Author Tools & Resources, Wordpress/ Author Websites

It’s the Official Authorlicious Announcement!

Hi there.

Today is a good day. A very good day. I will be celebrating with a glass of something fizzy tonight!

Toast

Because… today we are officially introducing the Authorlicious website theme!


If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you may have read about our “list launch” in August. Well today we are taking it PUBLIC.

Q. So what is Authorlicious?


A. A WordPress Theme for self-published authors to maximize their book sales, Mini-Tutorials to help authors control every aspect of their site, a Community & More!

 

How we stumbled upon the idea

Brandon and I have been working in self-publishing and with indie authors for nearly 3 years. We saw a big problem.

1) Authors had a website that they could use to blog/ update a little, but it made them look unprofessional and did not help them to sell books.

 

2) Authors had a beautiful, professional site, but it cost them the earth, AND they didn’t know how to update or control it.

 

We first started talking to developers about the idea in December 2011. We saw a real need for it, but wanted to make sure we had the right team working on it.

 

We interviewed a bunch of folk from around the Seattle area, and as soon as we met with the team we eventually hired, we knew this was going to be amazing! Development started in January, our beta launch was in early August, and today – TODAY! – is our official launch day.

 

*Raising my glass at ya!*

 

Why was there a need for this?

 

There are a ton of great WordPress themes available out there – both free and paid – but nothing that catered for the self-published author website in the way we wanted it to.

 

A good author website should showcase the author as a professional, display our books prominently, drive sales through simple navigation, allow us to interact and engage with our readers, and attract press and media.

 

On top of that, we realized that not everyone is comfortable with maintaining and updating their sites. Since I used to be in that boat myself, I know the frustration it can lead to. You just want to fix a typo on your homepage, or the size of an image in the sidebar, but it can take hours (hours!) of trying. Authorlicious comes with 30+ mini video tutorials that cover all aspects of WordPress, so you can dive in and find the answer to any trouble you’re having on your site right away.

 

Oh, and if you’re still having trouble, Brandon and I are here to answer your questions via email for 1 year after purchase! Customer service is a big deal to us. We’re here to help.


Here’s what we got for you:

  1. A beautiful WordPress theme designed by both indie authors and book marketers for indie authors and book marketers.
  2. 30+ Mini video tutorials (all hosted online) to teach you how simple-to-use WordPress is, and all of the awesome features of the theme!
  3. A full year of email support from Laura & Brandon at 30 Day Books plus a forum to meet other indie authors on.

(Bonus! If you purchase Authorlicious during 2012 and use one of our preferred hosting companies, we’ll even set up your hosting and domain accounts for you for $0!)


Designer Home Page

Beautifully designed home page to welcome your readers. Clean, uncluttered, professional and easy to navigate. Image spaces reserved for a bookcover and an author profile picture to showcase you and your book.

One Dashboard to Rule Them All

WordPress can be overwhelming with all its features and options. So we’ve organized the settings you need in one place, with helpful instructions and videos to guide you along the way.

 Integration

Social media integration is easy. Enter your ISBN and get your reviews from Amazon and GoodReads displayed on your website, on the sidebar and in your posts and pages! Integration with Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Linkedin, Pinterest, Amazon, GoodReads, RSS & Amazon Associates.

Unlimited Book Portfolio

Flexible portfolio page to show all of your books, organized by genre, with book covers nicely displayed, all on one page. Visitors can click to read more about each book on its own book page.

Responsive Design

For screens big and small. Browsing the web on the phone or tablet? No problem. This theme automatically changes the layout and resizes everything to fit screens of any size – including the iPhone. Neat, huh? (video: responsive design)

30+ Bite-sized Video Tutorials

Never created a WordPress site before? No problem. We’ll walk you through all the steps necessary to get your author website up, running, and winning! Not only will we guide you through creating a website, but also what makes a GOOD Author Website – press page, buy page, FAQ page… and more!


… and more!

 

 ► Google Font Integration

 

Beautiful Google Fonts (20+) built-in to the theme. Easily customize the fonts for all the text and headers on your website.

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 ► Background Uploader and Preset Textures

 

Upload background image and customize it easily with three drop-down menu options.

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 ► Designer Homepage with widgets for maximum customization

6 widget areas to let you unleash your creativity and customize your home page with no limits! Plus a header and a footer area for additional info, praise, and the ability to make the page as long as you desire.

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 ► Solid Build

 

We’ve enlisted some of the best designers and developers in the Seattle WordPress community to help us craft this package.

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 ► Theme Option Panel – Easy and Fun to Customize

 

With a big SAVE button and lots of explanations and instructions on our simple dashboard, everyone can tweak Authorlicious to fit their books and genre.

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 ► SEO Optimized
Developed with Search Engine Optimization in mind. Your content is now easier for search engines to find and index, which means your readers will have an easier time to find you online.
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 ► Contact Form

 

Pre-crafted contact form. Talk to your readers easily via a contact page.

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 ► Page Templates – left, right or no sidebar (full-width) pages

 

Your pages don’t have to look the same – several pre-set templates for you to choose from.

 

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 ► Shortcodes to maximize your design creativity

Amazon and GoodReads integrated shortcodes to pull your reviews and cover images directly into your pages and posts. Buttons of various sizes, toggles, tabs, notification boxes, and columns.

 

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 ► Color Picker for background, font colors

 

Easily pick a color from the color picker for background, font colors, without having to enter color codes!

 

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 ► Detailed instructions to help you get started

 

No one is born with WordPress knowledge. We learned it the hard way, but we make it easier for you!

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 ► Favicon

 

No more struggling with creating those tiny little icons for your website. Upload and done.

 

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 ► Committed Support Team

 

The 30 Day Books crew is always here to help answer your burning questions.

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Want to know more?

Feel free to mail us with any questions: customerservice [at] 30daybooks.com.

I’ll see you on Thursday for regular bloggy goodness!