The best research sites for writers

by Ben Zackheim | Mar 12, 2014 | Writing | 5 comments

Research. I love it for the depth and flavor it adds to my work. I hate it for the time suck and endless re-searching it requires [See what I did there? RE-searching? Never mind.]

The folder in which I keep my research bookmarks shoots to the top of the Bookmarks drop-down window when I start a project. Then it ticks down to the bottom (below “Shopping”) as I get immersed in my concocted world.

Here’s a list of the best research sites for writers on the mondoweb, in my experience. I think one or two may come as a surprise.

CIA

What do you mean, “Which CIA?” That CIA. If you want to get spectacular data in an elegant package then give the snoops a chance. It’s not really a surprise that they have useful info, is it? Though it may be a surprise to some just how available that info is.

Best History Sites

There’s nothing like an historically accurate story. What’s better than reading a great yarn that feels real? Best History Sites (.net) is a useful resource on a number of levels if you’re researching a time period. As the name implies, they gather the best history sites together in an easy-to-read package. I just got off an hour of browsing their links while researching this research post. Sigh.

BBC

These guys are doing history right. They’ve spent years posting quality articles, slideshows and media around world history. If you check out their A-Z section you will be lost in fascinating information.

Quora

For questions about everything from the history of nail clippers to the top donors to Abraham Lincoln’s political career, turn to Quora. You need to sign up to fully participate. It can also take a lot of reading to find the value. But it’s worth your time to go there if you need a question answered.

WolframAlpha

The best resource for crunching numbers. But even more important? The best resource for excavating stories behind the numbers. Just type in your hometown’s name in the search field and you’ll see what I mean.

Blekko

Blekko is a search engine that presents its quality results in a logical way. If you search for “George Lucas” you’ll see the different kinds of results (social, shopping, bio, etc) displayed immediately. Sure, you could use Google. But Blekko’s robust presentation will probably appeal to many of us.

Reference.com

This was a tough one to recommend. It’s an ugly site with a lot of noise that has nothing to do with research, and a LOT to do with distracting you from your research. But if you can stay focused and follow the logic of their odd navigation, Research.com will give more than it takes.

Getty

Getty is great for art history and architecture from prehistory to today.

Refdesk

Refdesk calls itself the “Fact Checker of the Internet.” Used correctly, they’re probably right. The site is a treasure trove of info. You get everything from law dictionaries to gas price maps to contact info for local politicians. All on one page! Very Web1999, but I like it.

Library Spot

Like Refdesk, Library Spot is a hub for information. It attempts to provide you with easy access to the many online libraries and information resources. They do a pretty good job, considering the complexity of what they set out to do.

Google Scholar

Is it possible for me to get through a post without mentioning Google? No. Google Scholar has set out to give us a search engine for scholarly literature. You can find articles, books, court opinions, abstracts, and theses from a number of different sources. You can also arrange to check out books that contain the info you need, much like the resources listed below.

Online library resources are a fantastic place to research. But you need to know what you’re getting into. Be sure to check out the FAQs or the “How to Use” areas of the sites. It’s easy to get lost and feel like you’re getting the run-around. Some areas require membership and even university VPN connections.

Library of Congress

The largest library in the world. It was established to “support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people.”

UCLA

I’ve linked directly to the UCLA research guides, which is a sufficient overview of their scope. From this page you’ll find a number of free access sources, and some membership sites.

Oxford

Oxford combines over 100 libraries in one. Wow.

New York Public Library

I’m partial to the NYPL images gallery for my writing research. If you live in NYC you can do a combo of online and stack research.

So off we go into research land. Try to find something no one’s found. Try to riff off of life and give us some great stories. But don’t forget to stay focused! ;-)

Prepare your book for its KDP Select free promotion days

by Ben Zackheim | Feb 19, 2014 | Book Promotion, Writing | 30 comments

A step-by-step guide, with best practices!

Yup. Blog posts about Amazon KDP Select free promo days are as common as bad drivers on I84.

But I want to do something a little different here. I want to lay out steps and include details about why they are important. I’ll also give you a basic overview of boosting posts on Facebook. These days it’s best to spend five bucks to get the word out.

Once you sign up for KDP Select and figure out what you can do with your exclusive Amazon ebook, you may find a small bump in the road. Actually it may look more like a big, honking wall. The wall is spray painted with large words…

“Now what?”

Here’s what.

1) Decide why you’re doing the KDP Select free promotion days. Don’t just do it to see what happens. I can tell you what happens. Lots of people download your book and add it to their vast library. That plus $17 will buy you a coffee.

