Do you ever wonder about your author site? Are agents Googling you? Does your site show you in your best light? Have you been thinking you want a site but don’t know where to start? Do you have a site but aren’t sure if it’s the best it could be?

Enter Cathy Dipierro, an experienced interactive designer, author site maven, and writer, just like you. She loves educating clients and holding newbies’ hands. She’s been building websites since the very first version of HTML. And yes, she’ll explain what that is, too.

This evening is two parts—class and author site review, where she’ll use real life examples (yours!) to show what works, what doesn’t, and how to do it better, all in a supportive environment. (We know this is hard! And tech skills and writing skills rarely exist in the same person.) In the presentation, she’ll cover:

Philosophy: Do I need a website? How do I know I need one? How do I figure out what I want in one?

Nuts and Bolts: What is a website? How are websites made? What do I need?

DIY: Should I do it myself? How do I do it myself? Where do I start?

Existential Crises: What do I do with all these hats? Will I ever not hate my bio? Should I blog? Will anyone ever visit my site? I can’t have nice things, what if I ruin my website too?

The Heck With This: Should I hire someone? How do I know who to hire? What if my friend wants to help? What should I expect from a developer relationship? How can I be my own best client?

Do and Do Not: How do I avoid the mistakes everyone makes?

Come one, come all. Authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and other publishing folk — we’ll do our best to speak to everyone’s needs and questions.

After the presentation, Cathy will choose samples of YOUR author sites to review (kindly!) in front of the audience. Submit your URL when you register.

Cathy Dipierro, a partner at Unreal Creative (unrealcreative.com) is an interactive designer and writer/director/producer with over 25 years of experience creating websites, applications, video, and marketing materials for a diverse list of clients, including government agencies, corporations, small businesses, non-profits, professional associations, entrepreneurs, and authors.

A prolific and focused professional, she has completed hundreds of interactive and linear projects, beginning in the 1990s with "Grandma Ollie's Morphabet Soup," the first children's educational CD-ROM to use QTVR, and "interFIRE VR," the first interactive training program for fire investigators. Her creative work has won multiple industry awards, including the Telly, Axiem, Astra, and OMNI.

Some of her recent websites for authors include AnneRice.com, ChristopherRiceBooks.com, and TanisiaMoore.com.

As a writer/producer for Stonehouse Media, one of her specialty areas is online training for fire investigators and emergency responders as the writer and interactive designer for CFITrainer.Net, ResponderSafety.com, RSLN.org, FHLN.net, and FMGlobalFireServiceResources.com.

Cathy is a graduate of Duke University (#ForeverDuke) and holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Author Sites 101: Class & Feedback Panel with Author & Tech Expert Cathy Dipierro