Wired.com January 22, 2002
by M.J. Rose
Authors' Sites Offer Insights
Authors' Sites Offer Insights
By M.J. Rose
Less than 10 percent of author websites are created or maintained by publishers, leaving established and debut novelists alike to their own devices. And that might be for the best.
Tracy Chevalier, author of the best-seller Girl With a Pearl Earring, prefers it this way. After all, no publisher support also means no publisher interference.
"It means I can do what I like on the site, and preserves some autonomy over presentation of my books, autonomy that is often lacking in the rest of the publishing experience," she said.
And with that autonomy, a few authors are going far beyond the typical bio, pic, book cover, excerpt, reviews and bookstore links.
First-time novelist Anne Ursu, author of Spilling Clarence, created a site that takes the reader by the mouse into a faux Web version of the town of Clarence.
Stroll down the streets, wander into the Davis & Dean bookstore, sign the guest book at Sunny Shadows Estates retirement center. Or get the weather report from the Clarence Chronicle.
"The book itself is quite serious, but there's an element of humor to it, and I think the site Jonathan Van Gieson designed perfectly captures the fictional small town," said Ursu.
Van Gieson's goal was to convince people who are thinking of buying Spilling Clarence to buy the book, and to amuse people who have already read the book. "We definitely wanted the site to not just be a sales pitch, or informational, but also a place to go to have some fun," Van Gieson said.
