Building a Web Presence

During the years I have worked on my Heaven's Wait project, I have often played around with designs for HW's website. The first one was very crude and basic. The second one was far more massive, including illustrations and links to all the clans, the characters, their environments, their sounds, stories, their food, a glossary, a store and more. The problem was, since I had put aside most of my original manuscript, which dealt with everything that was included in that website, the time was not right to expose it.

I needed to condense my offerings and include only those segments of my vision I had thus far been able to complete. I never imagined that the progress would be so slow. But then, I never expected all the little side trips that would take me wandering off my main path. Thank goodness I had learned the value of staying in the moment and appreciating all that each moment offered!

While I was on my side trips, the online world saw many changes. I found that it was not only necessary to establish a web presence for Heaven's Wait; it was also wise to include a personal web presence. If people started reading my work, they would want to know more about me, the author. It also seemed wise to connect to social networks by blogging and setting up Facebook and Twitter presences for Heaven's Wait. It didn't matter if I went with traditional publishing or self-publishing. Since most of the marketing is up to the writer these days, my work was cut out for me.

I put aside my old website models and started again with fresh pages. Though I still needed to decide how to publish R.J.'s Story, I already had the Drippils and their products in my pocket. I also had trademark protection for Heaven's Wait. I was ready to introduce the name, the Drippils, and my basic vision of Heaven's Wait's home, even if several of the sections and stories were not yet up and running. I struggled to get some of the elements working, like the Flash segments I envisioned and the online shop. I had to depend on the free time of my trusty helpers (my sons Mark and Shaun), so progress was again slow.

In the meantime, I worked on the other parts of the marketing puzzle. I had built a personal website a few years earlier, so I made that link. Visitors were now able to discover a little about me. They had access to my online cookbook and a couple of earlier projects. I established my blog and thought it might be more appealing to readers if it was presented as a true diary of my progress, at least for starters. I wrote a collection of blog entries, so I would have several lined up to publish on a regular basis when the time was right. I established Twitter and Facebook pages for Heaven's Wait.

I just needed to work out the website kinks and push everything out the door. Right?

 

Visit Heaven's Wait's website at: http://www.heavenswait.com/

Visit my personal website at: http://www.frombarbaram.com/