Okay! Opinion time, as in yours and please and thank you for this. I’m contemplating how to set up the writing part of my site to be most useful for new readers. I’ve seen suggestions lately that you have a page for every book you own, and that page would have links to leaving reviews, requesting it at bookstores, etc (for instance, this blog page here from Createspace).
Now, I have to imagine if I had a menu with 50+ drop-downs (one per title) people would look at it and go do something else. But the question remains… how do I help people decide to read my books?
So I am asking you. Pick one of my stories you liked. Imagine that you’re going to recommend it to someone who’s never heard of me. You want to give them… a link. What is that link? Is directly to Amazon? Is it to a page on my site about the book? Or about the series/setting? What would make it easiest for you to get that info to someone else?
Or maybe there’s a book I’ve written in a series you haven’t tried… what would you want to see to make the decision on whether you want to read it?
Inquiring jaguars want to know! Help? :)
I’m the type of reader that really likes pursuing a series, and I’ve used the setting/series pages on your wiki already to figure out which books to read – and especially the recommended order! But if I’m going to recommend a specific book/story to someone to read, I’d prefer to direct link them to the amazon page (or another page that has a description and a buy here button, i.e. smashwords). So maybe series/setting pages here on your website, but prominently featuring the “buy here” links?
Divide them up by setting/series first? That’d keep people from seeing 50+ books from the initial drop-down menu, at least. I’m not sure how that would end up for the series themselves, but… If you feel a series/setting is too long for a menu, perhaps it’d be an idea to subdivide it along these lines: Best Story To Start With, Other Novels, Related Short Fiction? I’m not sure how wieldly that’d be, though. It’s not a structure I’ve seen used before anyway.
I second capriox’ suggestion of having prominent “Buy here” links on them, by the by. If I’m interested enough in a book to buy it, I’m perfectly happy to search for the title myself at retailers, but I’d vastly prefer to be able to get to that same page with a single click from where I was snagged into wanting the book. Instant gratification and laziness and all that. ^-~
Hope that gives you some ideas!