Do Writers Need Websites?
tl;dr: yeah
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Quick note: this was intended to be published last month, but I screwed up and it’s going live now. But don’t worry! There will be an additional essay posted later in February.
I’ve been involved in the writing and publishing industry for a little over a decade now. I started submitting fiction and volunteering as a slush reader and editor for horror magazines when I was 16, going on 17. In July I’ll turn 29. That means I’m the perfect age to think I know everything when in reality I know closer to nothing. Fortunately, you’ve already subscribed to this newsletter. There is no turning back now.
In the last decade I’ve witnessed writers and small presses come and go. People who I thought were Big Shit when I first started out have since given up publishing altogether due to too many career setbacks and disappointments. The writers who won Bram Stoker Awards at the first two World Horror Conventions I attended? The majority of them no longer write for publication anymore. They all seem to live much happier lives now, too1. Good for them.
Beyond writers fading into obscurity, something else I’ve noticed is the death of the website.