The art of the author website

By Alexandra Sokoloff

I’d venture to say that creating and maintaining a website is one of the bigger dreads of a professional author. You know you have to do it, but you’ll do anything to avoid it. Every couple of years you end up having to do a complete overhaul, which is a huge and stressful time suck when none of us have any time to spare, ever, anyway, and I’d bet good money that I’m not the only one who postpones it for as long as humanly possible.

But with my new series, I knew I had to bite the bullet. And I knew exactly who I wanted to hire.

Our David recently did a fantastic interview with the incomparable Madeira James of Xuni.com,  so I didn’t want to go over the same questions.  I thought it would be interesting to write about Maddee's process of creating a website design - from the author's point of view.

Maddee asks her clients to choose 4-6 images (pulled from any number of stock photo sites), and she designs the site from those images. She recommends that the images not be specific to one particular book, as that would date the site too quickly. It’s more about the overall, encompassing feel an author wants to convey to a potential reader.

Well, that’s a brilliant and also intimidating assignment. And I’m sure Maddee gets a fair number of control freaks who are very specific about what they want (of course none of us know any of THOSE!)  

I wouldn’t dare to guess where I fall on the control freak scale – I know I have my... moments... but I think in general I’m pretty good at maintaining supreme control of my own projects but going with the flow and trusting the process when someone supremely talented is in charge, as was entirely the case here.  I really encourage you to browse through Maddee’s portfolio so you can see what I mean.  Every one of her sites is like a movie trailer: a seductive tease about a story that you just can’t wait to see. (I WISH I could see the films of some of those websites...)

Having to choosing the specific images for myself was panic-inducing, though, especially because I write so many subgenres of thriller. Five images?  Six?  How could I possibly narrow it down?

I knew I wanted to emphasize my Huntress Moon series while being general enough to give a sense of ALL of my writing. I definitely didn’t want to get too supernatural, because the Huntress series is straight crime (pretty much!) and Book of Shadows is also less overtly supernatural than my earlier novels. At the same time I did have to suggest the supernatural to encompass my other books. Also, I generally lean VERY feminine in my tastes, and Maddee does some lusciously femme designs, but I knew I had to contain myself on that front because I have a LOT of male readers who would be turned off if I let myself go that way. And I definitely didn’t want the website to give the impression that I write paranormal romance (even though I do have a couple of books out in that genre with the Keepers series),  because what I write is much darker and more ambiguous than the required HEA (happily ever after) end of any subgenre of romance.

Also, there’s the whole issue of my non-fiction, the Screenwriting Tricks for Authors books on writing. How could I suggest THAT on top of everything else I was trying to do? 

(Are you starting to see the kinds of questions you’re confronted with when you sit down to create a website design?) 

Luckily Maddee is incredibly perceptive on this front, and when we sat down to talk about the design, she instantly got what I was talking about in terms of supernatural vs. crime thriller, male vs. female, fiction vs. non-fiction. This was also easy to do because when you have the examples of a portfolio as extensive and varied as Maddee’s, it was easy to talk about the qualities of her other sites that I wanted in mine (I gave her a word list just like the word lists I’m always encouraging writing students to do: dark, dreamlike, erotic, filmic....)  I was very confident that once I came up with the images for her, she’d have all my desires and concerns in mind when she was doing the design.

That still left the problem of coming up with the images.

So I browsed and I brainstormed. Horrifying process.  I don’t know about you, but I’m a WANT IT ALL NOW kind of person, and limitation is not my idea of a good time.  But I did know four solid things: I wanted to emphasize a polarity and an erotic tension between male and female figures. I wanted the moon to figure prominently.  I wanted a strong suggestion of film, and I’m a fan of the classic LOOK of an old filmstrip. And I wanted to suggest a shattered psychological state, broken glass or a broken mirror.  So I came up with images for those four things, and a couple of others: multiple doors and a ghostlike image. 

And then I turned it all over to Maddee and waited with bated breath.  

(No, not really, but yeah, sort of). 

And she hit it out of the park on the first design:         

http://alexandrasokoloff.com/ 

There are a million things I love about the site. The descending circles of moon, man, woman give me a sense that all of these entities are dreaming each other.  I can’t say enough about how much I love the fim strip with my name.  It wasn’t my idea to have my own image in the site design but I love how Maddee worked it in. The writing was also her idea and I swear, there’s writing on the moon - that’s so trippy and cool, and completely apropos. There’s gorgeous color in the site but subdued enough that I don’t think it will turn men off. The moon, the film strip and the font of my name give it a psychedelic carnival effect that makes me think of Ray Bradbury, one of my huge literary influences.

