Dear Authors of Books,

When you or your publisher sets up your website, it is vitally important that books in a series be listed in the ORDER in which you INTEND THEM TO BE READ. Alphabetical is wrong. By popularity is wrong. By reprint date is wrong. Mixing them with non-series books in a chronological list is wrong. The list can be oldest first or newest first, that choice is yours. But if you want people to read your series, TELL THEM WHERE TO START. Separate each series with a heading. Non-series books get their own list. You only need one page (unless you're super productive); just divide it into lists.

And while we're on the subject, what's with all the flash animation? I came to your website for information. Waiting for your stupid flash animation to load pisses me off. Last week, it was so slow on one website, I said "fuck it" and removed the author from my library list. I was trying to find out which book I should read first, but the website was just being difficult.

And another thing, why is your website so freaking complicated? I mean, I want a book list. I imagine lots of readers do. So why not have a tab or link labeled "books"? Or better yet, make the book list your home page. That way I don't have to read about your cats and your philosophy of writing when all I want is a book list. If I really like your books, I might come back and read more about you. But let's face it, I really don't care about you or your Great Dane. Now I love cats and dogs, and I even had a Great Dane once, but I don't know you and I will never meet you and I have no intention of stalking you. I want to read your books. So take your personal information and put it somewhere other than your home page. The stalkers and kids doing book reports will still be able to find it.

Now if the design was really cool, I wouldn't mind the flash or treasure hunt to find a freaking book list. See JK Rowling's site for an example of a not frustrating site. It's actually very cool with puzzles. But I'll be honest, if all I wanted was a list of books and which order to read them in, I'd be pissed at her too. Luckily, everyone visiting her site is already aware of the order, so it's not like that is vital info. Unlike the visitors to your site who got your name or the title of your latest book from a friend or on a blog or saw someone reading one of your books on a bus. We actually need this information.

And speaking of information, would it kill you to put the back cover blurb next to the picture of the cover? I'd rather read that at your site then go back and forth between your site and Amazon just to find out what the freakin' book it about.

And one last thing, stop with the black background and neon colors already. If you or your publisher doesn't want to take the time to design an aesthetically pleasing site or hire someone to do it for you, for the love of god, pick neutral colors and go with a simple design. You can have some blue or pink or orange or whatever the hell color you like, just think about your visitors who maybe aren't as in to poison green and grape colored fonts on a black background as you are.

Sincerely,
an avid reader who hates going to authors' ugly and unduly complicated websites