Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Janet Alcorn, SE White, Victoria Marie Lees and Cathrina Constantine.
This month's optional question is: What turns you off when visiting an author's website/blog? Lack of information? A drone of negativity? Little mention of author's books? Constant mention of books?
I hadn't really given much thought to this before - I usually just think how everyone's site looks so much better than mine! But on reflection, if I do find anything offputting it's when the front page is too busy, with links to multiple blog posts (often in apparently random order), mixed with book images, ads, newsletter pop-ups etc. Too much going on and hard to know where to start. I like to read about the author, and links to other pages like the bio may be too small or faint, hard to find etc. So, I guess I would prefer my sites to be kept pretty clean and neat. Funnily, that's the opposite of how I usually am in my physical space!
In other news, I'm inching towards 60000 words on my WIP set in a virtual reality AI universe that goes severely wrong. I feel like I'm still to iron out a really defined resolution and a brainstorm might be in order, but the end is certainly in sight.
As I continue to query my first book following my traditionally published debut, I was pleased to see #IWSGPit will return next month and will be busily polishing my pitches to throw my hat in the ring. If you haven't taken part in this excellent event before, you simply (?) have to craft a tweet-length pitch for your work, including genre and age hashtags, which you can post once per hour over a ten-hour timespan in the hope that browsing agents and publishers will take a nibble. If they like your pitch, you check their submission guidelines and send your requested query. It's taking place on March 27, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. More details here!
I think that's it. See you next month, and as ever, more IWSG entries can be found here.
16 comments:
Me either on not giving much thought to what I like and don't like on writers' sites until now. :)
Congrats on getting closer to 60000 word goal. Keep up the good work.
Teresa
Hi Nick! The premise to your current WIP sounds amazing. Happy writing.
I don't like too busy home pages either. Good luck in the pitch contest. It's great you're trying to find an agent.
Awesome you will take part in #IWSGPit. We were fortunate two former IWSG admins offered to help. Otherwise, there aren't enough of us to cover.
Good luck with the Twitter pitch. DLP has signed 5 authors due to our pitch party.
Good luck pitching!
I don't like sites that have so much I'm not sure what they want me to see. I hadn't really thought about that until you mentioned it.
Wow, you are really busy. Good luck with the pitches. And congrats on 60K.
Hi Nick - well done on all your endeavours ... good luck with the pitch too ... but especially the Twitter IWSG pitch ... take care and all the best - Hilary
I'm with you on liking a website to be clean and organized.
Good luck with your WIP - sounds like it's going to be a fun read!
Congratulations on all of your writing accomplishments!!!
Oh yes, I do hate a landing page where you can't tell which is the latest blog post. I think computer space has to be different from physical space. Clutter online only makes things harder to find. (This is true in a physical space as well, but we actually have to live there, so clutter will happen.)
I'm really interested in people's answers to this month's question - I'm hoping to check whether I'm doing anything wrong! I think I'm pretty clean and straightforward, so all good there.
Well done on the WIP, hope you nail the ending soon.
Good for you, Nick, to be moving forward with your next book. I wish I was so brave. Good luck in the pitch wars. You can do this. Good post! All best to you, sir.
Good luck with your WIP and your pitches.
Thank you for the info about the upcoming IWSGpit. Good to know! And good luck as you throw your pitch in the ring.
I like a neat and tidy design as well. Good luck with #IWSGPit.
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