Beyond the Author Website

We were talking not long ago about author websites, the need for them and what we want to see on them - bio ... author photo ... book cover ... and extract ... reviews ... perhaps an essay or two.

Tom Cox in the Times looks at authors who go beyond the basics to exploit the full potential of the web with interactive websites which provide add-ons for their readers, among them author Jasper Fforde sees his site (which brings him about 2,500 visitors a day!) as:

... a kind of after-sales service for readers who only see a new Fforde book ever year. ... I also see it as an extension of the books — allowing readers to dive back into that world for a little longer. ... a reader-writer contract that I hope will induce people to keep reading me year after year.

Other sites Cox likes:

www.jkrowling.com Designed to look like Rowling’s wrapper-strewn, pen-cluttered desk, this is an interactive delight, and the only place for reliable Potter news.

www.iainbanks.net For the buzzing forum, in which Banks is referred to respectfully as TMH — “The Man Himself”.

susan-hill.com Veteran author and publisher sounds off in her regular blog.

www.nickhornby.co.uk Music, football, books, and plenty of top-five lists to please the anoraks.

jeanettewinterson.com Lots of fresh content (including a monthly column), stylishly packaged.