Hello Reader!
Happy Spring my friends! I hope you had a good March. Mine ended up being super busy. The Women in Publishing Summit was excellent, but definitely left me tired. So naturally it was the perfect time to start another course (in my defense, I hadn't realized the timing when I signed up for it) through the Nonfiction Authors Association for a Book Marketing Professional Certification. Each week we tackle another aspect of marketing and this week, by pure coincidence, we're talking about websites- which is also the focus of this month's newsletter!
Introducing My New Logo & Website!
This month's website theme starts off with the unveiling of my new logo and rebranded website. I worked with website designer Regine Tiu on the rebrand and she helped me hone in the feel I wanted the page to have- in color, font, and design. The website looks fresh and modern now, more photos, less text (but text is more to the point I think) and hopefully people will find it easy to use.
Probably her most difficult challenge was when I told her I wanted a ferret as part of my logo. I love ferrets, and I already knew I wanted my new tag line to be "Let's work together to ferret out your best ideas!" Some Instagram account recommendations and weird critique changes later (I'm sure I'm one of those people she'll be telling stories about to her design friends) Regine create one of the most adorable designs possible, and I love it. What do you think?
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Marketing Tip: Your author website is a part of your marketing strategy. Once your site is ready, you'll probably only update it about once a year- so consider attaching blogs or videos to your website. Google loves the fresh content for search purposes and your viewers will enjoy what you talk/write about: whether that's your writing process or behind-the-scenes info!
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Editing Insights Club
Welcome to the Editing Insights Club! Here I'll introduce you to editors and other professionals from all over the publishing world. You'll see we're all here as part of the community that supports writers in their journey to success.
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Meet: Regine Tiu
Brand & Website Designer
βhttps://www.reggieb.meβ
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What type of work do you do?
Iβm a Brand & Website Designer. I specialize in creating branding, as well as designing and building user-friendly sites for my clients.
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What's your favorite thing about your work?
Definitely getting to see how excited my clients get when they see themselves and their values reflected in their brand! My job is not just about making things look goodβitβs also helping my clients to realign with their brand, so that they may go forth and pitch their services with confidence and pride! Itβs genuinely delightful to see what a big difference a little branding can make.
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What is one tip you like to share with writers talking to someone in your field?
If I were approaching a designer, Iβd start by thinking about the values I want my business to embody, then ask if they can design a visual identity around those principles. A logo is fine when you're just starting out, but a full brand identity has much more longevity and scalability.
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If hiring a designer isnβt in the budget, Iβd recommend choosing one or two fonts and a cohesive color palette that reflects your businessβs values. This can be as simple or as detailed as you like, and you can use it for everything from a social media kit to a website, personal merch, and more! Having these elements in place creates consistency across all touchpoints, making your brand look polished and recognizable as you grow.
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What are some of your favorite things outside of work?
I love making things with my hands since my work involves so much screen time. Iβve been really into sewing, knitting, and brewing kombucha this season!
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What's a book you're reading for fun right now?
Iβm currently reading Sucker Punch, a divorce memoir by Canadian author Scaachi Koul. The reading experience is exactly as the title suggests! π
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You can also find Regine on her LinkedIn page!
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Your Author Website: What To Think About & When To Start
Your website is all about discovery. It brings your readers (and potential readers!) to one nice, easy to use location- that you have control over! By now everyone should understand that we don't have control over what happens on social media. Algorithms change and followers stop seeing your content, sites go down (Tik Tok), users decide to stop using a platform. You want to use social media as a tool to funnel people to your website. You want to encourage them to sign up for your newsletter so you know they are going to get your latest updates. This is a great way to build fans who are ready to read your book before it even comes out. It takes time, but this is a kind of marketing. As with all good marketing, think of it like a garden. Plant early, water often, get rewarded in the end!
Even if you think you aren't ready for a website yet, you're ready for the first, maybe most important step: get your domain name! Whether you're planning on writing under your own name or a pen name, you want your website to be your name (or, in a pinch, your name_author) and not named after the title of a book. After all, titles change (sometimes multiple times before being published!) and what if you decide to write more than one book?
What should your website have in it? Something about you, something about your books (even if it isn't out yet, tease your readers with some hints! Keep on their radars!). When you have release dates and cover art, make sure those go on the site! Think in advance about if you plan to sell directly from your website, since that may effect how you set it up.
What should it look like? A lot of that is going to be up to you and your preferences- but there are some guidelines you should follow. The biggest being: make sure everything is readable! Are the colors on the text and background easy to see together? Is the font legible? Cursive may be pretty, but a lot is often hard to read. Can someone tell what genre you write just by looking at it? How do you want them to feel when they first come to your page?
I always recommend checking out the websites of other authors in your genres and taking notes on what you like (or don't like) to get ideas for when you are ready to start your own website.
Reading Update
βSophie Shorland's The Lost Queen tells the little known story of Catherine of Braganza. Married to England's Charles II in exchange for an army that would eventually mean Portugese independence from Spain, she's still widely celebrated in Portugal. In England she popularized drinking tea, Baroque art, architecture, and music; managed politics in a turbulent anti-Catholic time; yet remains overshadowed by Charles and his string of mistresses.
Since BritBox has a new version of Towards Zero coming out April 15, I wanted to reread the book before watching it. It's classic Christie with plenty of red herrings but with the basic premise set out from the beginning: what if the murder is the end of the story, not the beginning? I hadn't read this one in ages and had forgotten how much I liked it.
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