AuthorPromo.com Client Sites

Michael Harmon, Author of SKATE (booksbyharmon.com): This site is a liquid layout, filling the browser window no matter the width. The author requested the following design elements: black and red color scheme to match the SKATE book jacket design, a skateboarder image and a barbed wire border.

I included a stock photo of a skateboarder as a footer page element, and used a stylized version of the image in the header/banner area, going for a harder-edged look to compliment the barbed wire border of the site.

The site is designed to appeal to the tastes of the YA (young adult) readership of the author's current and forthcoming books.

Darrin J. Seppinni, Author of Millionaire Mortgage Broker and The Mortgage Originator Success Kit (mortgage-smarts.com): Since this design promotes the novels of a mortgage broker specialist, the design employs a more conservative look than, for instance, booksbyharmon.com above. (The two sites were designed around the same time.)

For this fixed-width site, I incorporated blues and grays, in tune with the sensibilities of the financial world. The author's photo is part of the header/banner design, emphasizing the author as an authority in the mortgage field rather than focusing on an individual book title.

Nancy Etchemendy, Author (etchemendy.com):

This site, for an award-winning author, is unique among those designed by AuthorPromo in that every page has a different header, a different color along with a different header photo. Not only that, but the photos are mostly appropriate for the subject matter (or planned subject matter) for those pages, often in amusing ways. Having a unique header for every page does significantly increase design time.

Harlan Coben, Official Site
(harlancoben.com): This is the official site for the New York Times Bestselling Author of Tell No One and the Myron Bolitar series, Harlan Coben. AuthorPromo.com recently redesigned the look of the site for this popular and award-winning New Jersey author.

Fat Smash Diet, New York Times Bestseller (fatsmashdiet.com):

I originally put this site up in a hurry. Dr Ian Smith was hours away from his The Fat Smash Diet book release, a book first introduced on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club and which would quickly become a New York Times Bestseller, and needed a site up fast. I complied. Nothing fancy, just functional. The site grew and as time passed, it was time to revisit the whole concept of the site's look and feel. It definitely needed a polish as befitting the book's bestseller status. So I started from scratch, coming up with the present look, incorporating the images and color scheme from the latest edition of the book.

Dr. Ian Smith is now my third New York Times Bestselling Author client.

Orean D Chatman, Official Author Site (oreandchatman.com): This is a recent basic design level author site. Colors and color scheme suggested by the author. Graphic elements used on this site include stock photos suggested by the title, genre and book cover design of Chatman's first novel.

John Passarella,
Official Author Site (passarella.com)
I recently revised my own author site (last updated May 2005). I went to a simpler, two column (vs 3 column) format. Also, I reverted to light text on a dark background, which reduces screen glare compared to my layout, which featured black text on a white background.

As with the old design, the new layout is a fixed width design with a custom template "shell" which holds the content. (With the exception of the Extreme Tracker, the site validates as valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional.)

For as long as I've had my author site, I've tried to avoid the traditional red and black "horror" color scheme. This time, I'm working with variations of blue.

I retained the gargoyle- leaping- out- of- the- notebook- computer image, but reduced its overall prominance in my header/logo. Finally, I replaced my old drop-down JavaScript navigation menu with a pure CSS version, which is not only more accessible but also search engine friendly.

Here are several examples of the AuthorPromo Basic Package, Jane May, author site and Rm Lamatt, author site. The former features an asymmetrical design and has a fixed width layout; the latter has a liquid layout.

Romina Wilcox,
Official Author Site
(rominawilcox.com) And an extended package for author Romina Wilcox, extended instead of basic, mainly because of the numerous photos on the site. Ms Wilcox requested dark blue in the color scheme with a high tech look and feel to echo the subject matter of her first novel, Cold Eyes...

Brandon Massey Author Site
(www.brandonmassey.com):

This was a revamp/redesign site for thriller author Brandon Massey. Brandon was branching out from horror into thriller fiction, so he wanted a site that reflected both areas, rather than focusing on horror alone.

For this redesign, I worked toward a dark/noir look, to keep it appropriate for horror or thriller fiction without forcing the site into either category.

The banner graphics work toward the dark subject matter with an air of mystery (with shadowy figures), and the "Courier" font used in the navigation bar and headlines adds a retro quality that speaks of film noir and police reports.

Site relaunched JAN 2006

John Passarella, Official Author Site
(2005 Site Design)
(www.passarella.com): This is my personal author site, circa 2005.

I've left this thumbnail image here for comparison purposes with the 2006 new look site above.

Site design from
MAY 12, 2005

Nicholas Sparks, Official Site
(www.nicholassparks.com): This is the official site for the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Nicholas Sparks. AuthorPromo.com became the official webmaster for the Nicholas Sparks site in late 2003. We've maintained and expanded this incredibly extensive site during that time as Mr. Sparks has released three new books, the latest of which, True Believer, debuted at #1 on both the NY Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists!

