Pub Site's guest appearances

Pub Site

Go Publish Yourself: An IngramSpark Podcast

Author Friendly

Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA)

San Francisco Writers Conference Podcast

John Burke

Brooke Warner

Robin Cutler

Fauzia Burke

Angela Bole

Adam Croft

Carla King

Nicole Johnson

Maria Dismondy

Amy Collins

Mark Coker

Mike Sacks

Kevin Tumlinson

Joel Friedlander

Anna Todd

OwlTail

Web design expert, John Burke, joins Robin Cutler to discuss author websites. Does an author need a website? How can you use your website to market your book? What all should you put on your author website? Tune in to learn more and publish your book with IngramSpark at https://selfpub.is/2XfzcPF. This episode is sponsored by The Hot Sheet, a publishing industry e-newsletter, delivering context and analysis on issues affecting authors today. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at https://selfpub.is/2LvcqhR. 

Web design expert, John Burke, joins Robin Cutler to discuss author websites. Does an author need a website? How can you use your website to market your book? What all should you put on your author website? Tune in to learn more and publish your book with IngramSpark at <a href="https://selfpub.is/2XfzcPF." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://selfpub.is/2XfzcPF.</a> This episode is sponsored by The Hot Sheet, a publishing industry e-newsletter, delivering context and analysis on issues affecting authors today. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at <a href="https://selfpub.is/2LvcqhR." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://selfpub.is/2LvcqhR.</a>

Author Websites: A Conversation with the Founder of Pub Site

Topics include:should you use Wordpress? (hint: probably not, unless you’re good at fixing things)why every author needs a websitewhat is the purpose of your website?the importance of having a professional look to design and organizationhow much content? a lot is fine . . . but it needs to be well organized!provide a short bio and a long bio, a short book description and a long book description; let visitors to your site check out your content on the home page and then drill down using menus to discover morehow to use the website to drive sales: having great content is key to making people want to buy, so that is the first stepmost authors will choose to direct sales to online retailers, since handling your own sales can be complicated and time-consuming; plus, having a sales presence on Amazon can improve your rating and get reviews for your bookthe website should be about you, the author, to allow for it to expand if you publish more books in the futureavoid doing too much fancy stuff and using trendy effects: they get old and tired quickly; minimal design is bestall websites must be responsive, that is, they must work on smartphones as well as desktops (and Google will delist you from search results if your site is not up to snuff!)IMPORTANT! always register your domain under your name so that you have control of it; never let the people you hire as developers register your domain on your behalfLinksPub Site: a website-building servicehttps://pub-site.com/FSB Associates: a full-service marketing and publicity firmhttps://fsbassociates.com/ParticipantsJohn Burke is the co-founder of Pub Site, an easy-to-use website building platform designed specifically for authors and books, and is the COO of FSB Associates, a publicity firm specializing in promoting books and authors on the web.Burke worked for several publishers including Crown, McGraw-Hill, Addison Wesley, and John Wiley, as well as in bookstores, before joining FSB Associates to launch its website development efforts. Their first website — one of the first ever author sites on the web — was for Sue Grafton.Since then, John has developed over two hundred author websites, ranging from one book to over eighty. He is based in San Diego, California.Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.For more information, go to IBPA at https://www.ibpa-online.org/.