Here are some great reasons to do a free giveaway that will actually add some momentum to your efforts:

You want the reader to buy the next book in the series. Provide a sample of the next book in the back of the book you’ll be promoting. Provide a link to buy the next book too. If you haven’t done this already, it’s a good idea.
You want the reader to buy another book you wrote that is not in the series. Same as above.
You want newsletter sign-ups. Definitely recommended if you don’t have any other books available to buy, because this way you minimize the risk of losing them before your next book comes out. People forget things. Even authors they enjoy.
You want reviews. Make a level-headed case at the back of the book for writing a review. I lifted my copy from David Gaughran:

“Word-of-mouth is crucial for any author to succeed. If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review on Amazon. Even if it’s just a sentence or two. It would make all the difference and would be very much appreciated: [link to book on Amazon]”

For your first promo I don’t believe you should shoot for more than one of the above goals. Why? It’s hard enough to track progress on one front, much less several. You can always adjust your tactics for the next free promo.

Once you’ve chosen your general goal, choose a specific one. Are you going for sales of the next book in the series? Great! How many do you want to sell? Just guess. Set a goal and be ready for failure or success. Both can be daunting, but it’s essential to measuring the success of your effort.

2) Decide how many days you want the free promo to run. I suggest a minimum of two. This way you can spot whether downloads are accelerating over a substantial period of time (implying a hunger for your book and/or wise choices on the marketing front) or not (implying you’ve missed the mark on marketing).

My opinion is that five days is too long. Especially if this is your only book. Why is that? Because free promo days are a great way to get people to give you a try. If you don’t have another book to sell them then you’ve lost them.

Also, five days is too long because you don’t want everyone who WOULD download your book to see it and download it. You want to leave some room for word of mouth to set in. The longer you keep the book free, the more likely you are to exhaust your potential audience in one go. Now, if you want to just get maximum exposure then five days is an option. Just don’t expect too many sales after the five days is over. You’ve gotten on their Kindle, and now you have to hope they convert to other books in the series or other titles you’ve written.

3) Buy one guaranteed spot. If you can avoid it, do not choose a date for the promo days first. Please. Choosing the date first means you’re setting something in stone before you know the availability of your marketing options (i.e. Bookbub, Bookgoodies, etc.)

So first, choose one of these sites to buy a guaranteed spot.

Bookbub
Booksends (formerly Bookblast)
Free Kindle Books and Tips
BookGoodies
AskDavid
Manybooks

These are the top-notch options for your free day advertising. Choose one, secure a date, and then choose more from this category if you can afford it, and if they can accommodate your dates. Bookbub is tough to get on. They may turn down your money. But one or two of these sites will be happy to take that heavy dough off your hands. I’ve had an especially impressive result from Manybooks. Shirley Link & The Safe Case hit the top 500 Free list on Amazon and it took four days to settle down. Highly recommended.

4) Make a list of friends you can count on to share and bug ’em. Prep an email to them. You’ll send it out a day or two before the promo.

Dear friends!

I apologize for the group email but I want to reach as many people as possible for this. I’ll be giving my ebook [book name] away for FREE on [date]! Why free? It’s a limited time deal on Amazon that will expand my readership and give me a chance to find some new fans.

I could use your help on the promo day. Please keep an eye on [Facebook, Twitter]. When you see my announcement, please Like and Share. The sharing part is important since it will help more people see the deal.

That’s it! I appreciate any help you can provide to get the word out. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Sincerely,

5) Tell the following sites about your KDP Select free promotion days. Be sure to track who you’ve told in your app of choice. I use my Google Docs marketing journal (which I’ll write about one day)

Best websites for marketing your Amazon KDP Select free days

You can also use the Author Marketing Club tool to submit. The tool is a little wonky but it works.

6) Now head in and set your free days on Amazon’s KDP Select site.

7) Now go to your social networks of choice.

Twitter. If you have a Twitter Ads account then you can schedule tweets to go out whenever you want. If you don’t have a Twitter Ads account, it’s worth it. It’s free and gives you incredible stats and some useful features. Sign up for Twitter Ads here. (it’s a Twitter-owned service) Some people use Hootsuite or Buffer to queue up their tweets for later. Both are excellent options. Set up seven tweets per day of your promo. Don’t make them all sales pitches. Make them intriguing.

