What author and small press websites do you like best? I'm not talking author blogs, but sites where the author, etc., markets and sells his/her books. I'm interested in your perceptions and comments re: appearance, navigability, impact, etc. Who's doing it right? I wanna see.
Do you mean exclusively... like not available from Amazon? TBH I don't think I'd pay money for anything available only through an author's site. For anything self-pubbed it would have to have some sort of reputation/recommendation/vetting. Unfortunately it's just not worth the risk with so many good books out there already.
Oh, no, I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't asking about books only available through an author's site. I was trying to distinguish the kind of site I'm asking about, as opposed to an author's blog. The author could be self-pubbed or trad-pubbed, it doesn't matter, and the books featured could link back to Amazon, whatever. Not asking about the books. No. I just want to know which non-blog author sites people find attractive and useful, and why.
Station Hill Press of Barrytown Established in 1977, Station Hill of Barrytown is an independent publisher whose mission is to challenge and expand conceptions of human possibility. Archipelago by Alana Siegel Archipelago is a pilgrimage into the origins of language, a single poem at once descent and flight, where words are wings or gates: organs, entrances, questioned so as to be permitted by hidden meanings into hidden lands. Drawing from the collagist's art of Robert Duncan and the composition by field of Charles Olson, Alana Siegel approaches the poem as world-making, weaving and challenging the discourses of philosophy, history, science, and religion-with poetry as primary. Through the material of dreams, etymologies, immediacies of the phenomenal-works of artists, poets, mystics, past and present-Siegel recovers lost knowledge so as to re-hear the poem-as-epic not in length but feeling: a cry from beyond and inside the heart of time. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581771320/?tag=writingfor07a-20 --------------------------------- I'm going with station hill because they do publish poetry but with an eye toward innovation, things that challenge conventional thoughts and processes. If your work is far out in left field and it challenges the mainstream cookie cutters, they may be worth a try. However, they only accept submissions in the month of October. If you send them something outside of October it will not even be looked at. They also do very few titles per year. http://www.stationhill.org/ if you like exploring new ideas and thoughts as a reader, I would recommend you take a look. as far as sites to buy from unfortunately I really do not have one that stands out as being a favorite, Amazon is kind of like the default. -- As far as aggregators I would say bookbub.com for their weekly heavy discounts and free books. Also, a good starting point in looking for small press distribution is, --- http://www.spdbooks.org/ I enjoy going thru and reading their staff picks, and sometimes something will get my attention. they also sell books from many small press distributors: About SPD When you buy a book from Small Press Distribution, you don't just get something terrific to read: you help independent publishers and writers keep more money from their projects, which in turn helps nurture and sustain the literary arts as a whole. Because we're a nonprofit, everything we do is aimed at helping essential but underrepresented literary communities participate fully in the marketplace and in the culture at large. We do this by offering book distribution, information services, and public advocacy programs to hundreds of small publishers. Buy a book from SPD, enjoy a great read, and support the literary community! At SPD, we connect readers with writers through independently published literature. Founded in 1969, SPD is currently the only distributor in the country dedicated exclusively to independently published literature. they also maintain a list of distributors that links to the books these distributors published and sell @ -- http://www.spdbooks.org/pages/publishers/Publisher-List-No-Description.aspx
The reason I'm asking is because I want to start my own author website, and I want to know what effective ones look like. What I think works may not be what actually appeals to others.
For the most part, I like it. Your banner image gives me a good impression of what the stories will be about. And I like your typefaces and general layout. One thing you might consider is centering "A Classic Adventure" by itself under the title, and putting "Continued Weekly" below it in much smaller type and maybe in parentheses. It's not part of your subtitle, really, and should take a subordinate place. Also, I'd like to see your author name on the banner. It seemed strange that the only place it appears on the landing page is as your email address, way down at the bottom. The story is front and center; I want to see who wrote it. And can you make the ellipsis at the end of your teaser paragraph live? I clicked on it, expecting to be taken to the full page, and nothing happened. Yeah, I got the full version when I moused back up to the post title, but that's not where I was as a reader. It interrupted the flow. Anyway, overall the site looks good. Is that a WordPress theme? Which one?
Thanks for the feedback. Those are all good ideas. I'll put some more work into it before I post the next story. I'm using "Libretto" for my theme. I spent an hour trying to get a "read more" link at the end of the blurb but I can't figure out how. It might be a problem with the theme. I don't know.
