Author’s Websites: What do readers want to see?
by Angelina Jameson
Comment for a chance to win a digital copy of A Lady’s Addiction. (Don’t forget to leave your email address!)
A Lady’s Addiction is my first published novel. I’m rather new to author promotion and wonder what do readers want to see on an author’s website? I write historical romance so I do a lot of research for my stories. I lived in England for five years and in addition to visiting the places I write about I collected a lot of guidebooks. Are readers interested in learning about my research?
There is a scene in A Lady’s Addiction where a husband and wife throw a bit of crockery around during an argument. This scene actually happened between my mom and dad. The scenes I write in the countryside are dear to me as I didn’t live in a large city in England but in the outskirts of a village town. Are these tidbits of information readers are interested in?
As a reader I like to see pretty colors and gorgeous book covers on an author’s website but I also like to see historical information, ‘Behind the Book’ features and any trivia associated with the book. How about you? What features draw you to explore an author’s website?
A Lady’s Addiction
Anna, a widow battling alcohol addiction is convinced she is worthless unless she bears a child. She hires a lover to prove she is not frigid and may marry again and have children.
Devlyn, sterile from an accident, has returned from an assignment for the Foreign Office and inadvertently becomes Anna’s lover.
Anna and Devlyn join forces to protect an innocent child from a blackmailer. Can they come to terms not only with their feelings for each other but whether they will allow society to dictate the true significance of life?
EXCERPT
She couldn’t remember the question she’d asked. His nearness unsettled her. Her entire body had flared into wakefulness the moment he entered her room. Cecily could be right; this man might be able to help with her problem.
Tonight she would play a part. She would emulate the sophisticated façade her friend Cecily Pickerel displayed. The scandalous nightgown underneath her thin robe was in fact a gift from Cecily. She would never have had enough courage to buy such a shocking garment for herself.
“You are discreet?”
“What is your name?” Franco asked, ignoring her question.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered Cecily telling her she needn’t share personal information. She would never see this man again. He didn’t move in her circles. With the slightest of shrugs, she answered truthfully, “Anna.”
“Anna,” he said in a husky rasp. The way her name rolled off his tongue sent the lightest frisson along her skin. “It is a graceful, pretty name. It suits you.”
“There is no need to flatter me.” She felt heat on her cheeks. “It is a common enough name.”
“Despite our current situation, my dear, I do not believe you are at all common.”
Born into a very large family in Las Vegas, NV, I joined the USAF to see the world. After an assignment to England, I returned to the USA with a husband and a love of the Regency era. I currently live in Alaska with my husband and two teenage boys.
Social Media Links
Website: http://www.angelinajameson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelinajamesonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RegencyLady
Buy Links
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Ladys-Addiction-Angelina-Jameson-ebook/dp/B00TZ9O08A
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-ladys-addiction-angelina-jameson/1121647950?ean=2940151226394
Good morning from Alaska! Thank you for having me on your blog today, Collette.
Good morning! What time did you get up, lady? It’s 5:30 here.
About 4 am your time. My hubby is up every day at 3 am so he was thrilled I got up with him. 🙂
Gads, woman!!
I’m headed up to Multnomah Falls for a hike. Some comments might be stuck in moderation until I get back around 2:00
Angelina, what I enjoy most is learning more about you; where you live, what keeps you busy when not on the keyboard, your weekend adventures, past experiences, and new writing techniques that have helped in your process. I also want to hear about your books and how they came to be. I’m fascinated by anyone who can write historical stories well.
A Lady’s Addiction is unique. We hear about and deal with addiction in our own lives every day, but don’t often think about it being a problem in the past. I wish you great luck~
[email protected]
Thank you for the comment, Sandra. I am a newbie writer with a newbie website. It is good to hear that a reader would want to know a bit about an author. I was afraid of putitng too much personal info on my website and turning readers off.
Angelina when I check out an author’s website I love to learn why they wrote the book. Thanks for telling me more about you.
Terrific writing! I love the excerpt. I’m kind of a practical gal, and what I like to find at a website is info about the book and an excerpt. Because for me it is all about the writing.
I’m getting a wide difference in answers here. Allison. You sound a lot like me. 🙂 I guess seperate pages is a good thing so a reader can clcik where they want to read.
Thank you for chiming in, Kayden. 🙂 I also like to know what prompted an author to write a book. I guess I need to add something like that to my sebsite.
Congratulations on your release, Angelina!
When I visit authors websites I particularly enjoy the color schemes and love to see how the book covers relate. I’m also not a fan of busy websites. Clean lines, easy, and functionality is also something I pay attention to.
Right there with you on clean websites, Layna. My hubby is currently my website guru so he also likes the simpler the better. A lovely color scheme definitely makes me want to linger.
I love seeing content. Not just a pretty picture and some fancy background. I really do want content. The content should tell me about you, entice me to want to know more about what you write, that sort of thing. I try to provide that on my blog, that I update once a week at the moment. I talk about how I write, where I write, what I write, where I get my inspiration, what music I listen to… I like to learn that stuff about other people, too!
I am so imporessed that you update your blog so often, Susabelle. I know you work full time so you must be extremely busy. I wil have to check out your website for some ideas on how to get ‘me’ across to readers.
I do work full time plus run a side business, and do all those other things people do – fix meals, do laundry, work in my garden, read a book… I sit down once a month for about an hour and a half and write the blog posts and schedule them. I know I need to have regular posts or people won’t visit my site, so it is something I make myself do. It does help tremendously that I learned how to write essays on the fly in college. Because after all, that’s all a blog post is, really!
You have inspired me to blog, Susabelle. I need tpo get my butt in gear. 🙂
Writing the blog isn’t hard. But getting a decent list of topics can be!
I’m in love with the excerpt and blurb of your book! Off to Amazon I go!
Thank you for the kind words about my book, redljameson.:) Even if all you read is an excerpt, I love to hear that something in my writing touched a reader in some way.
Hi Angelina. Don’t put me in the draw as I already have your lovely book. I look for excerpts, blogs about the writing process, facts that the writer has found interesting when researching, all sorts of interesting content. For me, images are nice to have but content is essential to have. I try to do those things on my blog.
You have a very informative website, Jude. You and Susabelle have really got me jazzed about doing more on my website.
Hi Angelina! I like different pages for things like contests and giveaways, books, blogs, events, etc. Ease of navigating the website is a must. I like learning about the author, background for stories, and even research, especially if you can go somewhere else and take pictures! Good luck setting up your website, it sounds like it will be wonderful when done, and so does your book! 🙂
You gave me a lot fo ideas to work with! Thank you for your comment and thank you for the kind words about my book.
hillendbrandfamily you are the winner of a digital copy of A Lady’s Addiction. My e-mail address is [email protected]. Please le tme know what e-mail address I can send your digital copy to. Thank you for visiting the blog and commenting.