Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Pimp my website, win an ARC!

So here's the deal. I have two websites, and I maintain them both myself, manually. That means nothing changes unless I go in and change it. The sites are here:

http://www.seananmcguire.com/
http://miragrant.com/

Parts of these sites are quite out of date, because I have been a busy little bee. We are thus going to play a little game.

Step 1: Go to my website. Either one.
Step 2: Poke around until you see something that could use improvement. A typo, a missing link, an unclear question on the FAQ, even a missing question on the FAQ. (Pages that aren't linked at all, like the Field Guide, or don't exist, don't count. Those are future improvements, not current issues.
Step 3: Post here, suggesting a correction/update.
Step 4: Step away from the website.

I will be making updates and corrections, partially based on this post, for the next week. On Friday, I will use our friend, random number generator, to choose a winner of an ARC of One Salt Sea (US-only, unless you can help with postage). No matter what, everybody benefits, since the end result should be an easier-to-use website.

Game on!
Tags: giving stuff away, one salt sea, requesting things, shameless plea, toby daye, website updates
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I don't know if this counts, but on the main Mira Grant page the Deadline image looks like it should click through to something (arrow turns into clicky thing, etc.) but nothing happens when I click it. Oh, although now I guess that's probably because the Deadline subpage hasn't been added yet?

Also, on the Toby Daye FAQ, under "Which books are currently available?" it doesn't mention or link to Late Eclipses, though the question right above it does.

Mostly I just wanted to point out that I am always baffled that super busy writer + rabidly obsessive fanbase does not = team of interns to do this sort of stuff. I guess crowdsourcing works too, but...
Thank you!

In this case, it's super busy writer + rabidly obsessive fanbase + trying to maintain website security. I'm finally hiring a staff!
http://miragrant.com/feed.php#blurbs

Either remove the blurbs link or add content.

or

http://miragrant.com/newsflesh.php#deadline

Deadline is still referred to in the future tense.
Blurbs added; updates made to indicate availability of Deadline.
On the Mira grant page, under Extras, the subheadings of Icons and Wallpapers go to the same page. I would either divide them up or just use one link of "Icons and Wallpapers".

I would also make the "Beware!" heading just go straight to the big List of Fear. :)

I actually CAN'T use just one link; it doesn't display properly. By using two links, I don't break the code, and can potentially split onto two pages in the future if needed.

The "Beware!" heading goes to the sub-list for reasons of readability. But thank you for the suggestion.

(This is a valid entry, even if it didn't cause me to change anything.)

lyssabard

5 years ago

mneme

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

http://seananmcguire.com/toby.php

One Salt Sea doesn't have a page of its own.
As noted, pages which do not currently exist don't count. The One Salt Sea page is in progress; the book is not available.

dragonbrighteye

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

The InCryptid page probably ought to list the first book or two, and maybe an index of the field guide pages.
As noted, pages that don't exist, or are not currently linked, don't count. The field guide is explicitly unlinked, for a reason.

sleary

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

guruwench

August 8 2011, 19:39:06 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  August 8 2011, 19:46:14 UTC

From the Seanan McGuire page, there is a Links heading in the left column that looks as if it should be a link, but it doesn't have a page set up. Hovering over the link does not offer up an URL, and clicking on the heading does nothing. (Edited to add: I'm unsure whether this qualifies as a page that doesn't exist yet, or if this is a genuine submission item.)

Also, the Stuff to Buy section of the Extras section has empty sections referring to Wicked Girls t-shirts and posters; I'd say either enter the info, remove the headings, or indicate an alternate way of finding information about them.
The Links heading has been removed; at this point, it's not going to happen, so you're right.

