Beyond Writing: Helpful Sites for Authors

December 8, 2014
Updated: February 15, 2022
By Sharon Goldinger

Last Updated on February 15, 2022

Writing and publishing are more than just words on paper or in electronic files. Books often involve legal questions, marketing plans, and social media networking.

Let's consider a legal issue: You write a great book, but can you copyright the work? the title? What about trademark? Can a book be trademarked? Helen Sedwick, an author and California attorney, offers answers to these questions in her article “Trademark: Let's Meet Copyright's Half Sister.”

What happens when you cross Twitter and authors? Sometimes you find helpful websites that present a variety of information. For example, www.TweetTopicExplorer.neoformix.com shows visitors what you or others are tweeting about in a category or on a topic. Another site, www.BuzzSumo.com, provides a way for authors to type in a keyword and see who is offering the most on Twitter about that subject. For more of these interesting sites, check out “20 Useful Websites for Authors.”

Most authors have their own websites—unquestionably it is one of the best ways to build an audience and a platform. But do you know the best way to write your book's landing page? Check out “Your Book Landing Page—Can't-Miss Headline Writing Secrets (and Mistakes to Avoid)” for some great tips on how to improve yours.

And speaking of websites, who couldn't use more traffic? Writing and publishing expert Jane Friedman has some excellent suggestions in her article “10 Ways to Build Long-Lasting Traffic to Your Author Website or Blog.” And it wouldn't hurt you to subscribe to her useful and information-packed blog, either.

A question I ask all authors I work with is, “How are you going to reach your readers?” The answer is usually found in social search techniques. In an article for the Alliance of Independent Authors, author coach Connie Brentford provides some creative tips for finding out where readers are, what they are saying about your books, and how you can connect with them.

Another useful social media network is Google+. Some, like Jane Friedman, believe that Google+ is better than Facebook for building an author's platform. She gives the reasons why in her article “6 Reasons Google+ Beats Facebook for Author Platform Building.”

Do you have websites, blogs, or books that you've found helpful? Let me know.