June 18th, 2009 / 5:30 pm
 Web Hype

A Field Guide for the Literary Web Site: Authors’ Pages, A-D

education0102Author websites generally fall into two broad categories: A) The Slick and Professional Page; these are useful when the author just wants a functional thing that will make other people take them seriously and some contact information just in case anyone has a bag of money to send them. Generally, it’s journalists who go this route. Take Richard Morgan’s website for example. (Bonus points for the Anagram.)

Then there are the author websites that are meant to do something else entirely, to be a thing in and of themselves. Maybe they have a good blog or art or something attached. Maybe they have some kind of page-maze to click through. Here are some of my favorites:

Ander Monson’s website (OtherElectricities.com) Monson has some great essays posted. The whole website reads more like an e-book than a website and the design is great.

Aimee Bender (Flammableskirt.com) I like the writing exercises section and all the illustrations are good.

Ben Marcus’s site (Benmarcus.com) is really awesome, but I think it’s broken or something right now. Ben had a section called “Disguises” that was a bunch of pictures of people who looked like him (Big bald headed white guys with glasses, Caucasian Jimmy Chens.) Don’t know what’s wrong with the…

Chelsea Martin (Jerkethics.com) Duh. I felt like I had to include this on the list even though you’ve probably all seen it. Chelsea’s drawings are rad. ( and the drawings are very good::: )

David Shields (Davidshields.com) Shields’s site is really well designed and the front page is a picture of his bald head.

More to come…

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22 Comments

  1. June 18th, 2009 / 9:45 pm jwvpk—

      Hi, these are really great! Thanks… but when I click on them it gives me a 404 not found error because (I think) you have the format wrong for keeping their sites in the htmlgiant frames? But I direct cut n pasted and these are a nice resource. Thanks for sharing.

  2. June 18th, 2009 / 5:45 pm jwvpk—

      Hi, these are really great! Thanks… but when I click on them it gives me a 404 not found error because (I think) you have the format wrong for keeping their sites in the htmlgiant frames? But I direct cut n pasted and these are a nice resource. Thanks for sharing.

  3. June 18th, 2009 / 9:54 pm Blake Butler—

      thanks, fixed the links

  4. June 18th, 2009 / 5:54 pm Blake Butler—

      thanks, fixed the links

  5. June 18th, 2009 / 10:45 pm jereme—

      no love for jimmy chen?

      i think his website is pretty fucking sweet.

  6. June 18th, 2009 / 6:45 pm jereme—

      no love for jimmy chen?

      i think his website is pretty fucking sweet.

  7. June 18th, 2009 / 11:12 pm Nathan (Nate) Tyree—

      I dig Sam Pink’s site and also xTx’s

  8. June 18th, 2009 / 7:12 pm Nathan (Nate) Tyree—

      I dig Sam Pink’s site and also xTx’s

  9. June 18th, 2009 / 11:20 pm Jimmy Chen—

      she’s only at the ‘D’s, alphabetical by first-name, though I recently changed mine to wordpress and have lost a lot of design control because i don’t know CSS and right now it sort of blows.

  10. June 18th, 2009 / 7:20 pm Jimmy Chen—

      she’s only at the ‘D’s, alphabetical by first-name, though I recently changed mine to wordpress and have lost a lot of design control because i don’t know CSS and right now it sort of blows.

  11. June 18th, 2009 / 11:38 pm jereme—

      oh i didn’t notice the first name sort. first name sort seems really weird to me like glory hole sex.

  12. June 18th, 2009 / 7:38 pm jereme—

      oh i didn’t notice the first name sort. first name sort seems really weird to me like glory hole sex.

  13. June 18th, 2009 / 11:40 pm Ken Baumann—
  14. June 18th, 2009 / 7:40 pm Ken Baumann—
  15. June 19th, 2009 / 8:18 am Michael James—

      I used to visit Chelsea’s website sometimes just to look at the woman cradling the baby t-rex. And laugh. Because that’s hilariously frightening. She has a smile on her face. And that t-rex is damn cute. I mean, geeze. I want one.

      Then it’ll chew off my face and I can go, “Hello Clarice.”

      or “Hello Chelsea” if I ever meet her.

      Anyway…

  16. June 19th, 2009 / 4:18 am Michael James—

      I used to visit Chelsea’s website sometimes just to look at the woman cradling the baby t-rex. And laugh. Because that’s hilariously frightening. She has a smile on her face. And that t-rex is damn cute. I mean, geeze. I want one.

      Then it’ll chew off my face and I can go, “Hello Clarice.”

      or “Hello Chelsea” if I ever meet her.

      Anyway…

  17. June 19th, 2009 / 10:55 am Todd Colby—

      gleefarm.blogspot.com has a poetry party going on everyday.

  18. June 19th, 2009 / 6:55 am Todd Colby—

      gleefarm.blogspot.com has a poetry party going on everyday.

  19. June 19th, 2009 / 2:15 pm reynard seifert—

      jesus people, can you read the fucking title?! sorry, but that’s just…man, i need some coffee.

  20. June 19th, 2009 / 10:15 am reynard seifert—

      jesus people, can you read the fucking title?! sorry, but that’s just…man, i need some coffee.

  21. June 19th, 2009 / 2:52 pm Catherine Lacey—

      ha ha…

  22. June 19th, 2009 / 10:52 am Catherine Lacey—

      ha ha…