I could go on and on, and I haven’t even gotten to the clarity of the organization, which is obviously a whole separate post. But to say I’m thrilled is the understatement of the year. 

So obviously, I’d love your comments on the new website, but my actual question for the day is: What five images would YOU would choose to convey what you’re writing? Or – what are five images that convey YOU, personally?  I think it’s a powerful creative and spiritual exercise. Scary and fun and illuminating.  Let’s hear it! 

- Alex  

Apparently comments are not posting today, so I've posted this blog on my website blog as well if you'd like to comment there!  

http://axsokoloff.blogspot.com

PS: I'm thrilled to report that Huntress Moon made Suspense Magazine's list of Best Books of 2012!

Meet the Mighty and Marvelous Madeira James

By David Corbett

For this Wildcard Tuesday I’ve invited webmaven extraordinaire Madeira “Maddee” James of Xuni.com to join us, and to explain a little of what she does, why, and what writers, especially those just beginning their careers, need to know about the importance of a stylish and informative web presence, and how to go about establishing one.

Maddee has created and manages the websites for an incredible list of clients, including some of the most prominent crime writers in the business—including several current Murderati (see below) and previous contributors Louise Ure, Ken Bruen, Cornelia Read, Brett Battles and Jonathan Hayes—not to mention Lee Child, Jan Burke, Barry Eisler, Jacqueline Winspear and a head-smacking host of others.

She’s also recently expanded into literary fiction, young adult, romance, and chick lit.

She’s a friend to authors everywhere, but especially us here at Murderati, so please welcome: Maddee James.

* * * * *

David: What possessed you to get into the web design business?

Maddee: Well, first, first things first: Thanks so much for inviting me to Murderati. (Hi Gar! Hi Martyn/Tania! Hi J.T.! Hi Zoe! Hi Alex!)

Strangely enough, I was a geologist for many years — that’s what my degree is in – and that’s another whole story that has to do with my first roommate in college being a geology major, and her having the same name as I had at the time – and that’s another whole story about changing my name – sorry, what did you ask me? 

The short answer is when I was a geologist, there came a time when earthquakes and mudslides gave California a break for a short while and we started running low on work. This was in the very early days of the internet when companies were just starting to have websites. So I suggested to my boss that I build a company website to fill my time… and I was hooked.

I am very happy to say, however, that my first attempt at web design can no longer be found on the internet.

David: Why did you decide to focus on writers — crime writers in particular? An evil plan? Happy accident? Buzzard luck?

Maddee: Another interesting story, actually. In 1998, in a strange twist of fate (yes that rhymed), I met a prolific crime writer at a dinner party, who had a question about geology, of all things. We started corresponding about whether it was possible to locate dead bodies underground using geophysical equipment, and that led to me offering to do a website for him, with all the huge amount of skill I had at the time. Not.

While it wasn’t a beautiful site, it was one of the very first author sites on the web, and as such, we got written up in PW about it. I put my quickly-thought-up company name at the bottom of his site… and started getting queries from other authors. And so it began.

While I started out doing sites primarily for crime writers, and they probably comprise the largest number of my clients, I pretty much do any kind of author site these days. I’ve been doing a lot of sites for YA authors recently, which I really enjoy. So it’s really fun that so many crime writers are getting into YA – merging my two design loves.

P.S. I’m going to start using the term “buzzard luck” – that is too cute!

David: Turning to your name, what in the world does xuni mean and how do you pronounce it?

Maddee: Doesn’t mean a thing, and it’s pronounced “zuni” like the Indian tribe. I’ve heard that it’s hard to get domain names with so few letters in them these days, but back then all I wanted was a name which was a four-letter word with either an x or a z in it…. and xuni happened to be available as a domain and sounded kind of cool. Incidentally, it’s apparently a pretty common name in China, so I get lots of offers to buy it… but I’ve been in business too long to give it up, even for a million dollars...

David: You have some excellent advice for authors relative to their websites on the FAQ page of the Xuni website. In particular, you note that though pre-published authors may want to build a website to show potential publishers they’re “serious,” it’s still the quality of the manuscript that sells a book. This is excellent advice, imho. How did you come to be so doggone smart about the book business, not just the website end of it?

Maddee: Thanks! I tried to make my FAQ page as clear and helpful as possible. I don’t know that I would call myself smart about the book business – for example I continue to be clueless about which imprint belongs to which publishing company (or does this change so much that most of us are clueless?), but I’ve been in this business a long time (14 years next month!) and of course time leads to experience. Plus I have a wide variety of clients, and I learn something from pretty much every one of them.

