Launching an author website

There are two sides to writing.

The creative side. Actually writing the book or short story or screenplay takes hours of brainstorming— dreaming up characters and plots to translate onto the written page. After sweating out the first draft, then comes the refining and editing and re-writing. This process can take months, even years to perfect. It’s a labor of love (most of the time, anyway).

Few writers go through such effort to hide their work and never share it with anyone. The point of creating a novel often means impacting others in some way—to feel something powerful, take on a new perspective, gain insights into their lives, or simply escape to an enchanted world for a few hours.

Then there’s the business side. That’s the publishing part. The marketing and promoting of the book. Lots of writers struggle to sell themselves and their novel. After the solitary toil of creation, getting the book out into the world requires a completely different set of skills. Now the introspective author must network at conferences, reach out to potential agents/publishers, and build a social media platform.

Becoming an influencer may not have been at the top of most writers’ wish list. Not to mention slogging through the rejection and endless suggestions on how to improve their work in progress. Change the point of view to first person. Delete the first two chapters. Eliminate an entire character. Ask two people what to revise and they usually mention opposing ideas—one loves the banter between the characters and the other hates the stilted dialogue.

Sigh. It’s much easier to hold up in the privacy of that writer's cave and ignore everything and everyone. Funny how authors get so good at putting their heroines in mortal danger with a chapter cliffhanger, but struggle to take a risk themselves.

Is it worth learning about SEO (a.k.a. search engine optimization), online shopping carts, and newsletter distribution lists? Only time will tell.

Nothing beats a failure but a try, as they say.

Welcome to Carol Eaton Fiction’s new website. Let’s go!