website design for authors
WHY DOES AN AUTHOR NEED A WEBSITE?
Every author who is serious about selling books must have a website. Period.
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Book Discovery - when it comes to readers finding you and your books online, a website is the very best way to be discovered. With Amazon's ever-changing algorithm, they are becoming a less reliable way to market your work.
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Author Platform - your platform, or presence on the net, allows you to control your narrative. You get to introduce yourself in your own way to potential readers. Spending a few hours a week adding content to your site will draw in readers, and more importantly, loyal readers. Your Amazon Author Central Page cannot do that.
WHAT WE FOCUS ON
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CREATING AN AUTHOR PLATFORM
Websites promote you 24/7. Whether your goal is to create your author platform, interact with readers, or provide a behind-the-scenes look at your creative process, you need a 'home' on the net independent of social media. When it comes to readers finding you and your books online, a website is the best way to be discovered.​
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EMAIL MARKETING
If you do not have a mailing list, you are missing out on opportunities. Our websites are fully integrated with your preferred email marketing platform that will capture emails and provide users with exclusive content. If you don't currently have an email marketing platform, Wix has a built-in one with excellent functionality.
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A BLOG WHERE YOU CAN INTERACT WITH YOUR READERS
A blog provides you with a place to develop and grow relationships with your readers. The relationships you will nurture here will mean everything to your book marketing down the road.
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SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
We understand that social media marketing is key to your author business. No online presence is complete without it. So, we will ensure your social media accounts are clearly visible on your site. As well, we recognize that the functionality for fans to share your books and certain aspects of your site to various social media outlets is a powerful marketing tool.
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DESIGNING A CLEAN, RESPONSIVE & EASY-TO-NAVIGATE WEBSITE
Nothing turns a potential reader off faster than an unfriendly and clustered website. If they see your platform as clear, concise, and well organized, they will take it for granted your writing style will be the same. Our websites are built to respond to various screens so it will look great on mobile phones, tablets, and desktops.
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SELLING SIGNED PAPERBACKS
Offer your readers an opportunity to buy autographed print books directly from you.
WHY EVENING SKY DESIGNS
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UNDERSTANDING
As a published author, book blogger, and book cover designer, Kat understands your needs. She understands the importance of book marketing and promotion as a business tool and the importance of using the internet to engage readers.​
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EXPERIENCE
After a lifetime of avid reading and many years of experience in the book publishing industry, supported by a Commerce degree, Kat has gained some great insight and experience into what engages an author's target audience and how to reach them.​ As important as those assets are to any web designer, Kat is humble enough to put your ego aside and listen to you. You know your author's business goals best. So, she will listen to your goals and aspire to make them happen.
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ORIGINALITY
We do not use templates. Each author's website is custom-designed based on your requirements.
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QUALITY
Evening Sky uses one of the top website builders, Wix, to design websites. Wix is a trusted leader in website development, with users in 190 countries. They have 160 million websites worldwide. They were voted the "BEST OVERALL WEBSITE BUILDER FOR 2019" by CNET.COM. While relying on Wix for coding and stability, we focus on the freedom of creative design and building the functionality you need to sell your books.​
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COST-EFFECTIVE
Wix offers a very cost-effective way to publish your website online. You can either publish it on a free plan or upgrade to a Premium Plan (our recommendation). Wix's Premium Plans are professional looking, ad-free, and include your unique domain that can be purchased from Wix or any other domain host. Wix plans for typical authors range from $8-12 a month, depending on the functionality you need.
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What is the formatting process?Our formatting process is simple. You provide us with a standard manuscript document. It doesn't have to be formatted. In fact, the less formatting the better. We'll start with you filling out a questionnaire that will tell us what it is exactly you'll be needing. Once that's received and we are both comfortable with proceeding, we'll send you an invoice via PayPal for the formatting fee. Next stage is where the real magic happens. We take your manuscript and load it into our formatting software. We'll fix errors and design the perfect layout for your book based on your specifications. In an email, we'll provide you with the appropriate files for your inspection. We'll tweak until everything is to your satisfaction. For larger files, we might have to send you a link to Dropbox folder where you can download them from. And then you upload the final files to your retailers, aggregators, and distributors of your choice.
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What is a standard manuscript document?A standard manuscript is your edited Microsoft Word document set up in the following way: ~ Pages set to letter-sized ~ One-inch margins all around ~ Body text should be 12pt Times New Roman or Courier (our software will apply the fonts we select to use for your book.) ~ Body text should be double-spaced ~ Paragraphs should be indented (instead of tabs) ~ No unnecessary spaces between paragraphs ~ Chapters should be started on a new page (after a page break) ~ Chapter Headings should be 14-18pt, centered and bold ~ Scene breaks can be identified with three asterics "***" that are centered ~ There is no need to include a Table of Contents as our software will prepare one
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What is Front Matter?Front matters includes crucial information like your Title Page, Half-Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication, Table of Contents. Front matter could also include other things like blurbs, preface, ISBN, forword, maps, etc.
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What is Back Matter?Following the main text of your book, the back matter could include pages such as Acknowledgments, Endnotes, References, Author Bio, Social Media links, Also By Page, a Call to Action such as page to invite readers to leave a review, Afterword, Appendix, Glossary, etc.
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What is Page Layout Design?This is the careful selection of fonts, font size, page numbering, line spacing, choice of headers and footers, decorative elements like chapter glyphs and ornamental breaks, etc. All these choices need to be appropriate to your genre so that the reader has a more enjoyable reading experience.
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What size Print Books do we format?We format for the most popular trim sizes: 5" x 8", 5.25" x 8", 5.5" x 8.5", and 6' x 9", and a few other trim sizes as well, most international trim sizes, mass market paperback trim sizes and even trim sizes for Large Print. For Large Print, we can accomodate 5.5" x 8.5", 6" x 9", and 6.14" x 9.21"
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How long does it take for us to format your book?It depends on a few factors, however on average, we will provide your formatted book files between 2 - 5 business days.
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If I order a single format now, can I order more later?"Absolutely! And you will just pay the difference when you need more.
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What do I do if I find an error?If you find a formatting error, please contact us and we will fix it immediately. If you find a typo or grammatical error, contact us and we'll discuss. If its merely one little typo, then we can fix that free of charge and send you a new set of files. However, if the error is larger, we'll work something out.
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Do you format Boxed Sets?We sure do! They would fall into the same pricing structure above.
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Do you format Large Print Books?Yes we do. The trim sizes we format for Large Print books include 5.5" x 8.5", 6" x 9" and 6.14" x 9.21". The pricing is the same as stated above.