| Author |
Message |
    
Bill Park (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 208.190.203.2
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 10:53 am: |   |
I contacted Author's Den last year but have not taken advantage of their services with listings of any kind. What has been your experience with them? Was the experience worth the effort? Thanks in advance for your replies and advice. |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2289
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 11:08 am: | |
I can't afford a regular website and maintenance so I have had a site on Authorsden since my first book was published. I have no clue whether it has resulted in sales, but I do get many networking contacts. I got the upgrade for an annual fee. Can't remember what it was, but reasonable. I get a LOT of page hits and any time I post something new there I seem to get a lot of traffic. For whatever that is worth.
Some authors "work their Den" quite successfully. Unlike them, I am not very creative, but I do the best I can.
In lieu of a real website, it works out well for me and is very easy to do. Just fill in the blanks and voila! It shows up on the page once you post whatever it is.
Hope that helped, Bill. If it will help, you can check out my den to see what I do with it. www.authorsden.com/laurelajohnson |
Steven Shrewsbury
Wandering Member
Post Number:
228
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 12:18 pm: | |
Nice site on there, laurel. What, no pic????
Here is the link to my DEN place
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?id=5480
Bit it is a bit outdated....since they started to charge rent and all...
A few of my poems and an essay are on there, no available elsewhere... |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
636
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 06:48 pm: | |
Bill,
I am on the special plan with a lifetime membership for 24.95 that was offered a while back. I have had about 31 hits to my update about being put into Marquis Who's Who in America, and whether or not they helped make a sale. I have no idea. According to PA, because I didn't receive any royalty statement whatsoever for this last half year, I have no way of finding out. But go check out my page: http://www.authorsden.com/claudiaturnervanlydegraf
I think that the page helps some, but like I stated, how much, I don't know. Anyway, for the price I paid, I will keep it forever, cause that was the deal.
My web page is http://notesfromnobody.homestead.com/book.html Check it out too.
Claudia |
Stephanie S. Sawyer
Awareness Member
Post Number:
42
Registered: 08-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 08:27 pm: | |
I've really enjoyed my den site in the past year. I didn't know if I'd ever write another book though I still have a thread running through my head. (No poem there!) However, my pen and my hand, longhand, are enjoying expanding my 'articles' section. Of course, this all goes into it's normal format. I also enjoy maintaining the 'events' and 'news' columns. If anything, it keeps me mindful of the need to keep plugging forward. I think if we each did this completely individually we would throw in the towel far faster. I enjoy the feedback I receive on my articles (Thank you, Laurel!) and it's having the effect on me of revealing to me how much I like this genre.
I'd like to know more about the offers for promotion there and the effects therein. My hubby, manager, God love him! - just updated my regular website www.facingme.com to link into my den site. I keep telling others around me about these articles which are whipping out of my pen but are not necessarily tied into my book. If nothing more, the den site helps me to stay active and encourages me to expand by my desire to keep it up to date and not look stale.
I invite you to visit anytime!
www.authorsden.com/stephaniessawyer
and I appreciate all comments.
Stephanie |
Matt Dinniman
Hunger Member
Post Number:
61
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 10:18 am: | |
I checked it out, but I it was after they started charging for their sites. I tried to get to the page where it says how much it is, etc., but you gotta sign up first I guess. How much is it again? |
sophie simonet
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
650
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 10:28 am: | |
I'd rather be writing than tinkering with a website, but since it seems to be a prerequisite that writers have them, I went with Authorsden because they were initially free and most people have heard of them. The basic facts about my publications are up. Never expected much from the site because it hosts thousands of writers, so I was pleasantly surprised when some people actually bothered to post some nice reviews on my poems.
www.authorsden.com/sophiesimonet |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
637
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 12:07 pm: | |
Matt,
I think it is $9.95/mo for the basic, but the prices have changed a bit, maybe. You can get a gold membership for a $100/yr, however I got in when they were having their drive with a lifetime offering for $24.95, but that is only for a basic service, no bells & whistles. I can upgrade my page and get stats about how many visits, and check the messages, etc and my book is offered through their deal with PA also. Don't know what the program is but, PA is involed and there is a thread about it somewhere on the pages.
It is a very simple site to set up and a lot of people do go there to check things out, and it is a well-known place for writers, as in everybody has a site there, or if you want information and only know a persons name, you can go there and usually find them. Internet sites come and go, but AuthorsDen has been around for a long time, comparatively.
Claudia
|
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2292
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 12:54 pm: | |
I think I paid $59 for a year. For all the bells and whistles. I have been amazed at the page stats. As I mentioned earlier, I don't actively work the AD community like some people do, nor am I very well known, but I get a tremendous number of page hits a month. My links also get many click throughs.
