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Anna Mazzola

A site to showcase book two

The Challenge

The refresh of Anna’s site to showcase her second book needed to retain the dark, gothic feel that I’d created for her first book a year ago. This time round though, the backdrop of the novel is the Isle of Skye, so we needed to capture something of that wildness in the design.

Anna also wanted to do more to build her email list, include more content of interest to her readers and use landing pages for promotions.

“I wanted to create a website that was dark and gothic and which reflected my novel. Faith captured that perfectly.
I also wanted to build my email list ahead of the launch of my second book.”
ANNA MAZZOLA

The Solution

A GOTHIC ATMOSPHERE — OMINOUS BIRDS, MIST & STORMS
The key design decision was to use a dark photographic background in sections across the site. This is continued through into the book page for The Unseeing  — Anna’s first novel — but here the theme is urban prision interiors rather than the wildness of Skye.

To build the atmosphere surrounding the novel, the homepage features three key articles with accompanying imagery, with white backgrounds for ease of reading

The strapline unfolds in a typewriter effect to add drama.

To encourage sign-ups to Anna’s list, there is a site-wide footer, featuring a call to action and a contact form at the bottom of each page.

The book pages include audio extracts with ‘player’ units, Q & A sections which open/close when read, and ‘read the first chapter’ mini-kindle images.

“Faith is something rather special. She quickly grasps what her customers are looking for and sets about finding ways to realise their vision. In my case, that involved reading my novels and then producing designs which brilliantly reflected their rather dark nature.
She is also extremely savvy about the publishing industry and about what readers are looking for and writers want. Apart from anything else, she’s a real joy to work with.”
ANNA MAZZOLA

Site Features

Use of background images to create the atmosphere of the novel

 
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Bold red titles to add to the drama and to draw attention to calls-to-action

 

Newsletter sign up in footer and on pop-up

 

Open/Close interview feature

 

QUESTIONS ABOUT A WEBSITE OR PROMOTING YOUR BOOKS?

LET’S TALK!

I’m Faith Tilleray. I’m here at my computer most days and welcome any contact from human beings – particularly the special kind who write books. Pick up the phone anytime during work hours.