CASE STUDY: One author, two names, similar books

Client:
Diane Gaston, author

Screenshot of DianeGaston.com

Set-up:
Diane had been maintaining two sites, DianeGaston.com and DianePerkins.us. Both names were attached to Regency-set, fast-paced romances with edgy underworld themes. There was virtually no difference in reader expectation between Diane Gaston’s books and Diane Perkins’ books. The difference lay only in that the names were each attached to different publishers. What seemed like good advice at the start of her career was becoming increasingly difficult to promote, especially online. Increasingly stretched and repetitive, Diane was feeling ineffective at promoting either name.

Challenge:
Diane wanted to consolidate — one site for both names. This would help Diane focus her resources. But addressing reader confusion and promoting the two names as a single brand would be paramount. Additionally, Diane had the added challenge of promoting simultaneous Gaston releases in both the UK and North America — same title, different cover recognition promotion, and different ordering pathways.

Strategy:
Obviously intimately involved with both names, Diane requested our assistance to decide how to relegate one of the names to “second fiddle.” Not wishing for either name to be diminished, we first analyzed which name would require more screen time. Riding on Diane’s RITA win for a Gaston book, and considering that the Gaston publisher produced faster than the Perkins one, and that there were more books extant under the Gaston name, it was an easy decision to select the Gaston name more prominently. (The dot-com vs. dot-us also played a deciding factor.)

Diane Perkins

We then suggested Diane write a detailed explanation that we could put right at the top of her FAQs. We developed a rollover button lure to strategically sprinkle throughout the site leading visitors to this explanation. We imagined what a visitor looking for Diane Perkins would latch onto, and several options were tested. “WHERE’S DIANE PERKINS?” made the most sense.

But what about people typing in dianeperkins.us? We decided to create a nearly identical masthead for the Perkins name, simply replacing the “Gaston” with “Perkins”. That one page site would welcome visitors to a Diane Perkins landing page, with a clear and concise note stating that Diane Perkins also writes under the name Diane Gaston, and then direction that the visitor would be redirected to the Gaston site. Within 5 seconds we would ease the Perkins reader into the Gaston site.

In the middle of development however, Diane phased out the Perkins name anyway, so she decided that the second home page wouldn’t be necessary.

Post-launch, in her own words…
“My new website has been everything I hoped it would be and more,” Diane reports. “Not only is the waxcreative team a joy to work with, but the site itself is a wonderful showcase for my books. It reflects my personality. And the planning prior to the design phase ensured that the double name issue became a non-issue. I had been having to do all this explaining and since the new site launch I simply haven’t.

“I wanted a site that readers would remember and one they would visit often. I now often receive glowing comments from first-time visitors. Other comments have indicated that readers do check the site regularly.

“I consider my site my primary marketing tool. And I know it is helping me grow my name and sell more books.”

Diane GastonDiane Gaston is the author of seven novels and one novella, including The Mysterious Miss M (the Golden Heart and Readers Choice Award Winner) and A Reputable Rake (the RITA winner). Please visit her at DianeGaston.com where you can catch excerpts (follow title links to read right now), or an array of her online articles and postings.


2 thoughts on “CASE STUDY: One author, two names, similar books

  1. Emily, I had to stop by to comment on Diane’s site. This case study is such a great way to showcase the thinking and the work that went behind putting a site as complex as Diane’s together. If anyone ever had a doubt how difficult websites can be to design and maintain, this should be at the top of their reading list.

    PS: It’s good to “meet” the team behind the glamour that’s WC.

  2. Emily Cotler says:

    Thanks for the kudos, Keira.

    The key with a site like Diane’s is not to have it feel complex. The appearance of seamlessness requires many stitches.

    Um, and I am not sure I would call us glamorous. I could get used to it though… 🙂

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