Write a riddle.
Include an excerpt.
Ask a compelling question that your book answers (fiction or non-fiction).
Include pics (cover, interiors).
Include vids.
Include every media you have for your book!

I recommend you buy some ads on Twitter Ads to get the word out. But wait until the next promo. For your first promo, give Facebook some hard-earned cash. They’re getting good at delivering readers to me.

Facebook. Do two posts for each day of the promo. Again, set these posts up ahead of time. You should consider boosting your posts with a $5 spend. It increases awareness of your promo. Just make sure you target correctly and set the post date for the promo date. How do you do that? It’s easy.

Draft your post (please include an image of the book cover to make the post appear nice).

Then click on the Boost Post button at the bottom of the post window.

Notice the elegant layout. Amazing how Facebook can make great interfaces when money’s involved, huh?

NOTE: Facebook changes their design all the time. The boosting process will always be similar, though.

Just select “People you choose through targeting” to get the range of options you’ll need. Then fill out information that you think appeals to your target audience. The Interests window is especially important. Put words in there that relate to your genre and book. So if you wrote a book inspired by “It” you could enter “horror, stephen king, violent, scary clowns, it.” Yes, you can get as specific as you’d like. The more specific, the better. With these data in place a whole slew of people who are interested in King, It, and scary clowns will get your ad served to their page.

Some people don’t get great results with Boosts and prefer running Facebook ads. These show up as promoted posts in the feeds of people who you target. The process of setting up an ad is more complex, but you can get the lowdown on how to do it here. If you want to take a course in Facebook ads, sign up for this course.

Pinterest. Post your cover art, interior art and marketing images. The copy should tout the free promo days.

7.1) Add a keyword. Thanks to Julia Derek in the comments section, you get this excellent tip. A couple of days before the promo, head into KDP and add the term “free ebook” to the book’s keywords. It will take several hours to a couple of days to go live. This should help people find you if they’re looking for free ebooks. Don’t forget to remove the keyword term after the promo is over, though.

8) On the first morning of your KDP Select free promotion days, monitor! Go to your marketing journal and see which sites you informed of the free days. Did they post the promo? Not all of them will. Be aware that some sites will post at the end of your day (it’s a big world!) Take note of which ones posted. You’ll want to have that list handy for the next promo.

Go to the site(s) where you paid for promotion and make sure you got what you paid for.

Post the deal to these promotional sites. They only accept additions on the day of the promo.

Addicted to eBooks

Snicks List

Send out an email to your friends, reminding them and offering some new details/news that will make the email worth a read.

Hi all!

As I mentioned, my ebook is free for today on Amazon! Please share the post on your timeline. If you don’t see it, here’s the url.

[insert url for shared post, tweet, etc.]

Thanks so much! I checked my dashboard and have [number] downloads so far. So excited.

Sincerely,

If you’re happy with the results you can post about your success on social networks. It might be nice to send a final email with the good news if you feel like that’s a good idea.

And, of course, head to Amazon KDP to check on the progress. Watch the downloads roll in! It’s fun. Don’t forget to eat.

9) If downloads accelerate on day two, consider adding another day to your promo. Increased interest in your book over a 48 hour period may be a sign that you’ve broken through to a larger audience than your genre warrants. In other words you may have broken into Amazon’s “mainstream” a little bit. If this happens then adding a day will allow for you to capture a much wider audience. Ideally, you’ll go back to charging for the book right when the interest peaks. This way you’ll pick up sales from people who were interested enough to pay for your book.

10) Was it a success? You should keep promoting for a few days after the promo is over. Tout your rise in the rankings, new reviews or whatever stands out as a positive result. But also evaluate the performance of your campaign. Remember how you set a specific goal for your promo? Did you meet it? Exceed it? Give the readers a couple of weeks to show their intent. It takes a while to read a book for some of us!

Take a realistic look at your results. Gauge what went right and wrong with the promo (you will see what worked and what failed). Write these down. Don’t assume you’ll remember because you might not, which means you learned nothing. With all this data, draft a plan for the next promo. And congratulations! You’re on the road to getting much better and being more comfy with marketing! No small task, friends.

Let me know how your promo goes.

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Lessons learned from serialization

by Ben Zackheim | Feb 11, 2014 | Writing | 2 comments

Ever thought about serializing your novel, or writing a serial from scratch? Yeah, me too. I’d like to welcome AJ Sikes to the blog with his post on serialization.

Enjoy, and please let us know your take on serialized stories.

Here’s Mr. Sikes!

Hello Everyone!

