You're going to see a massive change around here. And it's going to be incredible.
For a while, the problem of what an author website should look like has lingered in my mind. This grand vision of a place of fantasy, inspiration, knowledge, books ... more fantasy.
Something grand. A hub readers could enjoy.
And, yet, to create that website is the challenge.
Until my partner in inspiration and crime, Donika (https://www.artofdonika.com/), mentioned her thoughts on what an author website should be like too.
And the concepts matched. And we both went 🤯.
Well, it's happening. Our exploration into the potential that an author website could be.
So, I'll say again. You're going to see a massive change around here. And I'm so excited.
Because my favourite designer is running me ragged and asking me questions until my mind feels like it really will explode like that emoji so we can get a new Sarah Kate Ishii website up and running.
One day soon, you'll come here and poof. It'll be so different. Gloriously so.
And I'd love for you to tell us what you think of it.
Bearing in mind, of course, the process of a website is constant and ever-updating tweaks!
What is the process of making an author website?
Well, with Donika it meant we created a shared spreadsheet, because I love spreadsheets and may have got her into them too.
A list of all the menu items I wanted in the new rendition. And her tweaks of them.
She did an audit of my website and spoke to me about her thoughts, what the wanted to create of it, whether that worked for me, and we agreed on a plan.
(Honestly, though, I'd probably just let her do whatever she wants, because I seem to say yes to all her ideas anyway! She's the pro.)
Within that, she created a list of tasks she was going to work on, assigned a whole bunch to me, plus even more questions.
So many alerts from Google Sheets.
I've gone through many of them, but today I'm working on some of the finer items. The new words.
You see, Donika's idea for a website is you need to build it in this order. So if you're building your own author website, check this bit out:
Foundation first. Larger chunks. What pages do you want? Overall menu items? Themes? Colour schemes? How will it match your branding? (Do you have author branding in the first place.)
Big questions. Lots of self-identity searching.
Middle. Now you're working into the specifics of the page. What sections am I going to have on each page? What do I want my subscription form to look like? I'm a fantasy author about to work on some non-fiction too. How do I want that mentioned? What images of me do I want on the page? (This, alone, was so thought out. It took ages because she gave me so much feedback on various photos and asked me to tweak them with different shirt colours, long sleeves, poses that fitted my genre ... I swear I did several rounds. And, I don't exactly live in an aesthetic house. Finding a place suitable for a decent photo was tough.)
So, this round is layout. Getting things in place. Getting information. Starting to build up from the foundations but still looking pretty wide.
Light. Here's where I get asked for new text. New 'About Sarah' info. Content where she's thought a new page idea would be good and so asking me to think of an intro para for it. Even a password for a new section we're creating that will be exclusive to subscribers. That part was really fun and interesting! But I got nervous thinking about all the text that could potentially exist, so here's me procrastinating about the process of a website instead. (I'll convince myself it's mulling over in the back of my head.)
Detail. Of course, once you've got all the bulks of things, sections are in place, text is in place, images are in place, you'll end up with the tiny changes and tweaks that will probably take longer than everything else. Refining the words. Changing up some lighting. Checking your systems and passwords work. Testing out the subscription process and emails to make sure people have a simple and easy and enjoyable experience and the content they were promised.
Especially as, this time, we'll be sending out a series of free fantasy reads to subscribers, getting that looking grand and in the works and actually sent to readers will be key.
I think a lot of people building their first website get too stuck in the process of each page. Trying to get one page absolutely perfect before moving onto another one. And this might slow them down or make a page feel mismatched to others. You grow so much in the development stage that by the time you get to your fifth website page, your first one is way behind.
Whereas if you were to build it all in levels and work up, you can focus your skills on same-level processes.
Build the foundations of all the pages. Then slowly add them up one by one.
Much like when writing a book, you start with drafting the whole thing. Then you go back through and fix the bigger issues like POV and tone and pacing and tense. Then you go back through and look at paragraph levels. Character names and arcs. Then up and up until you get into tiny details like finally catching those typos and missing full stops and double spaces.
This way your brain is on the same skill. It's not switching between them.
Final thoughts
I'm going to go back to the homework Donika has set me now. Getting the last of that new text written up. But this process has been so interesting to me I had to write it down.
It's these benefits of working with a website designer that doing it by yourself can't bring. Someone else to nudge you. To offer inspiration and thoughts. New perspectives and ideas.
I'd never have thought of the subscriber-only page with a password had she not suggested it. But it's such a beautiful idea: mostly because of the way she is intending to implement it. But that's a secret for now!
Before you go, I'd love to ask what you think.
What do you really want to see on an author website? That would help you engage with their work and their ideas and bring you joy to experience?
Reply in an email or comment if you like! I'd love to know what you think.
(And if you want someone to help you with anything author design, I seriously recommend Donika. The way her brain thinks in all this is just 🤯 in the best way!)
