As someone who has a degree of writing experience, I specialise in creating websites for writers, authors, and journalists (whether or not they use the Oxford comma—or the em dash).

What writers want

Writers of all sorts have particular needs when it comes to their websites. Typically, a writer requires that his or her website:

  • is easy to update—for instance, with news about festival appearances, paperback releases, off-the-cuff rants, and so on
  • contributes in some way to effecting the transference of luchre, indirectly or directly, from the reader to the writer—whether that be by directly selling books on the website, or by forwarding prospective readers to another outlet
  • is outstandlignly free of embarasing erors in speling, grammer and formating—which would reflect badly on the writer

Features of a writer’s website

I therefore set up websites for writers that, in addition to looking as resplendent as my other work, fulfill the particular requirements peculiar to the writing soul. Typical features that can be included, er, include:

  • Purchasing facilities
  • A biography
  • A bibliography
  • Reviews in the press
  • Links to locations to purchase (with an optional referral system, to claw back a percentage of any subsequent purchase)
  • A blog for news, musings, and so on
  • Integration with Facebook, Twitter, Instawhatsit, Latestsocialmediaagoggins, etc.
  • Post-publication additions to printed material, or lists of errata (surely not)

Furthermore, while writers by and large have little difficulty in providing copy for their website, they often do not have particular experience of writing for the web. The editing services that I provide help to ensure that the copy is attuned to the needs of the Internet.

Print and web

Should authors also be in need of someone to assist in print design for their book covers, and so on, I can recommend the services of my friend (disclosure) Jules Akel, whose delightful past productions must really be seen rather than described. An Akel–Cromar collaboration, covering print and web respectively, provides a solid bedrock for any launch.

Two examples of writers whose websites I have designed and set up are Matthew Engel (longtime Guardian journalist, author, and former editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack) and Oliver Lewis (political writer, rail enthusiast and travel photographer).