You probably have an about the author section in the back of your book with your photo, biography, and links to your online sites.
Do you just have a list of websites, including your blog, Facebook page, Twitter, fan page, email newsletter, or other websites? Or do you also include a little more.
Here’s what you should consider adding, if you don’t already have it: a reason.
Why should the reader or fan visit the page?
If you can concisely provide a compelling reason for people to visit your sites, this can improve the chances that they will check them out.
Compare these examples.
- Chris McMullen
- blog: www.chrismcmullen.wordpress.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Mcmullen/390266614410127
- Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisDMcMullen
Versus
- Chris McMullen
- Find free publishing resources at www.chrismcmullen.wordpress.com
If I include the latter in a book related to self-publishing, it’s more likely to stimulate interest in my blog.
Here are some more examples:
- Visit my fan page at ___ to view maps and to read bonus material.
- Sign up for my email newsletter at ___ to learn about new releases and special sale prices.
- Check out my author website at ___ to see character sketches and learn how the book came about.
- Read poetry and romantic short stories on my blog at ___.
- Download a free PDF booklet with 100 book marketing ideas from my website, ___.
Of course, instead of ‘my’ you can write your name (with the apostrophe and s).
Think beyond the about the author section of your books. Anywhere you provide a link to one of your sites, consider including a concise note of what to expect.
On the other hand, if there isn’t likely to be anything of interest, don’t add a reason. For example, if your Twitter page is identical to your blog posts, provide a reason to visit your blog, but simply say, “or follow me at Twitter at ___.”
Also, don’t hype it up to make it sound better than it is. If people make a trip to your site and see something different from what they were expecting, probably all you did was waste their time and cause some frustration.
Publishing Resources
I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:
Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.
chrismcmullen 
Honestly, I never thought of including my social media in the author bio. I do eBooks mostly, so I’m not even sure it’s on there. Do you think an Amazon and a Goodreads Author page makes the ‘in book’ not as essential in regards to eBooks? Not sure I believe it, but it’s a random thought.
In the e-book, you can include an active hyperlink, which is even better. If one person clicks on it and visits any of your pages (fan page, blog, Goodreads, whatever you feel might be relevant for the reader), it would seem worthwhile.
The key is relevance. If the site may be relevant to the reader, I would provide a link and a brief note. If you don’t see it being relevant for most of the readers, then I wouldn’t include it (unless a note would help filter out for whom it would be helpful).
Never knew about that. I’ll have to remember it for when I release my special project and future books. Since the site is the name of the series, it would appear to be incredibly relevant. Not sure how that will work when I move on to other series though.
I’ve had to take the links out of my ebooks on Smashwords (which is most of them) because Apple objected to the fact that I have a link on my wordpress blog to books for sale on Amazon. Ridiculous! But unfortunately Smashwords don’t give you the option to have one version for Premium and another for Smashwords distribution.
Good tips, thanks.
That’s wild, and good to know. 🙂