This site runs on a dedicated server and includes a custom (and moderated) message board and numerous book and FAQ sections and pages. In fact, this site includes hundreds of pages of original content, with layers and layers of information.

Matthew's Miles (www.matthewsmiles.org): Updated for 2006 with a new color scheme!

In June 2005, AuthorPromo performed a major redesign of this site in preparation for the 3rd Annual Walkathon (2005). The site hadn't been changed much since 2003, other than a new banner and menu navigation. The new design encompasses more pages, is cleaner and better organized, is much more colorful and features a news scroller with a pause feature.

This purpose of this site is to promote a charity fund-raiser, which ,in it's third year, now benefits the Children's Cancer Foundation. This site draws attention to the many children who suffer from (and those who have died from) various types of brain tumors.

The site includes pages for walker registration (with PDF brochure downloads), a sponsor page with a list of sponsors, and a page where browsers can make donations to the cause. In the new design, the black and orange theme was at Matthew's request for a similarly colored 3rd Annual T-shirt, and continues the star-theme which derives from the type of tumor Matthew has, a pilocytic astrocytoma. Astrocytomas are named after the Latin word astro meaning star because the cells that make up an astrocytoma look like stars.

Clydene Brandt, Author Site: (Site currently offline at author's request.)

The author requested pastel hues for the site which, while basic in scope, features some artistic touches to add elegance to the design. Elements from Saint's Hospital (via stock photographs) are blended in the logo/masthead, i.e., a hospital and a representation of an angel.

The author also wished to advertise her Writer Services business, which are included on the home page.

Garden State Horror Writers (www.gshw.net): This site includes a members only area for private files and a private message board. Other features include a guest book, an on-screen counter and dynamic news content. AuthorPromo.com registered the domain, found domain hosting, and maintains the site for the (mostly) horror group.

Since this is a horror site, the color scheme skews dark, and the text areas pop off the screen with 3D borders. Note: most of the "brochure" content on the site remains the same, but the redesign breathes new life into the site. This project represents a dramatic new look for the group, with an emphasis on horrific fun and professionalism, and some interactivity besides!

Millenia Black
(www.milleniablack.com)
This site redesign was a case of evolution rather than revolution. The client was happy with her existing color scheme and with many of her graphical elements, but thought the site needed to be polished.

AuthorPromo.com took the site to the next level of professionalism, presenting more information in less space without adding visual noise. A lot of CSS (cascading styles) work was performed under the hood to make the site more accessible and standards compliant.

AuthorPromo extended the use of graphical elements by, e.g., incorporating a top/bottom gradient border image as a headline background, and by utilizing a scaled down version of the burning wedding bands graphic as list item bullets. The client now hosts with AuthorPromo.com and will be adding a message board feature for her visitors.

E. F. Watkins
(www.efwatkins.com) : This is a pure author site — hosted and designed by AuthorPromo.com.

One of the author's photos lent itself to being the portal/entry into the site, so we made it a splash page and extended the walking stones into image map links.

This site is a little "beyond basic" in design, with lots of custom graphics and an image map splash page. However, the page hierarchy is simple with six primary pages (Books, Bio, News, Background, Links, and Home, of course) one level down from the splash page.

Future plans are to add an AuthorPromo.com hosted guest book and message board. (Both features are included in the hosting cost.)

Urban Youth Incorporated

Cop-Safe
(www.copsafe.com): This site promotes the COP-Safe (Controlled Operational Procedures) program to teach police offers safety and self-defense techniques while taking suspects into custody. This recent redesign by AuthorPromo.com is much bolder (colors and graphics) than the inherited design and includes a slideshow on the homepage.

More AuthorPromo Created, Hosted and/or Maintained Sites:

• Maria V. Snyder [Author] - http://www.mariavsnyder.com
• Park Literary Group, LLC [Literary Agency] - http://www.parkliterary.com
• No Quarter Jeet Kune Do [Self-defense] - http://www.noquarterjkd.com
• Joseph Gangemi [Author] - http://www.josephgangemi.com
• Mary SanGiovanni [Author] - http://www.marysangiovanni.com
• Jonathan Maberry [Author] - http://www.jonathanmaberry.com
• Dave DeBatto [Author] - http://www.DaveDebatto.com
• Fat Smash Diet [Author/Diet] - http://www.fatsmashdiet.com
• Dr. Ian Smith [Doctor/Author] - http://www.doctoriansmith.com
• Ann Crittenden [Author] - http://www.anncrittenden.com
• Dr. Henry Grayson [Therapist/Author] - http://www.henrygrayson.com/
• Tracie Hotchner [Author] - http://www.thedogbible.com

Contact us for more information: info@authorpromo.com

After All, Wouldn't You Rather Be Writing!