Promote YOUR Book's Website

Writers Weekly owner, Angela Hoy, counsels, "Don't put all your sales in one publisher's basket. Before your book goes up for sale, launch your own website or blog and always point potential buyers there." In the article, Promote Your OWN Website, Not Your Publisher's she argues that authors can benefit from having their books' separate websites in several ways: full control of where customers purchase, opportunities to track both visitors and royalties, ease of changing publishers or self-publishing when necessary, access to information for quick updates and instant corrections, persistence if the publisher vanishes, and promotion of upcoming editions or new publications.

I agree with all these reasons and add: information about your book is more easily indexed by search engines if it isn't buried in a huge publisher's website. There is no reason not to have a book promoted on more than one site/page, so make sure nothing in your contract forbids you doing this. O.K., I'll admit to also being a control freak, but in this case, having control of the promotion and sales of your books is beneficial.