Publishing
A lot of author websites seem to worry first about looking like a brand and only later about being useful.
But readers usually arrive wanting a book list, a contact page that doesn’t feel like a locked door, a newsletter sign-up they can find without a treasure map, and navigation that gets out of the way. The plain pages do most of the work. The glossy homepage is often just theatre.
I’m not ضد design. Clean design matters. It just seems odd how often the most useful part of a site is the bit nobody wants to show off.
But readers usually arrive wanting a book list, a contact page that doesn’t feel like a locked door, a newsletter sign-up they can find without a treasure map, and navigation that gets out of the way. The plain pages do most of the work. The glossy homepage is often just theatre.
I’m not ضد design. Clean design matters. It just seems odd how often the most useful part of a site is the bit nobody wants to show off.
Most author sites are trying to do two jobs badly at once: impress strangers and help them find a book. The second one matters. If I land on a site and can’t get to the reading order, the latest novel, or a plain contact page in two clicks, I’m gone. Fancy is fine. Functional is what earns the visit.