Michael Chabon

I'm changing my tactic. I'm going for the heavy-hitters. I though I'd be cute and go for the relatively unknown or off-beat authors I like, but many of them appear to be new to computers or just haven't gotten it together to build a website yet. I figure, hey, let's go for someone who's pretty well-known in literary circles and who probably has his act together enough to run a website which showcases his work. Arbitrarily, I decided to pick Michael Chabon.

Is there an emoticon for sighing heavily in exasperation?

His website is made up of six pages, and it looks as if he built it himself using Apple's iWeb. On the one hand, hey, good for him. He's super-famous, yet took the time to hand-craft his own little corner of the web-o-blog.

On the other hand, he's so super-famous that he apparently doesn't need to link the giant photo of his latest book to any kind of website that sells it. Essentially, this design tells the reader, "You know where to find it," or, "You already own this, right?" On both counts, Mr. Chabon is probably not wrong.

His "Appearances" page is disappointing, but probably mostly because the four cities listed aren't anywhere near me.

Then he has some ridiculous photos, including one of himself on the deck of the Enterprise. Ridiculous, yes, but equally awesome.

Then comes the exciting stuff: two great "bonus tracks". One is called "The Kingdom of Snow and Ghosts", and the other is "Sailing by Ear".

I was so ready to tear him apart for being lazy with his website (No list of books? No blog?), but then it hit me: this is perfect. It gives a sense of his personality, tells you what his newest book is, lets you know where he'll be appearing, then lets his own words take care of the rest. There's no Flash movie to bombard you when you arrive, and no layers of sales pitches to get to the writing. Sure, he has the benefit of already being a well-known and successful author, but this is a formula that could work for writers across the recognizability spectrum. Well done, Mr. Chabon.