Once you get the first little spark to write a book, there are a few things you should do right away…
Sign up for a free email account that incorporates your name. I recommend gmail because it’s reliable and easy. You can use your name in a number of ways – for instance if KellyJeanWhitaker@gmail.com is already being used by someone else, I could go with Kelly.Jean.Whitaker@gmail instead. From here on out use this account for everything that has to do with your book.
Choose a domain hosting service and buy a domain name that is your author name.** I use HostGator, but there are many other good services to use. It should be less than $15 per year to get your own domain. Mine is www.kellyjeanwhitaker.com.
Checkout the Author Website page for more information The reason for this? Check out billjohnson.com. You will notice that it’s not actually a website of belonging to the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. I can only assume that once Bill became well known, someone bought the domain hoping he would pay them an exorbitant amount for it.
It’s not hard to setup a web site and there are lots of ways to do it. If you use Google to create an email account, then I recommend using Google Sites to host your site. Once you have it done, do an online search of how to connect your domain name to your new Google Site.
Once you are 100% certain of your book title, buy a domain name for the title of your book too.** Have it point to your author page .
** Don’t do an online search for any domain name until you are ready to buy. There are sniffers who keep an eye on what’s being searched for and will buy domains that they think will make them money.