Exploring and understanding audience, encouraging communication, announcing excerpts and celebrating book releases. Just basically talking about websites... and the occasional cupcake.

We wish you a Waxtastic holiday season…

by Emily Cotler
December 23, 2011 – 11:53 am

…and a lot of online traffic in the coming year.

‘Tis the season to be thankful, and this year we feel great about supporting Writers in the Schools, an organization that matches professional writers with students at low-income public schools in order to help children develop their writing skills. Literacy is a gift that keeps on giving; thank you to our many clients and colleagues who give this gift all year round.

All the best from your Waxcreative Design team.

Photo by Ros Edmonds of WaxDad Steve Cotler speaking about writing fiction to fourth and fifth graders.

Posted by Emily Cotler •• Filed in Creative, Miscellaneous •• Comments (0)

Color of the Year

by Maxamaris Hoppe
December 9, 2011 – 9:14 pm

Picture 8Pantone has released their color of the year! 2012 is Tangerine Tango.

We love it!

And I especially love all the ways Pantone has marketed their color swatches. Even if you’re not in the business of printing with Pantone swatches, you can enjoy Tangerine Tango as a mug (a Pantone mug in my friend’s favorite color is a go-to present for me), or a messenger bag. Pantone makes cool iPhone cases, and even makes eyewear and Visa cards. Such clean style and vibrant colors… I’m addicted, frankly. Even Emily, who never makes impulse purchases (I’m not even kidding!–that is enviable will power) picked up a box of Pantone note cards after less than five seconds of seeing it on the store shelf.

This might have come off like a press release, but Pantone is awesome and ’tis the season to buy awesome things.

Posted by Maxamaris Hoppe •• Filed in Creative, Miscellaneous •• Comments (0)

November Wrap-up

by Emily Cotler
December 1, 2011 – 7:02 am

wrap-up header

NEW BOOKS:

MAYA BANKS released Wanted by Her Lost Love, the second installment in the Pregnancy and Passion series. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Be sure to check Maya’s growing bonus page to see the downloadable goodies for this series and more.

GRACE BURROWES released The Virtuoso, the fourth installment in the Windham Series. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Be sure to check out Graces’s new Windham Family Tree!

DesiredNICOLA CORNICK released Desired, the fifth book in the Scandalous Women of the Ton Series. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Learn more about Desired with Nicola’s updated behind the book material!

STEPHANIE TYLER released SEAL of My Dreams, a charity anthology featuring the novella “Holding On,” set in the Hard to Hold world. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Stay tuned in December for an all new StephanieTyler.com!

NEW EXCERPTS:

JANE PORTER posted an excerpt from Not Fit for a King?, the first book in her upcoming royalty duo, due out in the United Kingdom on December 2 (as in tomorrow, yay!). It will be available in North America early next summer.

JACI BURTON posted an excerpt from A Rare Gift, the second book in the Kent Brothers series, to be released December 5. The novella will also be included in Holiday Kisses, an anthology will also be available on the same day and includes stories from three other authors.

ELOISA JAMES posted Chapter Two from The Duke is Mine, the third installment in her Fairy Tales series, due out on December 27. Eloisa also has a new excerpt for a ebook novella, Winning the Wallflower, due out December 6. And one more for Eloisa: a whole new site up for her upcoming memoir, Paris in Love, (due out April 17), along with a special excerpt.

LAURA LEE GUHRKE posted an excerpt from Trouble at the Wedding, the third installment in the Abandoned at the Altar, due out on December 27.

MAYA BANKS posted an excerpt from Whispers in the Dark, the fourth installment in the KGI series, due out on January 3, 2012.

RED GARNIER posted a special sneak peek excerpt from Legally Hot, an anthology with Lora Leigh and Cheyenne McCray, due out on January 3.

KATE NOBLE posted a special sneak peek excerpt from If I Fall, due out on April 3.

COMING VERY, VERY SOON:

Early December will bring releases from Eloisa James, Laura Lee Guhrke, Jaci Burton, Jennie Lucas, and Lori Foster– and more excerpts from Grace Burrowes, Pamela Palmer, Maya Banks, and Red Garnier. ‘Tis the season, indeed.

Posted by Emily Cotler •• Filed in Fun Site Features, The Book Business, Working on the web, Wrap-ups •• Comments (1)

New Launch: Christine Warren

by Tarrin Petersen
November 16, 2011 – 11:22 am

We are proud to present a new and quite different addition to the Waxcreative portfolio: ChristineWarren.net. Christine pens paranormal romantic suspenses with a cast of supernatural beings, so her site necessarily needed to look darker and grittier than our most recent designs for historical romance authors! We loved getting the chance to work with the site’s prominent reds (it’s no accident that red is Christine’s favorite color), and we think that the playful and bold mix of different fonts reflects the sly humor of Christine’s books. The use of multiple fonts could easily clutter a site, but the combination we used clearly and crisply presents her current series, The Novels of the Others, and lays the groundwork for promoting her many future titles.

Please check out Christine’s site; as she promises, she won’t bite (much).

ChristineWarren.bet

Welcome, Christine!

Posted by Tarrin Petersen •• Filed in New sites •• Comments (1)

We love a sense of humor in web copy

by Emily Cotler
November 11, 2011 – 12:57 pm

Life is too short to be businesslike ALL the time. And the web offers all kinds of opportunities to break molds. Copywise, we love this apology for the site being under construction. Of course, one wonders why the old site wouldn’t suffice while the new one was being built, but there are always extenuating circumstances.

We particularly like the bit about Frank and lunch. It’s memorable in addition to being entertaining and different.

Picture 2

We categorically do NOT, however, like the light grey text on the white background. It’s hard to read, rendering this clever copy annoying to spend time with. Big win, canceled out by unfortunate Fail.

Posted by Emily Cotler •• Filed in Web Aesthetics, Working on the web •• Comments (0)

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