Building an Author Website Before the Agent and the Book

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I talk about author websites on Twitter Dot Com fairly often (as do my rockstar friends Patrice Caldwell and Dahlia Adler, both of whom you should be following for brilliant advice), and for a good reason.

As someone who is involved in the industry as an agent, they’re so wildly important.

They serve as a landing page for you, as a writer. And down the line, when your book is out in the world, a personal author website allows librarians, booksellers, readers, conference organizers, reviewers… the list goes on, but a website basically lets everyone who is involved in making a book successful get to know you. They can check our your homebase. See what you’re all about.

Whenever I dig into this, I often hear from writers who don’t have a book out yet, and are wondering why they should have a website now. Is it necessary? If you don’t have anything to promote yet, why have a website up?

Well, there are a couple of reasons, especially if you’re writing non-fiction.

So let’s talk about building a personal website, for you, the soon-to-be-published author. This post is for those of you PRE-book. Maybe you’re out there querying, or preparing to do so. It’s a good idea to have a site ready now, and it’s a lot less complicated and work-intensive than you might think. Continue Reading →

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Revising With Julie, Part Two: My Process

Hello! I am doing a series that is all about revising books and I hope you’ll check out the other posts. This is the second part of the series, and you can find the first part here.   Today I’m going to be talking about exactly how I revise a book, from the moment I get an editorial letter to “The End.” I’m going to preface this post with the disclaimer I give every single […]

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Where Fact Meets Fiction: Writing Novels Based on Real Life Crimes

As an author of historical mysteries and thrillers, I am drawn to the darker side of the past and find that truth is often stranger than fiction. I search for unusual and unsolved cases of murder, corruption, and organized crime to center my novels. Including select portions of the historical record lends realism to what would otherwise be an overly sensational story. While I enjoy true-crime novels (my most recent obsession is I’ll Be Gone […]

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Revising With Julie, Part One: My Dirty Little Secret

Here’s something most people know about publishing: you keep a lot of secrets. At any given time, an author might be holding on to unannounced film/TV rights, book deal news, tour information, festival appearances . . . the list goes on and on. The reason behind all of this secret-keeping may vary widely, from the film studio not announcing projects until they’re officially in production to timing particular news just right, so they’ll make a […]

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The Edge of Discomfort

Hi everyone! I’m back from the other side of another deadline. I swear there’s some kind of gravitational pull between when I signed up on the posting schedule around here and when my books are due. Life works in mysterious ways. I’m also back with another sports training metaphor. Y’all ready? Okay, good. Let’s go. When you train— and literally this is any kind of athletic pursuit— what you’re often going for is finding a […]

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