![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Dear Author Who I Shall Not Name,
I realize that with any author's website, there is an element of self-promotion going on. The degree depends on the author and their individual tastes, but it's there. It has to be. I mean, the author wrote the books to be read, and since people don't just telepathically know that they have a book/con appearance/newsletter/etc, they have to advertise a little bit. That's fine. Frankly, sometimes, I like to know when my favorite writers have new material or appearances.
So I'm willing to handwave your cluttered, badly designed site. I'm willing to forgive your somewhat shmoopy speech about dreams and "you can do it!". That's a positive message, and it's nice to encourage people. I'm willing to overlook many other flaws in author's site. Really, I am.
But is it really necessary to have the huge, screen-stealing pop-up urging me to sign up for your newsletter and get my free (yes free!) copy of whatever How To Write Like I Do guide you're pimping? No, seriously? Is It Necessary?
I now pretty much have vowed never to go to your site again and I now feel a lot worse about you as an author/public figure in general. And maybe about you as a human being. I can't help it. I don't have any other info on you except that you couldn't be arsed to make sure your site wasn't annoying. So now, every two pages or so, visitors to your site are assaulted by a prompt to give you my name and email address. And the "close" tab is very tiny and disguised at the bottom. The first two times, I had to just LEAVE YOUR WEBPAGE to get away from it, because I'd scrolled such that I couldn't even get away.
Which is sad, because I was just going to your page to check out if you had a new release coming out soon, because I thought to myself, "I think so and so has a new book coming out, and I might want to try one of her books by buying it." Which, I presume, is what you want.
But due to your pop-ups I couldn't get to the page I wanted, and I'm kind of put out with you, so hell if I'm wasting my hard earned money on you anytime soon.
In short, I do not want to subscribe to your newsletter. I didn't the first time the pop-up showed up. Or the second. Or the third.
You do realize, that if your site is your little home on the interwebs and your site is so obviously YOUR venue for speaking to people directly, that those popups are basically like you trying to throw us a sales pitch over and over?
But it's not nice to bitch without offering suggestions, so here's mine:
A) If you DO have a web designer/codemonkey type person working on this (which I doubt), fire them. Fire them now and then, possibly, set them on fire. They're doing a horrible job.
B) If you're doing this by yourself, STOP. Look, sweetheart, you're probably an okay author. You did get published, multiple times. But you obviously know bugger all about web design and advertising. That's okay. No one can wear all the hats, and writing novels is a big enough job.
Do what the smart people do when they realize that something is not their forte. They go and get someone who's forte it is to work on the problem. Go get someone who knows what the sweet saucy fuck they're doing and have them go to town on it.
When the time comes (Sweet Monkey God willing) that I need a website to show people mypokemans work, I'm sure as hell not going to do it myself. Especially since I know that there are lots and lots of people out there who, being amateurs, but talented and still better than me, could probably do an easy-to-navigate, clean looking, pop-up free site for me on the cheap.
The Love Is Gone,
Meg
I realize that with any author's website, there is an element of self-promotion going on. The degree depends on the author and their individual tastes, but it's there. It has to be. I mean, the author wrote the books to be read, and since people don't just telepathically know that they have a book/con appearance/newsletter/etc, they have to advertise a little bit. That's fine. Frankly, sometimes, I like to know when my favorite writers have new material or appearances.
So I'm willing to handwave your cluttered, badly designed site. I'm willing to forgive your somewhat shmoopy speech about dreams and "you can do it!". That's a positive message, and it's nice to encourage people. I'm willing to overlook many other flaws in author's site. Really, I am.
But is it really necessary to have the huge, screen-stealing pop-up urging me to sign up for your newsletter and get my free (yes free!) copy of whatever How To Write Like I Do guide you're pimping? No, seriously? Is It Necessary?
I now pretty much have vowed never to go to your site again and I now feel a lot worse about you as an author/public figure in general. And maybe about you as a human being. I can't help it. I don't have any other info on you except that you couldn't be arsed to make sure your site wasn't annoying. So now, every two pages or so, visitors to your site are assaulted by a prompt to give you my name and email address. And the "close" tab is very tiny and disguised at the bottom. The first two times, I had to just LEAVE YOUR WEBPAGE to get away from it, because I'd scrolled such that I couldn't even get away.
Which is sad, because I was just going to your page to check out if you had a new release coming out soon, because I thought to myself, "I think so and so has a new book coming out, and I might want to try one of her books by buying it." Which, I presume, is what you want.
But due to your pop-ups I couldn't get to the page I wanted, and I'm kind of put out with you, so hell if I'm wasting my hard earned money on you anytime soon.
In short, I do not want to subscribe to your newsletter. I didn't the first time the pop-up showed up. Or the second. Or the third.
You do realize, that if your site is your little home on the interwebs and your site is so obviously YOUR venue for speaking to people directly, that those popups are basically like you trying to throw us a sales pitch over and over?
But it's not nice to bitch without offering suggestions, so here's mine:
A) If you DO have a web designer/codemonkey type person working on this (which I doubt), fire them. Fire them now and then, possibly, set them on fire. They're doing a horrible job.
B) If you're doing this by yourself, STOP. Look, sweetheart, you're probably an okay author. You did get published, multiple times. But you obviously know bugger all about web design and advertising. That's okay. No one can wear all the hats, and writing novels is a big enough job.
Do what the smart people do when they realize that something is not their forte. They go and get someone who's forte it is to work on the problem. Go get someone who knows what the sweet saucy fuck they're doing and have them go to town on it.
When the time comes (Sweet Monkey God willing) that I need a website to show people my
The Love Is Gone,
Meg