<h2>Topics include:</h2><ul><li>should you use Wordpress? (hint: probably not, unless you’re good at fixing things)</li><li>why every author needs a website</li><li>what is the purpose of your website?</li><li>the importance of having a professional look to design and organization</li><li>how much content? a lot is fine . . . but it needs to be well organized!</li><li>provide a short bio and a long bio, a short book description and a long book description; let visitors to your site check out your content on the home page and then drill down using menus to discover more</li><li>how to use the website to drive sales: having great content is key to making people want to buy, so that is the first step</li><li>most authors will choose to direct sales to online retailers, since handling your own sales can be complicated and time-consuming; plus, having a sales presence on Amazon can improve your rating and get reviews for your book</li><li>the website should be about you, the author, to allow for it to expand if you publish more books in the future</li><li>avoid doing too much fancy stuff and using trendy effects: they get old and tired quickly; minimal design is best</li><li>all websites must be responsive, that is, they must work on smartphones as well as desktops (and Google will delist you from search results if your site is not up to snuff!)</li><li>IMPORTANT! always register your domain under your name so that you have control of it; never let the people you hire as developers register your domain on your behalf</li></ul><h2>Links</h2>Pub Site: a website-building service <a href="https://pub-site.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://pub-site.com/</a>FSB Associates: a full-service marketing and publicity firm <a href="https://fsbassociates.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://fsbassociates.com/</a><h2>Participants</h2>John Burke is the co-founder of <a href="https://pub-site.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pub Site</a>, an easy-to-use website building platform designed specifically for authors and books, and is the COO of <a href="https://fsbassociates.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FSB Associates</a>, a publicity firm specializing in promoting books and authors on the web.Burke worked for several publishers including Crown, McGraw-Hill, Addison Wesley, and John Wiley, as well as in bookstores, before joining FSB Associates to launch its website development efforts. Their first website — one of the first ever author sites on the web — was for Sue Grafton.Since then, John has developed over two hundred author websites, ranging from one book to over eighty. He is based in San Diego, California.Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of <a href="https://www.stonebridge.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stone Bridge Press</a> in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.For more information, go to IBPA at <a href="https://www.ibpa-online.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.ibpa-online.org/</a>.

Websites for indie publishers: tips, cautions, and strategies, with guest John Burke of Pub Site

This episode with Pub Site is for you if you don’t have an author website yet or if you’re struggling with your website. Even if you have a great website you'll learn some things. Promise! Pub Site is a super easy-to-use website builder just for authors and it only cost $20 a month. Husband and wife author and publisher marketing team John and Fauzia Burke developed it after 20 years of creating author websites. Among the big names they’ve designed websites for are Alan Alda, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy. They showed me Pub Site last year and I‘ve been enthusiastic about sharing it with authors ever since. John and I talk through a few sites that Pub Site authors have created and the different customizations they’ve chosen and why. I’ve linked to them in the show notes.  We also talk about how to configure your email newsletter, create header images for your site, how the BUY buttons work (a particular pain point they solved nicely), getting a domain name (John recommends GoDaddy and so do I) and why you need to keep your domain name separate from your hosting account. Author and book websites are not like other product sites and, though builders like Wix and Squarespace are pretty and easy to use you’ll learn about their weaknesses as author site builders. And the weaknesses and difficulties of Wordpress sites, too. Finally, we get into mistakes authors make with their websites and top tips for creating an effective website and what’s important to Google. It’s a lot to pack into a half an hour, and subscribers get a link to some bonus content from this and other episodes. You can subscribe at SelfPubBootCamp.com and that way you can also let you know when I publish a new episode.

This episode with Pub Site is for you if you don’t have an author website yet or if you’re struggling with your website. Even if you have a great website you'll learn some things. Promise! Pub Site is a super easy-to-use website builder just for authors and it only cost $20 a month. Husband and wife author and publisher marketing team John and Fauzia Burke developed it after 20 years of creating author websites. Among the big names they’ve designed websites for are Alan Alda, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy. They showed me Pub Site last year and I‘ve been enthusiastic about sharing it with authors ever since. John and I talk through a few sites that Pub Site authors have created and the different customizations they’ve chosen and why. I’ve linked to them in the show notes.  We also talk about how to configure your email newsletter, create header images for your site, how the BUY buttons work (a particular pain point they solved nicely), getting a domain name (John recommends GoDaddy and so do I) and why you need to keep your domain name separate from your hosting account. Author and book websites are not like other product sites and, though builders like Wix and Squarespace are pretty and easy to use you’ll learn about their weaknesses as author site builders. And the weaknesses and difficulties of Wordpress sites, too. Finally, we get into mistakes authors make with their websites and top tips for creating an effective website and what’s important to Google. It’s a lot to pack into a half an hour, and subscribers get a link to some bonus content from this and other episodes. You can subscribe at <a href="http://SelfPubBootCamp.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SelfPubBootCamp.com</a> and that way you can also let you know when I publish a new episode.

19: John Burke, Pub Site, an easy-to-use website builder just for authors and books