The Stuff to Buy section is in progress. You won't see an instant change, but there will definitely be updates. :)

guruwench

5 years ago

from Mira's page
The section on Countdown says "released electronically August 2011" and "more info coming soon". Since it's out (and I buyed it) perhaps some linkees?
Since the section on "Countdown" has existed for literally ten minutes, there's going to be a little delay here. ;) Like, literally, I just added that.

wendyzski

5 years ago

On the Mira Grant site on the first page second paragraph down "Mira Grant is the author of the Newsflesh Trilogy" Newsflesh Trilogy is hard to read in the red, I think that if it was bold it would not be so bad.
Thanks for the tip, it's been bolded.
The album reviews page doesn't have a section for WICKED GIRLS, and the description for WICKED GIRLS on the album page should reflect that WICKED GIRLS exists in the world now.
The word "almost" has been removed from the WG description. I have received no reviews of WG. It is not being added to the review page.

sheistheweather

5 years ago

for the icons and wallpapers section for the mira grant page, the link on the sidebar for both icons and wallpapers links to exactly the same thing, which is the top of the page. it'll be great if it linked directly to the actual sections, thus removing the necessity of having to scroll down. that, or just changing the link on the sidebar to 'icons and wallpapers' instead of it being separate.
I can't link to sections in the menu bars, and I can't make it one long link without breaking the code. Sorry. This is not a fixable issue.

charlietinpants

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

charlietinpants

5 years ago

1.
Bio: Seanan's Cats: "Alice is coming up on her second birthday," as she is coming up upon her third now. And just say'n: the girls both have five pictures each, shouldn't Thomas get a couple more, too, just for symmetry?

2.
The October Daye books, Welcome to the neighborhood:
"The first three books in the series are available now: Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, and An Artificial Night. Two books will follow in 2011: Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea,"

3.
and also in the Q&A section, needing to update which books are currently available, both in U.S. and in German print.

4.
In bibliography: "Discount Armageddon, originally published in North America by DAW Books on March 6th, 2012. InCryptid, book one; urban fantasy/paranormal romance." should probably read for the future, as your Blackout does later, or all of them should read in the format you use for your short stories: "Available from ______, December 2011."

5.
Albums: "The followup to 2007's Stars Fall Home is finally almost upon us!" needs to be updated to match "was released in December 2010."

6.
Songbook: last lyrics are from songs in 2009. Although lyrics are linked to from your albums on the albums page, they are not repeated here. "Wicked Girls," for instance, was not searchable in this page.

7.
Questions for Specific songs:
"Q: Has "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves" been recorded?

A: There are several live recordings, and one scratch recording of me singing, with Kristoph Klover on the guitar, but there is currently no official studio recording of the song "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." This will change when Wicked Girls is released (sometime in 2010). "

8.
Stuff to Buy: info about Wicked Girl posters and t-shirts should get info, or not.

9.
On Writing: I remember more of these being posted on LJ, at length. Will you link to further completed written essays?

I hope this is helpful!
Awesome, thank you!
On the Seanan Mcguire page there is a typo for when Ashes of honor comes out. Under the side tab "Books" for October Daye series and then under "Welcome to the Neighborhood" its the second to last paragraph, it states that two Toby books will be coming out in 2012 : Ashes of Honor and The Chimes at Midnight.
Thanks! Fixed.
On Mira Grant's website there should be a place with listings of short stories, like Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box...and don't you have another short story about the rising published in an anthology? Everglades, or something? Or am I being forgetful?

Anyways, "The Box" is great, and I think people ought to have the opportunity to click through and get it right away for whatever ereader they use. I know that you've got the link to your main bibilography page (which lists stories by both Seanan and Mira) in your bio, but maybe you could put a link like that on the Books page as well? That's where I'd look for more short stories by Mira Grant, if I wanted them.
"Everglades" is about the Rising. Honestly, I've considered this, and I just can't. I can't maintain two bibliographies, I can barely maintain two websites. The idea makes me dizzy. So for now, I'll have to settle for the link back to my main bibliography from the "bio" page.

peachtess

5 years ago

So you've now managed to get me to look at your website - which is a fun place to explore.

