More On Authors' Websites

This is an update on what launching an author's website through Tertulia has been like after about a year. Early last fall I decided it was time to feature my writing on a site and I remain as positive now as I was then about Tertulia as a terrific vehicle/helper for this. They have ongoing tech workshops for writers and are generally very supportive.

On the plus side, in terms of results, the website has attracted some readers--not a huge number, but sales have gone up a little, and for that I'm grateful. 

Today I decided to revisit and revamp my book descriptions, as what I had was what publishers required on the back of each of my books, rather than what I consider more engaging info about each read. So aside from what photos I are on my site and the blog attached to it, most of the text is new as of today.

The negative is that having a website has attracted too many faux editors and marketers who then email me wanting to help me market my book, but have no profiles on LinkedIn, no verifiable identities or professional histories. Please watch out for this. The scammers are out in droves and AI helps them seduce, or try to seduce you with seemingly very knowledgeable prose about your work.

How to know if you are being scammed? First, check the email of the sender. Does it have a company name? If so, look that up. Look up the name of the person emailing you. Is it even a real person's name? Are they associated with a legit company? Do they have a legit profile? If you can't find substantial info on the emailer, test them by asking for testimony from authors they've helped. Even if they have almost sold you, if they fail to provide that, block and delete.

If you have three or more books of whatever kind, I still do recommend getting a website. It helps and makes the process of identifying who you are when submitting work a lot easier. The website name--in my case, https://aryafjenkins.com--should lead to neat summaries about you as a writer and your books.



                                                                                        Photo by Arya F. Jenkins


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