Curious City is head over pixels to be partnering with children’s author and web maven, Samantha (Sam) Clark. Since meeting each other at a SCBWI Conference in Austin in February ’12, conversations about our mutual geek passion for the website/blog builder, WordPress have turned into a partnership of building new author and book websites and converting outmoded ones.
In just a few months we have built a website for middle grade author Natalie Dias Lorenzi and converted authors Jennifer Carson, Carolyn DeCristofano, and publisher Pugalicious Press from older formats to a fully integrated WordPress design.
Why would a children’s author and a children’s book marketer want to get into the nitty-gritty design of websites? Because we both believe in self-sufficiency in marketing and in storytelling post-by-post and web page-by-page.
Self-Sufficiency?
Sam and I will not be signing up authors and illustrators for long-term web maintenance contracts because with WordPress any author or illustrator can change any aspect of their site. The fact that Creators can become completely in control of their online presence, constitutes our strongest attraction to WordPress.
Storytelling Post-by-Post and Web Page-by-Page
Curious City believes that marketing can and should be focused on the two things authors do best–storytelling and communicating with children and young adults (and the people who care about their reading habits). The creation of WordPress websites from characters’ P.O.V.’s has been a great storytelling tool. Curious City and the Creators they work with have had a marvelous time building and maintaining these meta-fiction sites: Ballpark Mysteries, Sirenz, Lobster Boy, and India’s Ink.
Even with straight-up author websites, we encourage authors and illustrators to think creatively about their content. Why use your blog functionality on WordPress to primarily talk about the business of writing? Instead, we encourage and train Creators to use the blog to go deeper into the story and research embedded in their books. Posts such as these can both facilitate discovery of their books and create rewards for their readers.
Sam and I will be presenting Website Liberation With WordPress at SCBWI Austin this October. If you cannot make it, have a look at our work, give us a call, and we can explore your new online storytelling.
10/6/12
Digital Symposium II: The Nuts & Bolts of Success
SCBWI Austin, Austin, TX
Register
Website Liberation With WordPress
Writers should be completely in control of their online presence (not waiting for their brother-in-law to update content) and able to use that online presence to facilitate discovery of their books. This presentation will show how authors are successfully using WordPress while demonstrating concepts for staging your online personality, choosing content that interests your reader, and maximizing the tools that WordPress makes available. One random attendee will get a free Curious City Web Consult post-conference.
