We here at Coode Street know how to live dangerously. As we sit on the cusp of the release of the final Hugo ballot for this year, we’d like to bring you the 2006 Hugo Award nominees for best novel:
The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
Olympos, Dan Simmons
Accelerando, Charles Stross
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson
We can’t wait to see if we’re right, will something surprise us? We’ll have to wait for Los Angeles and next year.
Matt Cheney writes about Norman Spinrad this morning, Spinrad reluctantly admits that he is an SF luminary, and Cheney says horseshit (about something else). Go see.
My friend and co-editor writes a regular art column for Realms of Fantasy magazine. I wasn’t aware, though, that they posted the entirety of her column, and the rest of their non-fiction, online. The latest of Karen’s columns to go up is “Romancing the Book“, a piece on Tony DiTerlizzi from the June issue. You should check it out. Karen’s great at what she does, and the piece is good.
Dashing small press publisher Gavin J. Grant gives an overview of how to start a small press over at Strange Horizons. A writer and editor of no small accomplishment, Gavin is also publisher at Small Beer Press, a smart, well-run outfit that produces some amazing books. The information he gives is useful, unaffected and covers pretty much everything. The only thing that he probably doesn’t stress enough is that running a small press is for crazy people.
So, you’re an author who wants to set up a website so that you can communicate with your legions of adoring fans, schill for your product, and all that other good stuff. You are, however, not simply a commercial animal, so you want to reflect that you are fully in touch with your art. A website is the go, but you don’t want it to be just any old website, it has to be special, the Heironymous Bosch of websites.
Well, a respectful suggestion. Get over yourself just a little. A website is a communications tool. Use it. Be clear, be concise and be obvious. Make sure your site has obvious sections, set out clearly. Again, for what it’s worth, I think you could probably have the following sections on your site:
1. News
2. Biography
3. Bibliography
4. Appearances
5. Contact information
A couple other things. The news section should be the most prominent section on the site. Not necessarily on the home page, or the home page itself, but the first link in your navigation. The other stuff is less important. I’d also add a 300dpi photo of yourself to the biography section that can be downloaded for press and other purposes. Consider doing it for at least your most recent book too. This means people don’t have to contact you to ask, and you don’t have to spend time mailing them out. Be optimistic. Someone might actually want to write about you, and this would help. Have some contact information. It could be your publisher, your agent, or even you direct, if that’s what you want. But, the point here is to be somewhat accessible. If you don’t want that, then don’t have a website. I’d also see if you can run your news page as an .rss feed. Someone might want it, and it’s all good, honest PR.
There are probably other things I could add. You know, make sure that every page you have links back to your home page, don’t have a journal that doesn’t link to your main site and so on and so forth, but that’s enough for now. End of rant… Oh, and don’t get me started about publisher’s sites.