Yes, it does. As you can see from these testimonials, the feedback we get from authors is really good. How well the site works for you personally will depend on what you are able to offer and how well you present yourself.
We welcome applications from authors who live in the UK and who have had at least one book published in the UK. We are also willing to consider scriptwriters who have been professionally produced and poets with a good track record in anthologies.
We prefer authors who have been published by mainstream publishers. However, we are willing to consider non-fiction authors who have contributed to the cost of publication if their books are difficult to get published by the traditional route because they appeal to a niche market. We rarely acccept fiction writers who have paid for publication, unless they have particular skills or knowledge that may interest our site users.
Advertising your availability on Contact an Author costs £49.50 a year.
Register on our website, and complete the profile and then ask us to "approve" you as an author (you don't have to pay anything at this stage).
We look at all applications individually and, when we do turn someone down, we try do so gently.
You get your own web page within the site, an entry in the database and a listing on any site searches that pick you out. Your web page is completely under your control and can be found via external search engines such as Google as well as by the specialised search facility on the site.
To enable you to make full use of the site, you have a password protected administration page that allows you to change your page content, picture and other details whenever you like. It also lets you see how many times you've been picked out on a search and how many times your page has been viewed.
In addition, we occasionally pass on requests for authors that come into our office. These usually have very specific requirements that can't be easily met via the normal search facility and have included a school in Saudi Arabia who wanted an author visit and a major book chain who wanted to organise an author visit for each of their shops.
Yes, we promote the site as widely as possible, both on and off line. So far this has included advertising in Writers News, The Times Educational Supplement, The School Librarian and The Women's Institute magazine. We have emailed every school in the country about the site several times, sent flyers to all UK publishers and national newspapers and emailed many conference organisers and others who use speakers.
The site has good rankings on Google and we run an ongoing Google Adwords campaign which ensures it shows up on as many relevant searches as possible.
We constantly review our promotion to make sure it's as effective as possible and welcome suggestions from our advertisers. Recently we've moved away from email promotion as it was becoming less effective and have stepped up the print advertising.
The Details section of your page gives you the freedom to put as much information you like, including details of your writing background, reviews and testimonials, your experience as a speaker and what happens at one of your workshops.
Other sections of the page include a picture of you or one of your books, your contact details, a link to your website if you have one, the types of books you write and the titles of your most recent and/or best known books as you wish. You can choose to link some or all of the books to their pages on amazon.co.uk which provide extra information and the opportunity for site users to order the books.
No. Your webpage on the site provides a useful alternative to having your own site as it enables people to locate you via the web. You can give people the address of your page so they can go there directly, and you can link to it from other sites.
We'll send you an email to let you know and your page will be live. You also have the option to temporarily hide your page if you want to change it.
No. When you log in to your section of the site, you'll find that we've broken the process of putting your information on Contact an Author into small, easy to manage steps with lots of advice to help you understand what to do. In the rare event that you do run into problems, you can contact us by email or phone and we'll do our best to help.
You have to pay before you start to show up on searches. However, it's sensible to delay paying until you've entered all the information on your page and are ready for your entry to go live.
You can pay by debit/credit card or by cheque. Card payments are handled by the Nochex payment system. We've chosen Nochex as a payment option as it is based in the UK and subject to the Data Protection Act.
If there's anything else you would like to ask, please email us at info@contactanauthor.co.uk.
Contact an Author is passionate about getting you the right bookings, and without taking commission.
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