In the course of some work I’ve been doing on another project, I’ve noticed three things about authors and their websites: first, a lot of authors still don’t have websites; second, some authors think that having a page on their current publisher’s site is sufficient; and, many authors who have websites don’t take them seriously.

Let’s take these in order.

• No Website – There is absolutely no excuse for an author not to have a website in this day and age. In fact, a website is the bare minimum required. Perhaps in the past, there was a certain barrier to entry when it came to the web, but, let’s be frank, even ten years ago, it was so minimal that leaping it was easy.

  I have heard all the excuses: too busy writing to play on the web, not technically-oriented, website? what’s that. If you’re too busy to promote your work, then you’re not taking your career seriously. In addition to free web space offered by service providers, there are also free blog accounts (see: Blogger by way of example) and pages offered by the Author’s Guild. You have options.

  Being offline is not a good way to win fans and influence buyers.

• Publisher-Presence Only – I think it’s great when publishers feature their authors on their websites (though, I’ll confess, this whole idea has much room for improvement; that’s another article). But — and this is really important — publishers aren’t interested in promoting the work of other publishers. No matter if you write for one house or ten, you still need to maintain your own dedicated webspace.

  Let’s use author Linda Howard as an example. Howard has a page on the Simon & Schuster website. And space at Random House. Oddly enough, LindaHoward.com is still available — this, by the way, must be particularly irritating for Howard fans who assume she owns her name; the placeholder site is an auction site that takes forever to load and creates a negative impression of the author.

  So far, Linda Howard fans are being sold the books they probably already own or forced to endure the world’s slowest-loading page. What they’re missing is a comprehensive look at the author’s work and the personal touch that tells a reader “Hey, I’m so glad you like my work”. Given that this is an author with a long career whose early work is highly valued by her readers, her web presence is sadly lacking.

• Toy Websites – One of the reasons we like to steer authors, especially authors who don’t have a lot of promotional money, to blogs is because it’s pretty easy to find a professional-looking blog template. In the past week, I have encountered authors who believe black backgrounds with dark-colored fonts constitute good design. These are authors who are indulging some bizarre fantasy, not authors who take their websites seriously. Ditto for the authors who substitute varying font sizes, styles, and colors for good design.

  Good visual design is as much an art as good writing. Not everyone can do it, and while I can appreciate that there are DIY authors out there, I would humbly suggest that saving money by creating bad design is a potential career-killer. Web design has evolved significantly over the past decade, and while there’s a certain charm to retro looks in other markets, the web isn’t looking backward and feeling nostalgic for lame design.

  Then there are the authors who haven’t updated their sites in months (or years). Or they throw up just the minimal amount of content, assuming that will satisfy today’s readers (much less Google, which lives on content). Writers have a unique advantage over other artists: an innate ability with words. Stop treating your website like a toy and use it to engage readers!

When it comes to spending promotional dollars, the web remains the most cost-effective choice. However, even free marketing requires effort. It’s your career — what are you doing to help yourself?