We are thrilled to announce a new site in our portfolio: MayaBanks.com. Browsing is encouraged!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I met a parrot last weekend. Kazoo. His owner led him right to my hand. Kazoo quickly gravitated towards my big silver hoop earring. The world is Kazoo’s playground, his owner said. He thinks everything is a joke.

Have you read Heckled By Parrots? I asked. Rebecca K. O’Connor’s blog?

And so, as Kazoo’s beak got frighteningly close to my eye, I went into a brief you-need-to-know-about-Rebecca-O’Connor-if-you-have-a-parrot shpiel.

At which point Deborah Sherman, photographer of pretty much every photo on this site (the one of me and Kazoo included) and of the sticker site, and the creative force behind Oaktown Art, and my friend of 20+ years, said in a very surprised tone, How do you know this?

Because, really, anyone who knows me, wouldn’t think to put me and parrots in the same sentence.

Allow me to introduce one of our newer sites: RebeccaKOConnor.com. (I am behind on announcing our new sites — business before bragging.) Rebecca’s site has actually been up since last fall, just before her book Lift, A Falconry Memoir, was released.

Rebecca’s site is actually the hub of a cluster of three sites — the RebeccaKOConnor.com central site and two blogs: HeckledbyParrots.com, which features glorious photos every Friday (Friday’s Favorite Feathers), and OperationDeltaDuck.com.

You definitely don’t need to be a bird lover…

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Well, these two sites are not precisely “new”. I am behind. It’s a lot of work keeping up a blog, especially when it’s not your primary job. But in the last year Waxcreative launched two very special sites: LoisFayeDyer.com and SarahTormey.com. What’s special about each of these sites (aside from how wonderful each author is) is how simple they are. They do what they need to and then by design, pretty much nothing more.

LoisFayeDyer.com was our second Waxcreative Express site (others include AntonyJohn.net, GeriKrotow.com, RedGarnier.com, and GerriRussell.com — the last three listed still not officially announced in this blog. See above about being behind). Lois wanted to try a blog, but not commit to anything more. She wanted time to write. Nevertheless, she wanted her site to reflect the Home, Hearth, and Family theme that is prevelant in her books. So pretty, simple and sleek we made it. And she’s getting the hang of her blog. Welcome Lois!

And welcome Sarah! SarahTormey.com was our second Waxcreative Mini site (following StefanieSloane.com and preceding JodieEsch.com). Sarah is still pre-published, shopping that fabulous manuscript of hers. Her blog-based WaxMini site is helping her network within the industry and maintain a presence. When agents and editors look her up they see total professionalism. She isn’t aiming at readers yet as that would be premature. She’s being a working writer. And she is doing it well.

More “new” launches to follow. And the next three are all for the birds!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Last month, on her birthday no less, we launched Stephanie Tyler’s new site. It was so exciting for us that had she not been across the country, we would have brought over cupcakes.

The newly redesigned StephanieTyler.com

StephanieTyler.com is a big site. It is content-rich, and not just in the blog. However, two potential problems with a huge site exist:

A) the tendency for the navigation to get out of hand as everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) gets a navigational button and/or some sort of call-out on the home page. When this happens to site I call it the Cheesecake Factory Menu Effect. Have you ever eaten there? Good food, nice ambiance, but the menu is a book. It takes people FOREVER to order. They simply can’t make up their minds. Too many choices and they often get flustered. We didn’t want that to happen to Stephanie’s new site. (We don’t want that to happen to anyone’s site!) Because when you are already parked and hungry and a waitress is standing at your table, you will eventually make a decision. But when you are in front of your computer and nothing from the great mass of choices has a clear sense of importance, you may just give up and go elsewhere to be entertained.

B) To combat the CFME, sites will frequently under-navigate. True, sparseness has a certain elegance, but then content frequently goes un-found. Secondary pages have lots and lots of subnavigation and as a site owner, you are now relying upon the visitor to have a strong desire to keep searching. That is a lot to depend upon, even when you have robust content.

Stephanie is a great content provider. She loves sites that keep giving and wanted one herself for her readers. “I want a site that feels endless,” she challenged us.

Enter the action boxes. Visit StephanieTyler.com and try to resist those beckoning blue and purple right-hand boxes.

Says Stephanie: “I can tell things are easier for people to navigate because I’m getting requests from readers and booksellers for goodies, whereas I never had before and I had the same information up on my site for years!”

