pointed out that the purpose of a website is to introduce people to my books, to sell my books, to assist readers in getting the most out of my books.  A website creates a brand and sells books. Duh! It sounded so simple.

To that end we streamlined by website. Information includes: clear delineation of series, stand alone books, work in progress, sample chapters of each book, and book group guidelines. It also includes a newsletter sign-up with a two-book gift. Of course there is a bio but my personal life is definitely secondary to my work.

Facebook is where I post the fun stuff. What I’m doing on a daily basis. I post updates on the trials and tribulations (always fun, never complaining) of the writer’s life. I love involving my Facebook friends in posts. For instance, I often find the strangest things as I walk in my neighborhood so I post a picture and ask what they see. We all write a little story.

Bottom line, for me the website is my professional introduction to readers and Facebook is a more personal outlet. I love the fact that readers don’t have to wait for a book signing to get to know me. I guess the brave new world of publishing has also given us fantastic new opportunities to connect with readers on all levels.

Jenny Jensen

Developmental editor who has worked for twenty plus years with new and established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, traditional and indie.

As I understand it a published author should have both. A website can have one page or hundreds of pages — a web page is any page you see when you surf the net. A FB page is used to brand, strengthen or update a brand and is usually viewed by followers and fans in their newsfeed.

Every author is a brand and a lot of authors have both. I can see the need. A well thought out FB author page would support an author’s website, and vice versa. Visitors have to go to a specific address to view the published content of a website. When they do, nothing else is competing for attention so if your content is compelling and well designed anyone who was interested enough to go to the site will at least look it over, at best read it and have to buy a book!

If your FB page is readable, interesting, compelling it will drive traffic to your website which, if you’ve hooked ‘em with your brilliance, will result in a sale and a new or returning fan – or drive traffic directly to the online store of their choice. Using FB engages your existing follower base. The whole point is to cultivate a readership, right? A FB page is the perfect place to announce a new release or to intrigue with an update on work in progress, to engage with your readers.

I love author websites; I love to learn about the author, their writing process, the books they read, the research they do, who influenced them and why. I’m fascinated by what may have crossed their path to spark the concept of a plot — anything about their writing life (the antics of the grandchildren or photos of the new patio furniture are, I hope, exclusive to their personal FB page).

Both platforms have been known to draw me in to become a new reader. Both are often the first taste of a writer’s style, their skill with storytelling and so just as with your books, choose your words with care and flair and be sure the content is error free. Both a FB author page and an author web page are reflections of your work. And as always, edit, edit, edit.

H.O. Charles

Cover designer and author of the fantasy series, The Fireblade Array

For me, a Facebook page is all about interaction with your readers. They can ask any question and have it answered publicly, It also serves as a noticeboard for announcements. Oh yeah, and it’s a good popularity measure, based on the number of followers you gain (or not)! A website is much more one-sided – it’s me controlling what information is laid out and how the readers get to interact with it (if at all). Both of types of sites are adverts for my work, but only my Facebook posts can pop up in a reader’s daily feed.

For a long time, I didn’t have a webpage – only a Facebook page. The website just wasn’t necessary. Even now, my website doesn’t get a huge amount of traffic. It’s just there to uphold my professional image (!) and stand as an information resource for those who don’t want to use social media.

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