“About Me” Review by Anthony
Some writers dislike getting feedback. I adore feedback of every shape and sort. Positive, negative, no matter. Bring it on! When I saw a post by Anthony over at Book Cover Cafe with some terrific tips on writing “About Me” pages and he offered to review anybody’s “About Me” page who stepped forward, I eagerly threw in my link.
So, jump on over to Anthony’s post “How to Craft Your Author Website ‘About Me’ Page” and check out his tips. Then scroll down to the comments and you’ll see his review of my “About me” page, or maybe I should say my Home Page, because in my current configuration I’ve done away with my “About me” page and put that information on my home page. Anthony had some very interesting recommendations for me which I will be considering very seriously.
I thought I’d share Anthony’s post and his feedback here for several reasons:
- He’s put together some quite useful tips and things to consider for your “About me” page, and
- He was very generous with his time in volunteering to review my page, and
- I enjoy Anthony’s tweets and his site has lots of interesting content.
So, I’m curious to know your thoughts. Do you agree with Anthony’s tips? How about his recommendations for my site? And how about your own site – does his post make you think of any changes you’d like to make to your “About Me” page?
- Posted in: Reflections ♦ about me ♦ book cover cafe ♦ website design
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I hope something or somebody can get it working for... } –
I think Anthony's right! I'd never given the 'about' page much thought but when I read what he had to say i thought, yeah, he makes a great deal of sense!
I also think you're fortunate to have such generous and forthright advice. Lucky you!
Your site looks amazing, by the way. I love how clean and simple and uncluttered it is. Gives me blog envy, it does!
Thanks for posting this. I'm planning an update of my site and this gives me some things to think about.
Generally, I do agree with Anthony, but I'm not convinced everything there is a hard and fast rule. Maybe that's just me being obstinate. Here's one reason to take his advice about moving your info back onto an "About" page. If I came to your site by following a link to one of your posts and then wanted to know more about you, I would look for that "About" link. I'm not sure that going to the home page to find it is necessarily an intuitive choice. [Having said that, I usually do look on the home page of new sites that I visit, but I think most people probably do not.]
I find it interesting that he specifies the need for "A nice clear professional author photo" while the picture he is using looks like it was cropped from a group snapshot in a bookstore.
Also, he linked to Kathy Reichs' page as a good example. She is one of my favorite authors so I clicked over to take a look. In the first paragraph the list of her Temperance Brennan books is incomplete and the last time it was updated it was done incorrectly. Were I not already a fan, that would not inspire confidence in me to give her a try. Of course, I'd be surprised if she maintains the site herself though, so that error is not necessarily a reflection her her writing. [If she sends someone in to fix that, I wonder if they can adjust the timing on that widget with all her books in it too? Or get a better one? But now I sound catty....]
Some time ago, I revamped my "About Me" page, based on some of the advice that was out there. It looks like I already managed to do most of what he advised. I commented, though, as I'm curious to see if he spots anything major in mine.
Great link, PJ, thanks.