We invite you to head over to StephanieTyler.com and explore. It goes on and on and on… And on this blog, Waxcreative and Stephanie are giving away a signed copy of Risking It All to a randomly selected winner. All you need to do is leave a comment telling us what content treasures in Stephanie’s site you found and liked. A winner will be announced here sometime Tuesday. Thanks!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

We’ve been busy. And I haven’t been blogging enough, and so I am a little slow with the news of our recent Waxcreative launches. We have a half a dozen new sites to share (and several more in progress), but I am going to take them two at a time (be sure to check back, subscribe to our feed, or just scour our portfolio… they just keep getting added!)

Lori Foster, newly redesigned

I am thrilled to welcome the inimitable Lori Foster to the Waxcreative family. A New York Times bestseller many times over, Lori is a superstar. But as often happens to sites that grow huge, hers had become a tangle, and had broken under its own growth.

Lori is very connected with her readers. She gives great content and provides yummy opportunity for her fans to participate, but with a nearly impossible to navigate site that no longer looked right to her, she was ready for a change. Could we keep up with her? she challenged us. Could we do more than just create a beautiful new face for her site… Could we take her jumble of web pages and make a true presence?

You bet.

The new LoriFoster.com is significantly better organized. All those book lists you felt lucky to stumble upon? Now they are a few easy-to-find clicks away (a well-structured subnavigational system can be so helpful — over- or under-do it, however, and it’s a waste of space and time). We grouped all the community networking opportunities together, and all the extra fun stuff, too, such as photo albums and fun downloads. And these are just a few examples. Please explore — there is so much to see, and it’s all so accessible now.

LL Foster, newly redesigned

And then the kicker: How to handle LL? LL is Lori’s alter ego… her darker side, for her paranormal fiction. LLFoster.com needed seamless integration with the more robust Lori site, without getting lost behind it. And of course, LL needed to maintain a distinct visual identity. And, as can so easily happen with dark paranormal, the site’s visual face couldn’t turn into a cartoon.

Says Lori: “With two identities, and such an extensive backlist of books, many of them related by characters, I rely on my websites to provide readers with almost any information they might need. My many various booklists help readers to know when they’ve already read a reissued book that’s being published with a new cover. And my website lets readers know when I’ll be signing, and where, and how to reach me. Because readers are as busy as I am, they need to be able to find what they want in a fast and easy way.”

And the reader response to the new layouts? “It’s been overwhemingly positive,” says Lori.

We couldn’t be happier.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Share the Love, newly launched.

Share The Love is the brainchild of Wax client Maya Rodale and her wonderful business partner Ann Bleakley. An initial goal was to create a fun, Romance Industry-friendly logo, one that authors and reviewers would be pleased to put on their sites and use to link to the Share The Love site. And then to build a single web page to present the call for pre-read books simply and cleanly. A non-profit, there was no need for extras (just that beautiful beacon of a logo), but that didn’t mean the page should be boring. It’s pretty, it’s inviting, and with eventual plans to grow the site as the organization matures, the design is scalable. Good for everyone, don’t you agree? Great. Now please send them a few books.

AntonyJohn.net, newly launched

Also new: a site for debut YA author Antony John — our first launch using the Waxcreative Express model. We developed it to offer top-notch structure and design at a “template” cost — without any feel of being in a template. AntonyJohn.net features global linking to myspace and facebook that is almost as prominent as the links to Antony’s bio. That, the graffiti-ish name treatment, and other aspects of the site help make Antony’s specific career positioning clear – it’s aimed at teens and pre-teens. And we are thrilled, our first launch with the Waxcreative Express model was a resounding success — so streamlined!

StefanieSloane.com, newly launched

And like many other pre-published authors working to get their manuscript bought, Stefanie Sloane’s goals with her site include attracting an editor, developing a network within the industry, and presenting herself as a professional who understands the importance of self-promotion. A lot of authors in this career stage go over-board, but Stefanie (and Wax… hey, we helped) found a good balance. Her wit shines, her eye contact is like a good handshake, and of course, her site is structured to grow with her career. Because when Stefanie sells her book, the site focus will shift to be reader-centric. (Her future publisher’s sales force is going to love it!) We are currently working with two other pre-published authors on their sites. Stay tuned.

And thanks for staying tuned to this blog. More launches, case studies, and release and excerpt announcements to come. In the meantime, please visit our portfolio.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.