Many thanks, first of all, to Ben for offering a guest spot on his blog. This marks the second post of my tour promoting Gods of Chicago, a noir urban fantasy that was released in serial format and will soon be available in omnibus and POD editions (release date Feb. 14th!) My first post on this tour was at Zoë Markham’s blog where I talked about the decision to go serial.

Getting down to brass tacks, Ben thought my experience in writing and publishing a serial would be of interest and help to his readers, hence the title of this post. A bit of what I’ll say here is an echo of comments I made on his blog last Monday. But I also share some thoughts on how the serial process can help newer writers test the waters, and especially as regards independent publishing (self and small press).

Lesson One: Write the whole story first.

1. You can put just the first episode out or launch episode 1 and 2 simultaneously, which is what I did. This lets readers get a taste of your writing on the cheap (each episode is just $0.99), and without too much investment of time (each episode comes in at around 15K-20K words, a good read-before-the-lights-go-off chunk of story). Isn’t the point of a serial that it be written in segments? Well, yes. Back when Dickens was doing it, that is how it worked. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ experience with serialization is closer to what I did with Gods of Chicago. Having a full novel ready to go before launching a serial provides a two-fold benefit.

⁃ Based on feedback from your early readers, you may find you need to put the episodes out more quickly than you’d planned.

⁃ Also, serial stories aren’t all the rage these days (though they’re gaining popularity). Readers seem more comfortable getting a story all in one go. For my future efforts, I’ll be doing the full season release, which is what other serial authors seem to be doing now.

2. With the full novel in hand, you lighten the workload when publishing. You’ll tackle all the formatting at once, if you’re doing it yourself. If you’re using a professional formatting service (highly recommended!), they’ll appreciate getting the entire project in one delivery.

⁃ Come publication time, you’ll appreciate having all your ducks in a row.

I had the benefit of working with a publisher who handled cover design, formatting, and uploading of each episode. If you can secure such an arrangement, you should. Unless you’re the kind of person who has access to and can use all the software necessary.

One caveat here: Be wary of sites offering “assisted self-publishing” as these may, in fact, be vanity presses in sheep’s clothing. If you’re paying a publisher for a service, and that publisher is also asking for rights and a share of the royalties, you may want to reconsider signing the contract. Writer Beware is a great resource for new writers looking to avoid pitfalls in publishing. The site is maintained and geared toward the genre fiction community, but writers of any stripe can benefit from a quick read through the archives.

Lesson Two: Invent a time machine so you can read Ben’s blog on KDP Select before you publish

Seriously. ICYMI, Ben did a fantastic two-part blog on the benefits to be had by signing up with Amazon’s KDPS program. Part 2 is here.

I’m a big fan of the transparency among members in the independent author community. Hugh Howey and Joe Konrath in particular have been incredible about sharing the behind-the-scenes details that most authors could only hope to guess at. Even as recently as two years ago. So, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned through my sales, meager though they are.

Kindle users account for the majority of my sales. Month of January sales total 18, split evenly between Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, with only episodes 1-3 purchased. Month of February sales total 6 so far, solely from the UK site, with one sale of each episode 1-5.

I’ve sold a total of 3 copies through Kobo. Zilch on B&N and iTunes.

Now, a lot (all) of these abysmally low figures are due to my lack of a significant marketing push, which was, to some extent, intentional. I made announcements in the forums and Goodreads groups I frequent. I talked to potential readers, and I made some noise on Twitter (and thanked every last person who helped boost my signal). But I didn’t advertise or try to flood the airwaves with news about my book.

The goal with the serial was to attract a few early readers and begin building another piece on the platform around my book. I’ve been active online and within the writing community for about two years. I’ve got a personal website for my editing services, which includes a page devoted to my writing. So my efforts at building an author’s platform weren’t restricted to the serial release, and that’s an important point for new authors to consider. It’s what we hear so often…the real work begins after the book is published.

Contrasted with the serial release, for the omnibus/POD release I’m tracking down advertising channels, doing a blog tour (Thanks again, Ben and Zoë!), and plan to use Amazon’s machine to do a lot of the marketing for me through KDPS. I also expect to have monthly deals to plan for, and special promotions to run.

That’s a wrap here. I’m lining up stops on the tour through the month. If any writer- readers would like to host me, I’ll happily provide an edit of your first chapter (up to 5K words) in exchange. The only date I have set is February 24th, where I’ll talk about self-editing tips over at mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig’s blog.

If any readers have experience with serial publishing, what did you learn?

