BookBaby, the self-publishing platform that has been successfully meeting the needs of indie authors after getting its feet wet with musicians through CDBaby, is now launching a division for website hosting called HostBaby. HostBaby will work in the same way as the other widely popular models of its company, which is to say it simply provides artists and authors the tools they need to design the best product they can for themselves.
“HostBaby is our newest exciting feature,” says Steven Spatz, VP Marketing, in an interview with GoodEReader.com at the BookExpo America event. “We’re basically giving authors the power to develop their own author pages, while still giving them the power to self-publish their works.” Author pages play an indispensable role in putting the author’s name in front of an internet full of potential readers and expanding a fan base. The walk-through format of HostBaby will give any user, regardless of web design understanding and experience, the capability to create a vibrant author-centric site in a matter of minutes.
“We’ve also added on some new products in our self-publishing division, one of which is the option to purchase the services of professional artists to design the cover. We are also currently in the final stages of having a list of independent publicists that authors can retain for themselves. While they are not working for BookBaby directly, these publicists will be professionals whom we have identified as being the best at what they do and able to meet the needs of the indie author in terms of helping them market self-published works,” says Spatz of BookBaby’s recent improvements.
BookBaby continues to focus on providing indie authors with everything they need to produce a satisfactory book and the additional incremental features will mean a greater sense of control and uniformity to author output. The additional suite of marketing tools for indie authors will translate into an even higher quality product for both the author and the retail marketplace of indie books, improving on the professionalism that is so crucial to getting a book the attention that a dedicated author needs in order to succeed.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