I was poking around the extras, and found the "art cards" section. The link took me where it was supposed to - to the cards, but I wasn't sure what the context was. I wanted to know whether they were for sale or just for display, and/or what the motivation was behind them. You have a brief explanation on the "Pretty Little Dead Ghouls" page, and maybe the Art Cards page would benefit from something similar.

Or, it could just be that I'm the sort of person who likes to know everything...
Interesting note; thank you!

taldragon

August 8 2011, 20:59:53 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  August 8 2011, 21:03:14 UTC

your copyright footer states '2006-2009' (edit: on seananmcguire.com)
Fixed!

taldragon

5 years ago

Since the Horror Movie Survival Questions FAQ contains vampire and dinosaur tips I think you should also include an alien invasion section too.
That's a nice thought, but a lot of work. It doesn't really count as a "fix," I'm afraid.

pyre006

5 years ago

Minor things so far.

So looking at the w3c link checker ( http://validator.w3.org/checklink?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seananmcguire.com%2F&hide_type=all&recursive=on&depth=5&check=Check ) I note that a number of pages linked off the news archive have broken links. If you were an obsessive type you could put them via the wayback when machine...

For Mira Grant I can't see any information about your short stories, given that some of them are freely available having information about them would be good.

The contact page (http://seananmcguire.com/contact.php) has the menu along the top while the rest have a menu along the side.

I will have another look later.

I am obsessive, but not that obsessive.

My sanity forbids linking Mira Grant shorts to the website. There is only one bibliography page; Mira's site drives people back to it at several points; until I have someone to maintain these pages for me, there will be nothing but novels on MiraGrant.com.

This is a code function, and cannot be changed.

mrs_norris_mous

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

mrs_norris_mous

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

Got beaten to the stuff I saw in the FAQ, so I'm going to be less useful.

Velveteen vs. is happily out of date. This is probably something missing rather than something broken, though (though this means that the FAQ entry saying that the stories there are all there are is inaccurate).

Nitpick: In News 08/03: "Which brings me, tangentially, to my next point: I maintain both this site, and MiraGrant.com, myself." is ungrammatical. I think the simplest change would be "I maintain both my sites, this site and MiraGrant.com, myself."


"Velveteen vs." will remain out-of-date, and for purposes of "is this revised to go on the website," the FAQ is correct.

I am not willing to edit news, which is intentionally tonal, to suit someone else's grammar.

mneme

5 years ago

Don't you have Wicked Girls posters/info now that can go on the Stuff to Buy site?
Yes, I do, but that's an extensive addition, and sadly not something I can fix with any sort of alacrity.
Someone might have already mentioned this, but the writing FAQ page on Mira Grant's site refers to Deadline as a future release.
Nice catch; fixed.
No advice, but I did publicize your first site on my blog. :)
For the Tobye series, it would be great if you included in the FAQs something on the audio books (specifically that only the first three books are available). I really enjoyed the series (both printed and in audio format) and I kept waiting for the fourth audio book to come out. I finally did a google search on something like "late eclipses seanan mcguire audio book" and found a journal entry you wrote about only having a contract for the first three books.
Unfortunately, doing something like that would be a very good way of making sure that I never got another audio book contract, because it would look like I was blaming my audio book publisher, no matter how carefully I worded it. I really can't comment on formats like that.
http://seananmcguire.com/stufftobuy.php

Places for the Wicked Girls posters and t-shirts with placeholder info.
Also, since I see someone beat me to it, you mention something about convention FAQs that's just a note, I'm guessing a placeholder.

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

kitrona

5 years ago

I couldn't find any errors on the MiraGrant.com website, so do not qualify for the random generator yet, but I wanted to say how much I liked the author bio picture! The only way it could be better would be if you were actually holding a machete. Also, I want to state how much I like the Extras in the form of the wallpaper. One from Deadline has been holding off the zombie hordes on my desktop background at the office.

Mack from Alabama
A picture of Seanan holding a machete, especially with a book being 'edited', would be awesome!
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