SPA Girls Podcast – Christmas 2015 episode
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It’s our Christmas episode, and we’re hanging out at our favourite restaurant, chatting about our year, and talking about what we hope to achieve in 2016. Join Wendy Vella, Shar Barratt, Cheryl Phipps and Trudi Jaye for this celebration of all the goodness in 2015, and the greatness that will be 2016!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP014 – Websites for Authors
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This week we talked about author websites and why it’s vital for self publishing authors to have one, despite the naysayers (mostly from traditional publishers who don’t see the point).
We talk about what you should include on your website, the kind of content you should be writing, and the style of writing you should use on the web. We also talk a little bit about the technical aspects of setting up a website.
Building your website (platform) so people can find you
Why do you need an author website?
- We believe your website is the most important platform you can have. It gives you credibility. If someone is searching for you and can’t find your website, it can put them off.
- You own the real estate connected with your website name, this is something that you can control unlike other social media platforms. This also gives you the ability to connect to your readers through an email newsletter, or contact you via email, and where you interact with people without worrying about some of your readers not seeing the things you post. Your website is working for you 24/7.
- You need to purchase your domain name first (URL) and it should relate to you, i.e. wwwjoebloggs.com. You can purchase your domain name via various sites, see links below.
- Start looking at other authors in your genre and seeing what works or doesn’t. Start getting idea of how you want your website to look. Start slow and basic with one or two pages and you can add to the website as you grow. Organic growth is sometimes the best.
- Once you decide to have a website remember to keep it updated. There is nothing worse than going to an author’s website and seeing nothing has changed for years. Remember also to make it aesthetically pleasing and not garish. Don’t put fangs and blood all over the opening page if you right gentle regency romances…well you get the picture!
Functionality
- Make it easy to navigate, make it simple and keep it well-maintained.
- Does the voice, tone, attitude and mood of the site resonate with my ideal reader?
- What does the site provide the reader?
- Keep elements consistent from page to page.
- Remember so many people are accessing websites through their cellphones and other devices so make sure it is always a responsive design concept. Whether you are designing it yourself or have someone else do it, keep this in mind.
- Remember quality, not quantity. This site is representing you so keep that in mind.
Content – what information do you want on your website?
Here are a few ideas;
- Mailing list sign up.
- Author bio, give them a bit of information about yourself.
- Competitions page.
- Book list with links for how to purchase your books. Short, exciting excerpts of your books. (Not from the opening pages).
- Calendar of things coming up.
- Contact details.
- Social media links.
- Links to your Blog.
- Try and keep your text shorter like bullet points and headings, it will keep the reader interested. Long blocks of text tend to put people off.
- Remember keywords in your text and content, for search engine optimization.
How do I get a website?
- You can go to somewhere like WordPress. CMS = content management systems. This is the engine behind your website.
- You can design your website yourself if you are just looking for a basic site. It can be daunting straight up, but when you get the hang of it, it’s really quite simple.
- If you are on a budget it can be quite costly to have someone design one for you, so doing it yourself is a more reasonable option.
- Give yourself time to build your website, there is plenty of help out there. Check out the link below from the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast.
- If it’s too daunting, then find someone to guide you through, and then you can take over when you are confident.
- SPA Girls template is through Elegant Themes (appearance of the site), the site is built using wordpress.com, and we host through justhost.com (this is where our site lives).
- Look up WordPress beginner or go to YouTube, there is a lot of information out there to help you.
- Google Analytics, tracking traffic to your website. Look it up!!
Links
Domain Name Sites-
www.justhost.com/ or www.networksolutions.com/
Host Sites-
Different Templates
How to design your website-
http://rockingselfpublishing.com/create-amazing-author-website-free-video-course/
Google Analytics
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage?
SPA Girls Podcast – EP013 – Author Interview with Cheryl Phipps
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This week was lucky thirteen, so we decided to do an interview… with one of our own. The lovely Cheryl Phipps talks about her writing journey, from right back when the kids were little, to now, with eight books published, and more on the way! Cheryl’s the wise member of the group, so be sure to listen in and get some self-publishing and writing gems!
