Every year at the Romance Writers of America national convention I see, on average, over 20 clients and help plan their coming year. I am usually parked at a table taking meetings – one after another, it’s me and my laptop. I am a fixture.
Each year there is one person who walks by, stops and says the same thing, “You’re making the rest of us look lazy.” I always smile, and welcome the chance to catch up. Steve Axelrod may actually have me beat for the hardest working non-author at the conference. Steve is one of commercial fiction’s top agents, with authors like Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Christine Feehan, and Julia Quinn. Not to mention Jayne Ann Krentz, LaVyrle Spencer, and Kathleen Eagle. So when he wants to talk shop, I always listen.
And when we talk websites, Steve and I are in total agreement about a great many things, including that all-important first time visit. In Steve’s words:
“When a reader goes to an author’s web site for the first time, the author has a one-time-only chance to draw the reader in to a deeper involvement with her work.
“For this to happen, not only does the web site needs to be attractive and technically sophisticated, but it also needs to reflect the author’s sensibility and tone—her voice, if you will.”
So yes, agents do care about your website. Quite a bit.
For those authors considering Waxcreative for their design firm, Steve was kind enough to share his opinion of his many years long relationship with us:
“I always look forward to seeing Emily at the RWA and welcome the chance to chat with her because I don’t know anyone with more insight into what makes a web site really work for an author than Emily.
“Her websites always look great—that’s a given—but she has the gift of creating web sites that are also pitch-perfect for each individual author.
“And I think that Emily is a master at creating a web site that are not only inviting and engaging but are right for her each of her authors. I don’t know how she does it—but she does!”
Thanks Steve. I think you’re rather awesome at what you do, too. Looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco in July.
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Steve and I are in complete accord — what cheek on my part to put myself in the august company of Steve — where the WaxCreative team and Emily’s creative vision are concerned. There are none better in the business!!