BIO:

Aaron Sikes (writing as AJ Sikes) is a writer of weird noir fiction and a freelance editor serving the community of independent authors. His stories have been published by Xchyler Publishing, KnightWatch Press, and Fox Spirit Books. Follow him @SikesAaron and sign up for the Gods of Chicago newsletter to get the latest updates on Mitchell Brand’s adventures and story world extras. If you need editing assistance with your manuscript, please stop by his website.

WordPress themes for writers and authors

by Ben Zackheim | Dec 19, 2013 | Book Promotion, Digital Identity, Writing | 27 comments

There are a lot of beautiful WordPress themes for writers and authors in the wild. Here’s a list to help you cut through the chaff. I’m confident you’ll find a theme for your book on this page.

Remember, we all want to sell books with our site. So choose a theme that shows off the cover, book excerpts and basic book info. Without distraction. I chose the themes below because they all do this well.

Click here to get the theme that I use…DIVI!

WordPress themes for writers and authors

1. Author Pro Theme

Sometimes it’s easy to recommend a new WordPress theme for writers and authors. You see it and you just know that the designer is also an author and understands the challenges involved with having a good site. The Author Pro Theme is just such a theme.

The theme includes all of the fundamentals, such as mobile responsive functionality (to make it look good on mobile devices) and hefty customization. But it stands out on two fronts:

1) A Landing Page feature that comes in handy when you want a no-distractions page for selling your book.

2) The $100 also includes the Genesis framework, which is a series of WordPress-compatible features like SEO tools and security. You also get personal support. From experience, I can tell you that Studiopress’ hand-holding is the best I’ve ever come across. If you don’t like to spend hours messing with plug-ins and code then the premium price is worth it.

Oh, wait a third benefit is the Author Pro plug-in which allows authors to easily add books to their sites. The books can display custom information, such as ISBN, description, price, publisher, and editor. This helps give the site a cohesiveness that any author who wants to sell books directly to the reader will want to have.

Download Author Pro Theme

2. Brown

This theme has the worst name of any theme ever created (ever-ever!) but it also enjoys serious breadth. It stands out for its focus on simple layout and fast navigation from book to book and the books’ content. Clicking on a cover gives the customer a chance to read some excerpts. Other benefits of the theme include:

Responsive (looks nice on all devices)
Good support
Speed! Just be sure to optimize your images. No 1 megabyte pics allowed… ;-)

Download the Brown theme here

3. BEBO Author Landing Page

This WordPress theme for writers and authors stands out for its slick design and a couple of cool features that you don’t find everywhere.

A timer widget. This lets you run a timed promotion on your site. These are available as a plug-in for your WordPress site, but it’s cool that the feature is built in.
Three styles. All of them are nice looking too.

Other features include mobile-friendly design, video and an attractive master slider that will give you a chance to highlight your book cover.

Download the BEBO WordPress theme for authors here

4. Parallax Pro

Parallax sites are those sites where scrolling down adds nifty animations like sliding, fades, color changes, etc. It’s a cool trick and people still go nuts for a good Parallax site. The best one I’ve seen as far as simplicity and extension is Parallax Pro. It’s on the pricier side, but the hundred bucks includes the Genesis Framework, which allows for easier updating and editing when it’s time to make changes to the site.

Highlighted features (in addition to the Gensis Framework) are Landing Pages (necessary for your books and for promotions like newsletter sign-ups), HTML 5 markup and fully mobile-friendly.

Parallax Pro Theme

5. X | The Theme

X | The Theme is a catch-all kind of theme, promising a full suite of tools for everyone. This is especially true when you consider the fact that X is actually a suite of themes, not just one. Yup, the developer has crafted a single package with multiple designs, one of which will likely fit your needs. X also comes with a suite of free tools (like Mailchimp integration). This saves time and heartache caused by third-party plug-ins.

Here’s a list of features:

WooCommerce integration
Extensive styling options
SEO optimization with 2015 ideas
Shortcodes
Responsive
Disqus or Facebook comments extension
Free Soliloquy slider

Download X | The Theme here

6. Author Theme for Writers

If simplicity and focus is your thing (and it should be) then you’ll need to consider this WordPress theme for writers and authors. The layout is simple, the slider is an unbloated, straight-forward thing and the product pages have almost everything you need. The one missing feature is a way to read a sample.