SPA Girls Podcast – EP012 – Genre Break Down Challenge
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This week’s episode is number twelve – that’s right, we made it to three months! This episode was a challenge show, and we each talked about the research we’d done on our particular genres – Trudi looked into the genre conventions of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (with a little bit of comparison between them along the way), Cheryl investigated Chick Lit and what makes it so good, Wendy waxed lyrical on the conventions of Historical Romance, and Shar rounded it all out by telling us about Contemporary Romance.
Challenge episode
Definitions of genres
Defining what is a romance – two elements comprise a romance.
- A central love story
- An emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending
The main plot centers around the characters falling in love. You can have as many subplots as you like, but the focus is around the main characters and their love story.
HEA – Happy Ever After
HFN – Happy For Now
Lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationships are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.
Series or Category Romances:
These are like the harlequin novels and are in the bigger stores like Walmart, and are printed monthly. They are also available in digital format.
Single title romance:
These are longer books, and are published in a number of different ways like digital, trade and mass market paperbacks.
Genre explanations:
Trudi- paranormal/urban fantasy.
Paranormal romance- is a subgenre of romance, and the romantic thread throughout the book is important, and this is the main difference is between it and urban fantasy. Has a HEA and does not tend to be as dark as urban fantasy. It’s written in third person and often more than one point of view.
Paranormal romance authors – Trudi Jaye, J.R. Ward, Stephenie Meyer, Larissa Ione, Charlene Harris, Nalini Singh
Covers- usually tend to be naked males or man and woman. Male is usually very alpha.
Urban fantasy – is often centered around the female’s journey. There is usually an element of romance. It is often written in the first person. Often there are several stories that follow the life of the main couple through a series.
Urban Fantasy Authors – Patricia Briggs, Lucy Thompson, Laurell K Hamilton, Judy Teal
Cover – silhouette of the female and more of a mainstream looking cover. Usually there is not couple in a clinch, and the setting is dark urban.
Cheryl – Chick Lit
Chick Lit can be just HFN or HEA. It can have a have almost comedic elements. Can be dark but funny, and sometimes with gritty, realistic elements. They can have romantic elements also, and the settings can be more everyday life. Varies in sensuality levels.
Authors- Marian Keys, Kathy Kelly, Elizabeth Nobel, Sophie Kinsella
Covers – they do not necessarily have people. It could be a caricature and have bright colors. The covers stand out and are often illustrations.
Wendy – Historical Romance:
There are many different eras’ that encompass Historical Romance (see list in links). There are the more traditional historical romance’s where the language and facts are accurate and then there the looser historical romances, that are factually correct, but are more sensual with varied plots and story’s.
Understand the genre you choose before you write it, because the readers know their stuff, and they’ll pick you up if you get it wrong.
YouTube is great for getting the feel for the era, for example; how to harness a horse.
Make sure you get titles correct. (See Burkes Peerage links below)
Make sure your slang or use of words are correct. Some of the words we use today were not around in some of the era’s we choose to write.
Authors-Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, Anna Campbell, Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan
Covers- lush with bold covers, couple or single woman or man. Dress is for that era. Quite often they are sensual.
Shar – Contemporary Romance:
Definition of contemporary romance – romance novels that are set from 1950’s to current day and they focus on the primary relationship and have a realism to them.
This is an evolving genre due to the changes in the world we live. They are set all over the world.
There are a lot of sub-genres off contemporary, like rock star, sports, billionaires, romantic suspense, small town romances.
Covers – because of the range in this genre, each sub-genre can have differing covers to depict what the story will bring the reader. Covers go from couples in differing dress and backgrounds depending on where it’s set and the sensual level of the story.
Authors-Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Lisa Klepas, Bella Andre, Marie Force.
Links
Paranormal Authors –
http://www.trudijayewrites.com/
Urban Fantasy Authors –
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/
http://www.laurellkhamilton.com/
Chick Lit Authors –
http://www.mariankeyes.com/books
http://www.elizabethnoble.co.uk/
Historical Romance Links-
Timelines for historical romance periods
http://www.burkespeerage.com/ http://www.eloisajames.com/
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/
You Tube – Regency era hairstyles
Historical Romance Authors-
Next Challenge-finding your tribe.
WE want you to find other writers and groups, and begin to build your support community. Writing can be solitary and sometimes you need people to bounce ideas off, so go out there and find them, then let us know how you get on by posting on our FB page.
