New Ways Authors Can Use the Web

If you’re an author who’s neither Internet savvy nor a computer geek, you may find it intimidating to try to promote your books online. But that doesn’t mean the Internet can be ignored. Nowadays, almost all authors have at least a website. And many authors are going well beyond that. They’re going multi-media. They’re doing elaborate blog book tours with book giveaways. They target the Internet from different angles -- websites, MySpace, YouTube, and other social sites.

Just the thought of having to do that can be exhausting and scary to those without degrees in computer science or a little brother who has grown up with his hands and mind in the cyber world..

The bad news is that online promotion is almost a must. The good news is that you can hire someone to do it for you.

NPR has an article about an author who has taken that step beyond the threshold of the ordinary webpage.

Author Marisha Pessl hired Freedom Interactive Design to build an elaborate website to promote her book. and to compliment her MySpage page.

Visitors can pick up objects, zoom in on pictures and newspaper clippings, visit Blue's MySpace page or unfold a map of the Great Smoky Mountains, where the story takes place. A distracting June bug buzzes around a bright blue desk lamp.

According to the NPR article,

It's more and more common for a debut novel to have elaborate homes on the Web, complete with blogs, chatrooms, videos and games. Oftentimes the sites are richly illustrated, almost cinematic.

Another author, Charles Bock, not only created a website, he asked musician friends to write and record songs based on his story. Then he offered free downloads of his book – 15,000 people took him up on his offer.

The world of book promotion is changing almost faster than we can keep up with it.