Highlights from the features list are:

Easy to use Options Panel
Premium Documentation & Support
Built in Slider
Custom Background Image/Color
Custom Button & Link Colors
Custom Logo Upload
Custom Reviews Shortcode (I like this idea!)
Book Page Templates (YAY!)
Google Font Integration

Get Author Theme for WordPress here

7. Preface: A WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

The thing I love the most about this theme is its simplicity. One of my main rules for a good book site is an elegant, FAST first impression. Preface does that well. Moving between pages is like lightning. And each page shares a look and feel that makes it easy for me to see what the author wants me to see. If I had to guess which theme was written by an actual author, it’s Preface. The list of features bears that out:

Book categorization
Book Launch Landing template! (FINALLY!)
Book Filter template (Useful for large libraries)
Showcase your books from your 404 Page (Clever. Essential.)

Get Preface: A WordPress Theme for Authors here

8. Bookish

One of the details that set this theme apart is the parallax design. “Parallax” is the style that you see on some sites where the background image scrolls at a different speed than the image in the foreground. It’s a fun effect that can be used to guide the customer through your content.

The theme also touts the following features:

Works on mobile devices
WooCommerce compatible (to sell your own books)
Google fonts
Dark & White Layouts
Infinite Color Schemes
jQuery enhanced slider and effects.
Well commented code.

I read through the comments by users. There have been several bugs that have taken a while to fix. Bugs are common, but watch the discussion to see if the response time improves. Devs must support their themes, no matter how noisy (and annoying) customers get! If the outstanding bugs don’t appear to impact your goals, then consider the Bookish theme.

Get Bookish here

9. The Novelist: Responsive WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

This theme is for those of you who lean heavily on excerpts to sell books. There aren’t a lot of page types (like in the Preface theme above) but it is a theme that lets you hone in on the work you do. Stumbling on a site that looks like an open book immediately tells the reader that they’re in the right place.

Among the features that the theme touts (beyond the bookish design) are Responsive design (to look good on mobile devices), support for the beautiful Google Fonts library and customized backdrops.

The theme has great ratings and folks seem happy with the FREE support.

The Novelist: Responsive WordPress Theme for Writers

10. Minimum Pro

This theme offers:

Custom backgrounds and headers
Mobile-readiness
Threaded comments.

The $100 includes Copyblogger’s Genesis framework. Genesis is a toolset that makes the site easier to customize. It’s a good thing to have when you’re building a new website and still in design/self-education mode. Genesis adds features like:

One/two/three column pages.
Left/right sidebars.
Fixed-width, for when you don’t want tech messing with your content.
Custom headers/menus.

Why could this theme steal my business away from Cleanspace? It’s good looking, expandable, updated often, and it’s made by the Copyblogger folks who simply make excellent products with fast support. As I add more book series to my roster I’m positive that my website needs will change. If they do, I have my eyes on Minimum Pro.

Check out the Minimum Pro WordPress theme here

11. Cleanspace Business Theme.

I used this theme for years. It does a number of things well.

First, it looks great out of the box. I’d have to work really hard to make it ugly. And, believe me, I’ve tried.

Second, it includes a number of visual features that I like, including a huge slider that displays large images across the width of my site. The sliding animations that I’ve made with the tool are incredible. You can check out the slider on my homepage (note that I do turn it off sometimes, so I can’t promise it’ll be there).

Third, I chose my theme because it’s a premium theme. I want the support that comes with premium purchases. I’m not too happy with the help I’ve received from the developer, but the community is helpful. I’ve run with Cleanspace for several months without a hitch. Fingers crossed, but I think I chose a winner.

But one theme that always threatened to steal me away from Cleanspace is the next one on the list…

Download Cleanspace here

12. Rain WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

If you’re looking for a WordPress theme for writers and authors that presents your content elegantly, check out Rain. It’s perfect for a site that is just for one book. You can upload an image of your choice and it appears fogged on the left side of the screen. You could put an image on the site that hints at a place or event in your story. Cool! The writing is presented in a simple, clean way (with Google Font support) and scrolling up/down from one page to another is lovely.

I could do without the ability to play an ambient audio file, but to each his own. The site owner can turn the audio off.

Benefits of the theme include:

Designed and built by Elite developer. The boards have happy people and a load of comments by the creator.
Responsive (for mobile devices)
Table of Contents screen allows you to string together your content in a way that’s familiar to readers.

Beware of one thing. Widgets are not supported, which makes sense. You wouldn’t want to soil the sweet design with widgets, right?

