Lately, I’ve been heavily committed to my new life as a novelist.
I may not receive that much notoriety for my books and novels yet, though I sought help for that, in which I have been receiving positive reviews and ratings from my audience on GoodReads. All it took for me is reliance, resilience, and budgeting. You know that old saying, “You have to spend more in order to make more.”
Whenever I looked through all my book reviews, I couldn’t help but to feel touched by my audience’s words pertaining to my works. This is basically one of the only things that makes me happy.
After going through my book reviews and ratings, I thought, “Why stop there?”
While I was going through YouTube videos for inspirations, I came by this two-minute video after ad about Squarespace starred by the one and only Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. I’ve watched that ad about a million times; I couldn’t resist it, Oscar the Grouch is the most relatable character I’ve ever love ever since I was a kid.
Anyway, after rewatching that ad a myriad of times, I recalled what my sister-in-law told me before the last time she and my brother visited me. She mentioned something about creating a website about my books. I’ve spent long, consecutive weeks thinking about that because it was too much of a big step for me, especially when I don’t want any praise and attention from a lot of people. Remember, I hate getting spotlights.
Just recently this week, I thought about it.
At first, I was reluctant about doing what my sister-in-law recommended me; as aforementioned, I was not ready yet. But then, right on New Year’s Eve… I decided to do it.
You may assume that this is a New Year’s resolution for me despite that I never believe in them.
I decided to try Squarespace just because of Oscar the Grouch.
When I first opened my Squarespace account, I was ambivalent about it from the beginning because I was still reluctant about it.
What I simply did is I chose my desirable template that is suitable for my website. Then, I posted photos of my books, wrote their descriptions, and that was about it. I even created my own logo and profile banner for my website to post there.
I am just glad that there is no coding involved. It was a relief since I am not that tech savvy.
It may be difficult at first, albeit with all my patience and using my PC with a mouse rather than my laptop with only a trackpad, I was able to create it.
For the colors: as much as I am obsessed with the color purple since it’s my favorite color, I wanted to tone down my signature color by using more mature colors, such as beige and black. Besides, beige is the color of books anyway. I don’t want to overdo the purple because I wanted it to be professional and more as a serious author. Although, I still wanted to incorporate my signature color, so I made the link buttons purple. That’s about it.
After my website is done, I looked at my hard work and dedication to my website… I felt proud of it.
I published it by the time it was officially finished.
Paying for the domain and the annual plan may be over my budget, albeit I made it be paid annually (every year), so that I can conserve my budget. Remember, I have to spend more in order to make more.
Then, the moment came.
I waited.
The next day, I decided to check out the results.
I realized that I received over 100 views on my website in just less than a day.
Not to be grandiose, though I was heavily ecstatic about it. It is a huge step for my career.
To be honest, my book website is mainly a public online portfolio of my published books, nothing else. Each of my books I posted on my website has links attached to Amazon, so technically speaking, my audience is basically ordering my books from Amazon. I don’t exactly want to sell my physical books directly from my website because I’ve had too many issues with delivery and tax the last time I tried selling online. So, I don’t want to do that. I want to do whatever feels right, appropriate, and convenient for me.
Even though my website is just an online portfolio, I have enough sanguinity that it will still bring more notoriety to my published books.
It may not be right away; it just takes time. I definitely don’t want to rush and gain a spotlight instantly, I want to take it slow and still keep my humility.
I thank Squarespace, Oscar the Grouch, and even my sister-in-law for recommending me to do this.
I am proud of taking this step further.
(Link to my website is in my homepage. Just click on the profile banner.)