I hate when things are out of my control. As authors, so much of what goes on in the publishing industry is out of our control – you’d think I would be used it by now. As traditionally published authors, our publishers assign a release date, and we wait. Our books are given a cover. Perhaps we’re given a bit of marketing assistance, but more and more often these days, especially with new authors, not so much. As indie published authors, we have more control over the actual decisions we can make, but we’re on our own with all aspects of the publishing process – WE are the publisher. I’ve had a taste of both worlds. And though I’m “used” to things being out of my control when it comes to my writing and my author brand, I still prefer to steer the ship as much as I possibly can.
I’m hardly a techie. Though I’m creative, and always have a strong idea of what I want my brand to be about, my understanding of technology is limited to the basics, so when it comes to my website, I’ve always relied on webdesigners. Unfortunately, the group I started out with, and the second group both retired their businesses. I was free to keep the design they’d created, but having recently given a fair amount of consideration to how to make my brand more reflective of who I am, I decided I wanted to make a change. Though I’d need to go through the pain and expense of finding another webdesigner, I wasn’t happy with the way my site looked. I’ve put my heart and soul into my books and my website is the face of my author brand, meaning it ought to be a reflection of my heart and soul as well.
I worked with Killion Group to publish my 8th title, A Sultry Performance [The Rabourn Theater Series # 3], and more recently, Kim Killion and her team designed new covers for what will be the newly released paperback versions of my first 7 titles: Dangerous Secret, Dangerous Proposal, Dangerous Proposition, Dangerous Ally, Dangerous Magic, A Passionate Play and An Amorous Dance. I love the work they did on these covers, and I was thrilled with the way A Sultry Performance came out as well. So I took a chance and asked this busy publishing company if they could help me make the website changes I had in my head. They agreed, and spent hours with me, working until the concept was just right.
Something I loved about my original website was that it had been done in colors I felt were reflective of my brand and it also suited my personal taste. I’m not sure why I didn’t push harder to use them on the 2nd go around, but having had the most beautiful shades of red and green at my wedding, I was eager to build these colors back into my brand, along with one of my favorite things, roses, which are so reflective of everything I love and are also incredibly romantic!
I didn’t change everything about my site. I loved, and kept, a number of elements from the old site including the HOME page setup which features my most recent release, A Sultry Performance, the ABOUT JESSICA page, where I’ve displayed my author bio in interview style, and the APPEARANCES page, where you can find information about my upcoming appearances, and see photos of past appearances.
Perhaps the biggest change to my website has been the relocation of my blog, which is now a part of the website itself. We’ve moved all of the old content here, so you can enjoy all of my past blogs, along with new ones. I’m striving to post once a week and I will continue to share topics I’ll aim to be of interest to both readers and writers. I’m very excited about the changes and hope to release a new title in the near future! Wishing you all an exciting start to the Holiday Season!