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The only reason why anyone would visit an author website is because it is the most interesting website in the entire world – for that person at that time.

So, why would someone visit your fiction website?

Here are ten answers that will not only draw readers to your author website, but will get them to bring their friends as well.

The DVD Approach for Novel Websites

The best way to get people to a book’s website is to treat the site like the “special features” section of a DVD. Just as DVD bonus features give viewers something they didn’t get in the theater, your website should give your readers the bonuses they didn‘t get in the book.

#1 Integrated Blog

Many of the other tips in this post require an integrated blog to work. So if you are curious about what you should blog about, keep reading. Blogger and other 3rd party blogs are like the MySpace of blogging. They are old fashioned and ineffective. The key is for your blog to be 100% integrated into your website.

Tweetables:

  • “Author websites with integrated blogs get 50% more traffic than those without a blog.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “Avoid putting your author blog on a third party site like Blogger.com or WordPress.com.” – Click to Tweet!

#2 Deleted Scenes & Alternate Endings

Often when authors go through the editorial process, the editor cuts scenes out of their book. These scenes may not fit in your book, but people would love to see them on your website. Especially if you mention at the end of your book “you can find hidden chapters and deleted scenes on my website.” This will make people curious to see what got cut from the book.

Tweetables:

  • “Readers love to find deleted scenes posted on an author’s website.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “Readers love to find alternate endings & hidden chapters on your book’s website.” – Click to Tweet!

#3 Fan Art

Fan art for The Way of Kings by ~dixon-leavitt

Fan art for The Way of Kings. Created by Dixon Leavitt

 

There is a certain kind of person, perhaps 1% of the population, who is compelled to draw the characters and scenes when they read a book. They process the story by sketching it. If you are a published novelist, there may be dozens of sketches of your characters hidden in the sketchbooks of your readers.

Your readers would love to see those sketches. So, encourage your fans to send you their character art. Then feature their art on your blog and invite other readers to send you their drawings. Give them credit and a link to their website or blog if they have one.

Tweetables:

  • “Fan Art is a great source of “free” blog posts that your readers will love.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “There may already be character art hidden in the sketchbooks of your readers.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “Your readers already create binders full of fan art! Post it to your blog to boost traffic.” – Click to Tweet!

#4 Short Stories

Short stories can draw readers to your website, especially if those short stories are about characters they have already come to love in your books. If you’re writing a series, there may be some plot points that happen between books that didn’t quite make it into the book.

I know an author who wrote a short Christmas story with two of her characters and posted it in December. Readers who subscribed to her email newsletter got that Christmas story as a bonus. That’s a brilliant strategy. She added hundreds of people to her subscriber base and made her readers very happy.

The key with short stories is to get them professionally edited. Your short stories need to be of the same editorial quality as your traditionally-published fiction. Otherwise it can hurt your brand.

Tweetable:

  • “Readers love short stories of characters they already know. But edit those stories before posting!” – Click to Tweet!

#5 Answer Reader Questions on Your Blog

As a novelist, your blog should save you time, not cost you time.

Popular writers can spend hours answering the same reader questions over and over again. The better way is to answer the question once in a blog post and then send every subsequent asker a link to the post that answers their question.

In fact, you may already have dozens of “blog posts” in the sent folder of your inbox. To “blog-atize” those emails, take out the recipient’s information, edit it, add a magnetic title (which can be simply the question you’re answering) and then hit publish!

Tweetables:

  • “As a novelist, your blog should save you time, not cost you time.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “Answer reader questions once, on your blog, then send  subsequent askers to that one good answer.” – Click to Tweet!

#6 Upcoming Book Status

Novel Progress

Add a book progress bar to your sidebar or homepage. Brandon Sanderson does this and I think it’s really clever. I visit Sanderson’s site frequently to see when the next book will be ready.

We are working on a plugin that will let you easily add a progress bar to your website. To find out about when it is ready, sign up in the sidebar for our email newsletter.

Tweetables:

  • “Add a book progress bar to your author website to give your readers a reason to come back often.” – Click to Tweet
  • “Put a button near the progress bar that says “Get Book Updates” that goes to your email newsletter.” – Click to Tweet

#7 Email Newsletter Signup

Your fans want to know when your next book comes out. Your publisher can’t tell them because your publisher doesn’t know who they are. So it is up to you to collect their email address. You don’t have to send a lot of boring emails. Just say, “I’ll only email you when my next book comes out,” and they’ll be very happy to sign up for an email newsletter like that.

Tweetables:

  • “Make your email signup form easy to find for maximum author newsletter growth.” – Click to Tweet
  • “The harder your email signup form is to see, the fewer subscribers you will have.” – Click to Tweet

#8 Sell Autographed Copies

Autographed Copy

People would love to be able to buy an autographed copy of your book, even for an additional cost. Signed By The Author is a great service that helps authors sell autographed copies. This is an easy way to make some extra money by giving your passionate readers something special.

#9 Author Commentary

Many people like to listen to the director’s commentary on a DVD. Similarly, some readers want to read the author’s notes. Why did you kill off the love interest in Chapter 4? Is the antagonist like anyone you know in real life?

An easy way to offer “author’s commentary” is to use your answers from tip #5 above (visitor’s questions). After 20 or so posts, you can pull them together into a PDF to offer as a download.

Tweetable:

  • “Your author website is a great place to offer “director’s commentary” for your book.” – Click to Tweet

#10 Social Icons

facebook twitter google plus rss

10-20% of your readers come to your author website just to find you on their favorite social network. So, give your readers an easy way to connect to you socially. Put social link icons right at the top of your site so readers can easily connect with you. All they have to do is Google your name, go to your website, and at the top of the page they can know where to find you on their favorite social network.

Tweetable:

  • “Readers google your name to find you on Twitter. Is your Twitter name easy to find on your site?” – Click to Tweet!

Final Tweetables:

  • “I just learned what brings readers to a novel’s website. – Click to Tweet!
  • “Here are 10 ways to bring readers to your book’s website.” – Click to Tweet!
  • “Treat your fiction website like the special features on a DVD for a traffic surge.” – Click to Tweet!

What do you think?

  • What do you like to find on fiction websites?
  • What do you go to a fiction website to find?

Need help with your Novel Website? We build websites for authors just like you.

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