My God. My Eyes May Never Recover.

Why are author's websites sometimes so awful? Authors--certainly well established authors--Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer are a couple of the biggest offenders. Take a look if you dare.

I'm still inclined the think that Collins' is fan-made and fake as a horror movie death scene. Meyer does a bit better, but it looks like it was made by one of those click-and-drag, make your own website, generator sites. But hey, at least her information is up to date, more or less. 

Collins' and Meyer's websites (with a few notes)

After cruising around on the internet for awhile, here are some general guidelines I've discovered:

1. Amp up your home page. 

                It's the first thing someone--a potential reader and fan!-- is going to see. 

2. Get rid of the clutter. 

                I went to Neil Gaiman's site for a reason, but I was so overwhelmed by links I forgot why.  

3. Add some personality.

                Shel Silverstein and Miranda July do this best. Their links are below. Most of the above authors have very straight forward sites that are tiresome and boring. 

Enough of the ugly. Authors can learn from the ugly, but having some examples of innovative and interesting websites isn't such a bad idea either. Here's a boatload!

  

My childhood in four illustrations.

Excuse me while I drool over Silverstein's animation and go gorge at a nostalgia fest. If this assignment taught me one thing, it's "If you think you're designing something awesome, a children's author is designing something ten times better." They know what they're doing, and something can be learned from their simplistic, but eye catching style. 

 Rowling's is here to show what can be done by an established author. She's the positive spin of Collins and Meyer.

Ouuuuuh. Two English options.

 "Trendy" and "hip" authors are really getting into blogging. July, Green, and Willems all link to their blogs, if they're not already on the main page. Or they post interesting things (I can't believe I just spent 4 minutes watching Green and his son make dinner... Haha. Communism).

I sense a pattern of white backgrounds.

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Each of these authors are really good at putting forward their personality and style. Be it with illustrations, gimmicks, or a clean, professional template, each site bears an obvious influence from the author. 

If a writer is good at one thing, it's being creative. Not everyone is willing to invest in your book without a little spy work first. So you've got to shove that creativity down their throat with your website. This doesn't mean hiring a html wizard to chuck in as much pizzazz as possible. Be smart and think about your web-page. It is meant to represent you as an author. Take the time to make sure it's accurate and presents you and your work in a way you're happy with.