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YAY, Zu Vincent!

A Web site offers fun features.
There is one part on my Web site that I had a lot of fun doing: thinking of my all-time favorite girl and guy characters in YA lit for my Favorites page. I wanted to write YA because I read it all the time. Because much as I enjoy adult novels, I love YA more. Which means I've read, and loved, an awful lot of YA books with some pretty awesome characters. There are some amazing girl characters out there, and some pretty fabulous guys who spring to life off the written page. So who did I choose to feature on my site? Click on the link below to find out!
~Daphne Grab, Author of Alive and Well in Prague, NY,
http://www.daphnegrab.com/


A Web site is proof.
My publisher tells me that kid readers are especially interested in the authors of the books they read. It's as if they can't believe an actual person wrote the book. A website proves an actual person did write the book, and a well-designed site gives extra interesting details about that person, like how many cats she has. It’s a great way for readers to continue to interact with the book.
~Sarah Prineas, Author of The Magic Thief,
http://www.sarah-prineas.com


Teens spend time online.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because the world is so Internet-ty! Especially because I write for teenagers, who seem to spend lots of time online and be very savvy, it's the most efficient way to reach out to them, let them know about me and my book, events, news, and whatever else is going on in my book-world. I happen to be a writer who's interested in communicating with young readers, so it's a step to accomplishing that. I think teenagers almost expect the experience of a book they love to go beyond the page. Everything else seems to go online somehow! Look at popular TV shows, like Lost, who are doing webisodes to accompany the television broadcasts. Not to mention message boards!
~Liz Gallagher, Author of The Opposite of Invisible,
http://lizgallagher.com/


A strong Web presence can do amazing things for your career.
It cultivates your readership, creates word-of-mouth interest, gains press, excites your publisher, and more. With that in mind I started researching Web site designers by visiting author sites. I noted what layouts and features I liked, what I didn’t and which designers I could afford. I wanted a website that was user friendly, had teen appeal and that I could build on as my career grew. I thought of it like a starter home. I couldn’t spend $5000 on a site (or even $2000), but I could build an affordable base site and add on to it. And later on, if I wanted to, I could always remodel. My site designer, Barb of Jaleroro Web Designs, did a fantastic job of taking my ideas and making them a reality. I’ve already received positive feedback on my site and it has generated interest in my upcoming books.
~Terri Clark, Author of Sleepless,
http://www.terriclarkbooks.com/


Anybody who’s anybody has a Web site.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because everyone keeps telling me that it is, even though I'm not entirely sure what I should put on it. Frankly, I'm a pretty boring person. If I were all that interesting, I wouldn't be spending my time making upstories, now, would I?
~M.P. Barker, Author of A Difficult Boy,
http://mpbarker.net/


Web sites keep Amazon.com in business.
Personal websites make me want to read more books. Sometimes the websites give the back-story of a particular book, and I feel compelled to go straight to Amazon and order the book right away. I’ve discovered some of my favorite books this way, and I suspect I’m not the only one.
~Courtney Sheinmel, Author of My So-Called Family
http://courtneywrites.livejournal.com