My Pet Project

So here's what I've been working on in my downtime, it's the blog/website for the ViS Universe.

This is a screenshot of one of the main book pages. You choose a title off the list on the left, and it opens a page with a back-of-book-blurb, character list, a playlist of music appropriate for the selected title. On the side are links to background data: languages, history, definitions, maps...

I'm planning on adding pages with fanart (yes, I'm optimistic) and a forum of sorts where the visitors can sign in, leave a comment, and say hello.

Hypertest links the pages so if you go from the screenshot above and click on Ice Rus you get....

A short bio for Ice (rough... it will be edited and made better) and links back to books he is in, art work of Ice, and details about Ice.


So, that's what I've been working on.

The million dollar question, of course, is why am I going through all this trouble?

For several reasons:
1- Blogs and websites are becoming a "Must Have" item for every author. The PR department of a publishing house will only do so much. After that, you have to build your own platform. Since ViS is sci-fi and aimed at a younger, tech-savvy, audience I need a web presence. The majority of my readers are going to people who are comfortable with the internet and who expect to find their favorite things on the web.

2- This is good practice. I'm not very computer-literate, but I'm trying. The more I fiddle with the ViS blog the better I get at putting together a user-friendly, web-friendly, site.

3- It helps me think. When I'm getting mired down in editing it helps to step back and view the big picture. And I really do have a big picture here. Right now there are over 15 books outlined for this universe. It's not a series following one character, but a web of stories all tied together by common themes and common places.

4- It's entertaining, both for me and (I hope) my readers. Right now only one lone beta-reader has access to the site. That will expand as I work on edits. The site won't enter the public domain until I a) get published and b) have the okay of my agent and publishing house.