Get Rain

13. Best

The simple Best theme includes:

Responsive design (meaning it will look good on mobile devices).
3 page templates.
Multiple menu types.
Multiple page layout options.
Header/logo uploader.
Color options.
Change site background.
Shortcodes.

Best is a simple theme, with a simple blog-like layout. It would work nicely for writers who plan to do more blogging than selling. If selling is important to you, though, you can skip to the next one.

Download Best here

14. Blackbird

This is one of those solid themes that just look professional. Its features are pretty impressive, too.

Includes (from their site):

10 Different Color Skins, WordPress Themes to get Site Ready in 1 Click.
Individual Page/Post Customization – Change various layout options on each individual page (or globally if you want).
Dropdown Menus – Unlimited levels.
Mobile-ready.
Extensive documentation.

I do love the colors they make available. And you can switch between colors with a single click. When I used this theme I considered making a contest where I’d change the color once per week on Sunday; anyone who could tell me what the colors had been on my site the previous week would win a prize. I didn’t get around to doing it. But you could ;-)

Download Blackbird theme here

15. Evolve

I used this theme for about six months and was very happy with it. I somehow corrupted the site install one fateful evening, which made me look around for new themes. That’s when I ran into Cleanspace and we fell in love. But Evolve is a very competent free theme that I recommend to anyone who’s building an author site.

Benefits of the theme include:

Ready for mobile technologies.
Single blog post or blog grid layouts on the home page.
Slideshows.
Unlimited colors.
Over 500 Google Web Fonts.

That last feature is a beauty. Google web fonts allow you to play around with type design on your site, which can be important to standing out in a crowded field and getting the important points across. Make sure you get a second opinion on how the site looks before you play around with fonts too much. It’s easy to get carried away and make your page look blechy.

Download the Evolve WordPress theme here

16. Themia

This theme is similar to my own in that it offers a wide slider at the top that can dominate the screen. I like that look because it lets me highlight what I want without having to think too hard. All I have to do is upload an image, make a call to action and I KNOW that everyone will see it, because they literally cannot miss it.

I also like Themia for its full width/product pages and easy-to-read buttons.

Here’s a useful tutorial that will help you decide if it’s the theme for you:

Download the Themia WordPress theme here

17. Responsive

Responsive is another simple, free theme that I used for several months. It has a good rep for support even though it’s free. Nothing is more valuable to someone just starting out, with limited time to futz around with webbie doohickeys.

Some highlights of the theme include:

Adapts your website to mobile devices and the desktop or any other viewing environment.
9 Page Templates, 11 Widget Areas, 6 Template Layout.
Easy Logo Upload, Social Networking and Webmaster Tools (we’ll discuss this in the plug-ins post later).
Responsive is WooCommerce Compatible (important if you want to sell books directly, we’ll also discuss this in the plug-ins post).
Multilingual Ready.
Search Engine Friendly.

A great starter theme! It’s where I started ;-)

Download Responsive here

NOTE: Some links are affiliate links. The themes I’ve tried before are noted and highly recommended. The rest of the themes look fantastic and have shining support according to the theme comments.

WordPress themes for writers: Build an author website with WordPress (Part Three)

by Ben Zackheim | Dec 18, 2013 | Book Promotion, Writing | 0 comments

Our sordid story so far…

In the previous installments of WordPress for authors and writers, I’ve talked at you incessantly about the need for authors to focus. A good summary would be, “Define what you want out of your website and find the tools to make it so.”

But what does that mean? Well, if you’re looking to sell books then, in my opinion, it means apply BaB to every aspect of your site.

Bab? Isn’t that short for Barbara? No, that’s Babs.

My BaB is a design mantra that I think all authors should apply to their sites:

Books – show us your books!

action – give us an easy action to take now!

Blog – keep them coming back for more!

Why is the “a” lowercase? Because it should be right in the middle of everything you do, but not in an obvious way. The action should be obvious, logical and clear in its messaging. Does the action need to be a Buy button? Nope. It could be a sign up button, a follow me button or a play video button. But whatever action you want from the visitor it should be a central part of all design decisions.

Much of this theory is based on how people sell web services or non-fiction books (think weight loss programs and cloud services). But fiction writers need to start thinking the same way. We have something to offer and, if we band together, we can come up with standards that will help everyone sell their books from their site!

Someone asked me why they should even bother making a site that tries to sell their book. Their point was that Amazon spends millions on designing product pages that work, so why not just lean on the Amazon page. It’s a good point! Amazon makes great product pages. But they need to follow a one-size-fits-all road. They can’t design a page that’s meant to sell your book. They can only design a page that’s mean to sell “books”. As in “all books”. However, I do lean heavily on Amazon. When I point my visitor to my buy button, they DO go off to Amazon. But I’m not willing to depend on their site to sell my book. I think I can do a better job.

