I got this question recently:
“I need some guidance on the type of website that you suggest every writer should have. What needs to be on that website and what shouldn’t be on the website? Do I need to include my picture and say something about my background?”
That’s a good question. I actually have a website for myself… check it out. www.ashleymeyers.com. It’s worked well for me over the years and is basically what you should try to emulate. I think you should have a nice biography about you and your writing although I don’t have any pictures of me, but certainly a picture might personalize it a bit. I always mention my website in my query letters and I’ve found that quite often the producer who has received the letter will look at my website and end up requesting a script not mentioned in my query letter. So it’s an easy way to get more value out of your query letters.
I’m going to be redesigning my screenwriter website in the next couple of weeks and with that redesign I’m going to be rolling out some online tools for screenwriters so they can easily build their own screenwriter website. If you want to be notified when this tool is ready for use sign up for my email list.
Great article, Ashley! One question: I was told that putting your screenplay on a website counts as ‘First Publishing’ and can hurt a sale. Is that why you only place a synopsis on yours? I also read that it was OK to put the first ten pages of a script up. Would you recommend that?
I wouldn’t put a full script on the website. I’m not sure if putting a script on a website would hurt your chances of selling it but in general I wouldn’t make your screenplays freely available anywhere, much less on the web. You want people to request the material from you so that you at least have some sort of contact information for them and you can follow up with them.
I think having a site that readers/viewers can explore may help promote certain advantages to being a writer, but I agree about not adding a script to your site. I use http://www.webs.com right now and it has been pretty useful, but I have discovered other sites that provided more tools and more space for less the price. Its all free if you want rhe advertisments. I am eventually going to add a picture, and come up with writing examples to market my skills, and ideas.
Nice article by the way….I think having a website is a great promoting tool.