That tells me there is traffic passing through all the time, whether it translates to sales or not. Perhaps it adds to name recognition. |
Matt Dinniman
Hunger Member
Post Number:
62
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 12:59 pm: | |
That's cool. 9.95/a month seems a little expensive to me, but the built-in traffic is a definite plus. I pay 5.95/month for my website, and that included the domain name (I have to stay for a year, though). The upside is my own domain, email address, control. The downside, which is a biggie, is the isolation. Plus it's kinda a pain to do your own website when you're html stupid. Do you guys know if you've sold many books to complete strangers through your site? |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
639
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 01:37 pm: | |
I don't know about people actually buying books from my site on AD, but I do have a webpage of my own and have it linked to my AD site, also PA and Amazon and B&N are linked to the AD site. It is easy to do, and it sort of takes away some of the isolation that you are speaking of with your own site. My webpage is with Homestead and I like them and building the page was easy and there again, I am only paying $6.95/mo for it. I am able to get my own domain name thru them, but just haven't bothered to, as my bookmarks and all sorts of other things are out with my homestead.com name on them. I know it would be easy and Homestead will shift visitors over to my site, but I would have to change all the other things. Anyway, I am up on Google about 5 pages worth and if anyone wants to really find my book, all they would have to do is look me up on Google.
Your webpage might not be as isolated as you think..... ??? Check out your name on Google and see how many places you are listed. But any amount of exposure you can get is worth it, I think. So, I just keep things the way they are and sort of let every and anyone know where to find my listings. I don't know how that translates into book sales though. As I said before, I have not gotten a royalty statement for the last period, so maybe it doesn't translate at all. According to the way PA does it, if I haven't sold any books, I don't get a royalty statement, I guess. However, I haven't called them about it. I may do that this week, if I get bothered enough about it.
Claudia |
Bill Park (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 66.140.85.41
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 02:30 pm: | |
I thank everyone for their insight and suggestions. I went ahead and signed up taking advantage of their 'Grandfather Clause' (how'd they know how old I was?) at a lifetime $25 fee. Maybe they're betting grandfathers won't live too long! We'll see how it all works out. At twenty-five bucks, I figured what the hey! Thanks again. Mindsight's a super site. |
sophie simonet
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
651
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 02:42 pm: | |
I paid $24.99 for the year--no bells and whistles. I have enough difficulty with the nuts and bolts. Our illustrious and industrious host, CEW, will be posting my book cover on AD shortly (he designed the cover himself, incidentally).
Laurel, thank you for adding your review. I just saw that and it made my day. You are so sweet. |
Bill Park (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 66.140.75.3
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - 11:34 am: | |
Gave AuthorsDen as much as I can at the moment, including, bio, novels published, reviews, my website and author's interview links...have to figure out how to provide a photo. I invite you to view same at: www.authorsden.com/williampark |
Susan Jahme (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 198.54.202.2
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 08:38 pm: | |
Sorry to edit your post - did you intend to write something other than format marks?
Mindsight Forum Administration
(Message edited by admin on November 10, 2003) |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2413
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 05:15 am: | |
I invited Susan Jahnme to visit Mindsight for information she is seeking. I told her it was the only author site I visit and that most of the people are professional and helpful.
I imagine if all that appeared were format marks, that she got an error message and could not post. That used to happen to me all the time until I figured out in my non technical mind what was wrong.
Susan is a writer from another part of the world. A published author. I hope she will return and try again.
Hi Susan!! |
Stephanie S. Sawyer
Awareness Member
Post Number:
43
Registered: 08-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 01:43 pm: | |
All right, Laurel: I must be well enough to show up here again. - what's a 'format mark'? - Put up with me (!) as I know you very well do! - Stephanie
www.authorsden.com/stephaniessawyer |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2432
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 02:13 pm: | |
Hi Stephanie. good to see ya.
I don't know how to describe format marks. But say for example I wanted to change how my message appeared. As I create a post there is a line above the posting box with buttons to choose whether to bold, italicize, underline, change color, font or font size. If I choose them and then do not write anything, all that shows up is the format marks. Clear as mud eh? |
Stephanie S. Sawyer
Awareness Member
Post Number:
44
Registered: 08-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 03:13 pm: | |
That's good enough - and it's precisely why I go running for hubby/mgr. whenever this machine goes over my head. (He's working today.) 
It was so funny appearing at a meeting this morning in which I have not appeared for over six months or so. All these ladies sitting around talking about printers and 'the best' computers and scanners. On and on..... This was a church group.
It was wild for me!
I'm so used to being self-employed, mostly on the piano and as a teacher, that I get very out-of-touch with how others yikyak about all this computer lingo! I never get exposed to office talk other than these boards! - and all my colleagues talk about Bach and Gillock and Mier - anyone want to take me on?????
It IS getting clearer though! I could actually follow some of their conversation, and the funny thing was that these were ladies all a generation over my head. And I'm moving into the generation wher I could be a grandmother. I'm wrong to assume it's all the 'newer' generation only anymore! LOL - and learning every day.
Stephanie
www.authorsden.com/stephaniessawyer
www.facingme.com |
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