The problem with how authors sell books today

As I researched this post, I ran into author site after author site where I had no idea I was even on an author’s site. I’d see blogposts, images, links, all jumbled together. Some of the sites are really beautiful, but they don’t scream “BOOKS ARE HERE!” which they should if they want visitors to know that, well, books are there. One of the things I’ve learned after selling things online for 15 years is that your site is your business card. It needs to state what you do up front. It’s likely that you list “Writer” or “Author” in plain English on your card. You need to give your site the same focus.

Bottom line: Every page of your site should have one purpose, and you should focus on it like an ion cannon clearing the way for the Rebel envoys. This way your visitors will have all the information they need to decide whether or not you should get their money.

Tell the story of your site before you design it

I spent many months, working hard to craft a flow through my site that is enjoyable for the visitor and maximizes my chances at converting them into a paying customer.

I started by telling the story of my site. What does a site’s story look like? Mine was simple. I want visitors to notice my books. I want visitors to consider buying my books. I want my site to be entertaining and useful to people.

With those three thoughts in mind, I started to focus on how to make a site that makes these dreams come true.

Here’s the flow I wanted to create for my audience:

With quality blog content, search engine optimization and clean code I’d bring the person to my site. I knew that a huge majority of them would know nothing about me, or my books.
The visitor quickly notices she’s on a site where I have books to sell.
She reads my blog post and sees the buy options for my books.
The curious visitor exits to where I want them — namely, Amazon — where I cross my fingers and hope that Amazon (and my book copy on Amazon) converts them to a sale.

And this is exactly the flow I got! Google Analytics shows me it’s the path that a plurality of my visitors take.

But it wasn’t easy to get there. I worked with every web service and piece of software under the sun (from Dreamweaver to Kompozer to Blogger to Tumblr) I found the one-tool-to-bind-them-all.

WordPress.

It’s almost as if they created WordPress themes for writers and authors!

Read part four of my series of WordPress for authors and writers.

A step-by-step guide, with best practices!

“Now what?”

You want the reader to buy the next book in the series. Provide a sample of the next book in the back of the book you’ll be promoting. Provide a link to buy the next book too. If you haven’t done this already, it’s a good idea.

You want the reader to buy another book you wrote that is not in the series. Same as above.

You want newsletter sign-ups. Definitely recommended if you don’t have any other books available to buy, because this way you minimize the risk of losing them before your next book comes out. People forget things. Even authors they enjoy.

You want reviews. Make a level-headed case at the back of the book for writing a review. I lifted my copy from David Gaughran:

“Word-of-mouth is crucial for any author to succeed. If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review on Amazon. Even if it’s just a sentence or two. It would make all the difference and would be very much appreciated: [link to book on Amazon]”

Dear friends!

I apologize for the group email but I want to reach as many people as possible for this. I’ll be giving my ebook [book name] away for FREE on [date]! Why free? It’s a limited time deal on Amazon that will expand my readership and give me a chance to find some new fans.

I could use your help on the promo day. Please keep an eye on [Facebook, Twitter]. When you see my announcement, please Like and Share. The sharing part is important since it will help more people see the deal.

That’s it! I appreciate any help you can provide to get the word out. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Sincerely,

Write a riddle.

Include an excerpt.

Ask a compelling question that your book answers (fiction or non-fiction).

Include pics (cover, interiors).

Include vids.

Include every media you have for your book!

Hi all!

As I mentioned, my ebook is free for today on Amazon! Please share the post on your timeline. If you don’t see it, here’s the url.

[insert url for shared post, tweet, etc.]

Thanks so much! I checked my dashboard and have [number] downloads so far. So excited.

Sincerely,

You may also like:

WordPress themes for writers and authors

1. Author Pro Theme

2. Brown

3. BEBO Author Landing Page

4. Parallax Pro

5. X | The Theme

6. Author Theme for Writers

7. Preface: A WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

8. Bookish

9. The Novelist: Responsive WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

10. Minimum Pro

11. Cleanspace Business Theme.

12. Rain WordPress Theme for Writers and Authors

13. Best

14. Blackbird

15. Evolve

16. Themia

17. Responsive

Our sordid story so far…

The problem with how authors sell books today

Tell the story of your site before you design it