Speaking of pre-published authors, I had one query me just this week who wanted examples of other pre-published author sites. Which led me to realize I’ve done a LOT of them. I love to help authors new to the industry show their work in the most professional and creative light possible.

David: Your designs are visually stunning — clear, bold, interesting and personal—but you also have very keen intuition about your clients. You have an excellent sense of how an author’s site should not just look but feel. How do you do that? Do you come from a visual arts background? Do you read auras?

Maddee: Thank you! I really REALLY love what I do – and I think that shows in my work. I would say I am probably best known for two things: making an author site fit the author and their work… and a really good use of color. The way I usually manage to make the site reflect the author is by asking lots of questions upfront. Things like “what kind of “feel” do you want the site to have? I get answers like “elegant but eerie” and “romantic but scary” and interesting challenges like that. Making it happen is so much fun.

I’d also like to say at this point that though I was one of the first designers who worked specifically for authors, now, 14 years later, there are many author website designers out there. Google “author website design” and you’ll see what I mean. And the cool thing is that we all have pretty different styles, meaning authors have a lot of choices. I love that! You should definitely look at a ton of author sites to see what’s out there before you pick a designer. There’s more info about that on my FAQ page.

David: You believe in “branding” to the extent that you think writers should take some serious time to think about how they want to present themselves and their work to potential readers. This is another subtle, tricky issue — it deals with tone and personality and subject matter, almost like voice in prose.

Maddee: I do think branding is super important. And there are so many things that show that tone, personality and subject matter you mention – book covers, websites, bookmarks, social media pages, etc.  I’m not a marketing person, so I stick to the design aspects of branding – websites, bookmarks, twitter backgrounds, etc. But I think talking through your image with someone experienced in author marketing before you do any design is really important.

A good example of this: I had an experienced author (I think he had written about 8 books) hire me to build a website. When I asked all my typical questions about “feel,” etc., he said he wanted the site to have a dark, serial killer type feel. Which I did. And he loved it. His agent and publisher, however, did NOT. They thought it branded him inappropriately as too much of a horror writer. And so we had to trash it. So figuring this out ahead of time is so, so important.

David: Has the proliferation of social network sites made having a website more important or less important?

Maddee: Well I’m a website designer, so of course my answer is going to be: Websites are more important than anything.
But really, I do believe a good website is important for one simple reason: there is permanence to it. I love social media, and think it’s really incredible for authors. But Facebook posts and tweets, once they spin off the bottom of your page, are GONE. Your website is the place where a reader can always go to find out whatever they want to know (what books you’ve written, what they’re about, where to buy them, etc.). Plus the website should have links to all your social media sites. I kind of think of your website as your “author hub.”

David: You do basic search engine optimization (SEO) with every site you build, and offer more specialized SEO for those clients who want it. Could you explain this a little, and let folks know why this is so doggone important and why you’re so unique for doing it for your clients?

Maddee: It’s pretty simple: having your site listed near the top of the search engines when various keywords are put in is invaluable. However, I’m of the opinion that authors have it easier than, say, companies trying to sell odd objects, or illustrators/photographers who want to stand out from the pack. Why? Because how many people really type “good crime writer” into Google? I tend to think that doesn’t happen as much as someone going to Amazon or Goodreads to search for that kind of info. So while I think SEO is important, I don’t know that it’s the end-all.

I could be totally wrong though. In which case, feel free to ignore me.

David: Which client is your favorite?

Maddee: Um ... You?

David: Which client do you want to stab in the eye?

Maddee: OMG. Definitely you.

Seriously: I have the most wonderful, talented clients ever. EVER. And I’ve loved working with you David – we’ve had a long haul!

I’ve had some clients for over a decade, and that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? And the joy of working for myself is that I can choose whom I want to work with. So I say “yes” to the author queries I really want and “I am just too busy right now” to the ones I don’t.

David: Any news you’d like to report on the perfect children front?

Maddee: Can I just say that I am madly in love with them, and not just ‘cause they have the grace to have put up with a mother who is umbilically (is that a word?) attached to her laptop 24/7. News: Savannah is in college – yes it’s true I am super OLD -- and Ry has two more years of high school and then I am… free. Except for the paying for college thing. And the continuing to give advice thing. And…

* * * * *

So, Murderateros: Anything you’d like to ask the the Mighty Madeira, Webmaven Wunderkind?

* * * * *

Jukebox Hero of the Week:  I handed my bag of quarters over to Maddee, so thank her for this one (it's funny, and be sure to play it all the way through):