Almost every author website has the basics — a book description, excerpt, blog, contact page, about the author, news, etc…
But when I’m talking to an author about what we can do with their website, I like to try and think outside the box as well. One of my common recommendations for fiction authors? A “book secrets” page.
So what exactly is a book secret? It’s something that you — the author — knows, but someone who has read the book probably doesn’t know. Examples of the types of information that would be conveyed on a book secrets page includes:
- The inspiration for the book
- If any of the characters in the book are based on real people
- How your characters got their names
- Hidden secrets/clues in the book
- Where in the story you might have hit writer’s block
- Places in the book where you shifted course (i.e. you were originally going to have this person commit the crime, but then changed your mind)
- Segments of the book that might have been cut during editing
These are just a few of the ideas … you can probably come up with more on your own. And wouldn’t these be interesting things to know about your favorite novel? Your readers would feel the same way!
Just this morning, I stumbled across an article about a perfect example of a book secret (albeit, a sad one). Do you know that children’s book, “Love You Forever”? It’s the one that includes this infamous song/poem:
“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
as long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.”
Just recently, the author of the book, Robert Munsch, used his website to share the story about where the idea for that song came from. Warning, it’s a tearjerker!
And while you probably don’t have nearly as emotional a story behind your book, if you think hard enough, you’ll probably find some really interesting things that you can share with your readers via a book secrets page. Consider this page some bonus material for your loyal readers.