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Current word count: 17,348

Words written today: 526

Words to goal: 22,652 / 371 words a day til the end of September

Additional writing: revised chapter 20 of first novel; 12 left

I’m all about promoting new authors on Day By Day Writer. You’ve probably noticed that many of the authors I’ve interviewed here are debuting authors or those on their second books; they’re not necessarily recognizable names. Not that I wouldn’t turn down J.K. Rowling if she said she wanted to be on this blog , but there’s something great about being able to spread the word about authors who aren’t as well known.

So, today, I’m showcasing Gwen Cooper’s new website, which I think is really cool.

Gwen’s second book, Homer’s Odyssey, will be on shelves on Aug. 25. (I wrote about the book’s trailer in June.) The book is about Gwen’s life with Homer, her fabulous cat who has no eyes. As a friend of Gwen and her husband, I’ve heard fun stories about Homer and am looking forward to reading more in Homer’s Odyssey (love that name!).

The website looks great, and I think it’s a good example of what a good author’s website should be, at least according to a recent blog post on literary agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. According to guest blogger Jordan McCollum, a writer and Internet marketing guru, the top 7 things an author’s website must have are: a blog, social media, search engine presence, professional design, an about page, examples of the writer’s work and a contact page. Gwen has all of these except the social media links, which I don’t think is a crime; there are still plenty of people who don’t regular haunt Facebook and Twitter.

Have you got a website? Whether you’re a published author or aspiring, here’s an opportunity to promote it by posting it in the comments. I’ll make up a page of author websites that will include all the ones you tell me about. And if you’d like to promote your favorite author websites, do that too. Blogs are allowed as well. These are essential marketing tools and useful to look at, so the page will become a good reference tool for all of us. Post away.

Write On!

P.S. Day By Day Writer will be interviewing Gwen on Sept. 11, so stay tuned for that. Maybe we’ll get her to talk about the creation of her website, among other things.

A friend of mine’s second book is debuting on Aug. 25, and Random House has issued a fun trailer.

The book, Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, is about Gwen’s cat, who has no eyes and manages to roam around as though he has no handicap at all. In the video, Gwen talks about how this adorable cat has inspired her own life. And Homer himself is shown wandering all over Gwen’s New York apartment. Awwww!

Bravo to Random House for doing this video and posting it onlne.

And kudos to Gwen for writing the books. I can’t wait to read it.

Got any fun book trailers you’d like to share?

Write On!