9 Reasons Why Your New Book Needs a Website
By Kevin Nelson / A young writer always needs publicity. If you have written a book, it does not make you a popular writer at once. If people do not know about you, you will never succeed. Previously, to become a popular writer, you had to be very prominent or eccentric. Today, you need to be good with Internet marketing.
Marketing managers and the Internet have revealed multiple opportunities for young talents to present their works to people online. If you do not know how to become popular and promote your book, just go to the web. Online communities are always open to new people who want to share their work. And as a young writer, you should understand that.
Of course, the Internet is not enough to make you famous. If your book is just another piece of text written by an amateur, no one will like it. You need to have a good idea and perfectly organized plot. Moreover, you do not need to be quite good with the words. You can use simple structures, plain dialogues, and non-intensive descriptions: in the modern writing world, this frequently becomes one of the reasons people read the book. The simplicity of form does not always mean the simplicity of the content.
This post discusses 9 reasons why first book authors absolutely NEED to have an online presence & a landing spot for their work.
Why a Writer Needs a Website
So, let's analyze how to use the Internet to become a successful writer after you have published your book. The most obvious way to present your book online is to create a personal website.
A website can become an e-commerce platform where you will sell your books, a platform for advertising, or just a blog where you will communicate with your readers. You can combine all these features in your website, making it an all-inclusive platform for online presence.
Here, are 9 important reasons to have an online presence.
#1 Online Presence
In the modern world, the Internet has been introduced to every sphere of our lives. Almost everyone has a Facebook account, and millions of people go further and create blogs where they tell the whole world about their hobbies and interests. Online presence is important for everyone, and for a writer, it may become the most effective tool you have for promotion. A personal website allows you to become closer to your readers. If you create a website in the form of a blog, you can easily conduct a dialogue with visitors.
#2 Collecting Emails
If you want to notify your readers about what is going on in your writing career (new books, meetings with readings, press conferences, etc), you need to find a way to inform them. The most obvious way to do that is to collect emails. Today, email marketing is the best form of online communication. People subscribe to the websites with information that is really interesting to them. If they want to know about your activity, they will subscribe. You will know the number of your real admirers and will be able to determine the strategy of communication with them.
#3 Authority
You might think that accounts on social media are enough to have an online presence. However, this is not exactly the truth. Facebook and Instagram are good for personal presence, but they are not effective for building the professional authority. Let's imagine the situation when you are looking for a contractor to re-build your house. The first thing you will consider is the recommendation, but the second one will be the website of a contractor. If there is no authorized online presence, you will doubt whether this person is really a professional.
#4 Self-Marketing
If you do not want to pay publishers for your promotion, a website is a must for you. The matter is that online marketing is available for everyone and you can easily implement professional tools for website promotion. You need to learn SEO principles as well as the ways to boost your CRO. With a proper online marketing, you may turn into a best-selling author! Of course, it is better to enlist the support of professional marketer or growth hacker but if your resources are limited, you can do it by yourself.
#5 Support of Your Advertisement Strategy
If your books have already been presented in shops and libraries, people probably have already noticed your name. Today, when we find a new name of an author or a new book, the first thing many do is Google it. We no longer read annotations and reviews, we want to know what the Internet has to say about this piece of writing. Your website should give the answers to all questions a person may ask.
#6 Skill Enhancement Platform
Every writer understands that they are far from perfect and need to keep practice. If you have to write something just to develop your skill, write for your blog. It has several advantages and two basic of them are as following: you make your writing skill better and you attract the attention to your book with your blog, contributing to sales growth.
#7 Building Your Community
Have you noticed that all bloggers have communities? These communities are the result of their hard work in building a proper communication. Once your build your community, you start to grow as a writer, and the community itself becomes the strongest marketing tool. People start to discuss you on social media providing links to your website, thus inviting other users to assess your writing.
#8 Writing Network Opportunities
Being a writer is not only about communication with your readers. It is about communication with other writers and bloggers. In some cases, the feedback or recommendation of another writer becomes the strongest selling tool. People tend to follow the recommendations of people whom they trust, so establish good relations with other writers.
#9 New Sources of Income
Your website can bring you money. Selling books is not as profitable as it was 20 years ago but the popularity of the author who wrote the book can become a source of regular income. You can make money off advertisement placement or writing articles for other blogs. Just do not forget to leave contact information so that people can contact you about business inquiries.
A website is a great marketing and advertisement tool that also works perfectly for building your authority and widening your audience. If you use this tool properly, you can turn from an unknown writer to a bestselling author whose books will be known in the whole world.
About the Author
Kevin Nelson started his career as a research analyst and has changed his sphere of activity to writing services and content marketing. Currently, Kevin works as a part-time writer at the BreezeWriting. Apart from writing, he spends a lot of time reading psychology and management literature searching for the keystones of motivation ideas. Feel free to connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin.