Yep, that error message is a gentle reminder to fill out the form… I’ll make it prettier one of these days (RWA prep is keeping me rather busy)!

Thanks for bringing up this excellent point, Emily!

And thanks Keira for the kudos on the blog post. The Obama site is expertly crafted. Not a mistake or jarring spot to be found.

And maybe you could tell your friend that even high art gets marketed… or it languishes.

Abi, if the comment box is empty, then clicking on the “preview” button is a do-nothing action, but the “post” button goes off to a browser error page.

I was just having this sort of a conversation with a friend of mine who has written many books but hasn’t made it out of the mid-lists. She was deliberating the pros and cons of having a professionally designed and maintained site versus a do-it-yourself-quickie. My response was: Your web presence is there to draw readers, convert readers to fans, and sell, sell, sell.

This made her very uncomfortable. Most writers think of themselves as artists and not necessarily as salespeople of their art. While they write commercial fiction, they’d rather have the commercial part of it happen without it making a ripple in their lives.

I’ve tried asking thought provoking questions but often get emails saying “love your site, but don’t have much to say”.

BTW, you’re right, every time I see those stickers on my books, I get the warm fuzzies of having met the author.