I get paid to support constant development and creation cycles year after year at a major online bank. So occasionally I will stick my two cents in about website design issues and ideas I see out there in ePublisher land. So this being a new year I wanted to give mention to some good things I see happening on ePublisher websites and mention some bad. I already did Front Page designs so let’s hit the content pages…
Ellora’s Cave wins for best Book Page. Even tough I seriously hate their WIDE oversize webpage template. We are in the smart phone era change and change quickly or die. The author’s name is hyper-linked properly to a Author Page listing all the author’s books with a blurb at the top describing the author. The series is not only identified in the listing at the bottom of the Book Page you have covers of all the other books in the series. All on the same Book Page! Although the label should say something else not “Related Books”. They also explain what formats the books can be bought in. I just wish all ePublishers would treat “books in print” as just a different format and make it available on the same page. So when I review a book the page I link to on their website has all the required information. As I have stated before… Website organization is key! Always think about how you can present all the most important information on a single page to me in order to keep my limited attention span and inform me of new products. Especially if I (a fool) have taken a interest in one of your authors and want to buy (part with my money) every eBook they published! Encourage the parting of the money damn it!
Lethe Press does not even provide a Book Page. They simply send you to some page that lists out the books they have in some hard to understand order. Anyway, creating a separate page for each book and each author and each series does not take anymore effort than including it in a list if you are using the right software. Look at me blogging… Do you think I spend that much time on formatting a webpage? I don’t care what their excuse is. If you are selling from a website show at least some effort in researching how to do it right. Just sad like the frames they are using.
Samhain Publishing still does a great job on their Author Page even though I don’t know why that right hand margin has to follow me from the Front Page or why they have to list “books in print” separate from the eBook format. Anyway, they still come in first here. The Book Page has a hyper-link from the Author Name to this page. Even though they really need to integrate series information better than they are. Ellora’s Cave and Loose Id are working to make that information easier to find on their websites. And on that note…
Loose Id gets the award for Series Page this year. They started linking their Book Page into the Series Page. Now if they will only hyper-link their Author Name into their Author Page we will have a better time of finding things without so much effort. Good job guys!
So there you have it the most basic of page awards… Front Page (Right Margin, Left Margin, Header, Navigation Bar, Footer), Book Page, Author Page, Series Page. I am not going into the various genre pages because that is based on what is for sale although I want to see it listed by most recent eBooks available first. Is that so hard? All of this is simple easy to understand and anyone can figure it out by reading numerous books on the subject some even geared towards optimization of online sales. I just live this stuff daily but do not take my word for it go look it up yourself.
Tags: ePublisher, Web Design
Chris wrote,
My complaint about EC’s book pages – no publication date. Since I enter every book I buy into LibraryThing, it’s very, very helpful to have the publication date. EC’s not alone with this – Loose Id doesn’t have this info, either. Nor does Torquere. Amber Allure at least has a copyright date under the cover art, so I use that as best date guess. I don’t think I should have to open each book to the copyright page to get this information.
Link | January 1st, 2010 at 11:58 am
kirsten saell wrote,
Oh yes. Publication date is important to me too. Especially if series books are not listed in a clear order.
I’ve also wondered if the content editor could be included on a book’s page. Editors–like reviewers–well, once you find one with similar tastes to yours, it’s nice to see their name on a new-to-you author’s book’s page before you buy. Although I’ll admit readers might not think of that the same way I do…
Link | January 1st, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Steve Berman wrote,
As always, Teddy, thanks for the slam. We appreciate it. I may recommend to the authors they include a Teddy Pig character in every novel as appreciation.
Link | January 2nd, 2010 at 6:24 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Steve, as I have said before and I will say again. I am not here to blow smoke up your ass. Go read some books and learn what it is you should be doing.
What amazes me is I am showing you what other websites are doing and giving hints to what works.
Link | January 2nd, 2010 at 7:39 am
AnneD wrote,
Steve’s replies above are rather interesting. Usually I see publisher principals take an ‘okay, that’s a viable customer viewpoint. That’s something we could work on’ point of view. It may or may not happen depending on how nitpicky a request is.
This baffles me as a potential Lethe press customer that they don’t really give a shit if I can find a book on their website or not. That is a pretty big deal.
Link | January 3rd, 2010 at 2:13 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
Anne,
This is what Steve said to me before when I linked to one of his great books…
And thank you for the oh-so insightful comments about our website. Let me know when you want to donate some $$ to bring it up to your specifications. Until then, I’ll focus on the more important matter – publishing great books.
So Steve even admits he cannot be bothered to spend any time or effort on his website. Even though to me a priority would be trying to attract online customers for his great books. He obviously feels he can put up garbage and everybody should pat him on the head and tell him what a great job he did.
I don’t get it. If you admit you did not make any effort or make it an obvious priority to do the right thing why should I not point that out to other people who might be looking at Lethe Press for publishing their books?
In my opinion the website reflects the business online. You don’t get another chance. There is no store to go to or better calling card to use. It also shows me how important customers are to your idea of doing business and Steve is not making a great impression to me. He is a business not a charity he needs to figure that out.
Link | January 3rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
kirsten saell wrote,
But Teddy, buying GLBTQ fiction IS charity, don’t you know. I’ve been told that by tons of people who insist that paying $12 or more for a freaking ebook (when one is offered at all) is “doing my part for the GLBTQ cause”, and that I should do it for no other reason than to support GLBTQ fiction by GLBTQ authors.
Um, no. Just no. Community spirit only goes so far. When it comes to choosing between that $15 ebook or milk for my kids for a week, what the fuck do you think I’ll pick?
Seems to me there are a lot of people out there who think it’s fine to ask others to subsidize their social agenda–and I suppose if there are enough people with the liquid cash to buy ebooks for astronomical prices or the time to navigate unnavigable websites, well, they’re getting what they want. But they’ll never be mainstream. They’ll never enjoy real success. Because the rest of us–those of us who can’t afford fair trade coffee and don’t have the time and energy to dispose of our empty oven cleaner cans in hazardous waste facilities 100 miles from our houses–are not the demographic they’re interested in courting. Bummer. I might have liked some of those books…
Link | January 3rd, 2010 at 11:19 pm