The other day, an acquaintance asked me why I have a website. Let's call this person Denver.

"It's not like you're JK Rowling or Stephen King, right?" Denver wondered aloud, "So do you really need a website where readers can buy your books or follow your blog? You're not published yet."

Now I want to convey to you that there was no malice in Denver's tone, only curiosity. Denver genuinely wanted to know why I felt I needed to put in the time, money and effort to create a professional looking website. I thankfully had an answer at the ready.

I told Denver that when JK and King became prolific writers, the publishing industry was a lion. It would chew you up, spit you out and wasted a whole lot of paper in the process. It was an animal but one that had looked similar to the way it has always been. Sure, tastes have changed but basically it all ran on the same system. With the internet however (and everything that comes with it) the industry is no longer a lion. It's the whole damn zoo.

Unpredictable, filled with tons of choices and smelly on a hot day (maybe this metaphor is getting out of hand...)

There are more people than ever before writing books and trying to have them published. Few will make it with the Big Five, some will find success with medium or small presses and even more will self-publish and promote themselves.

Authors can no longer wait around until they are picked up by a publishing house to start promoting (which includes websites). They have to do some of their own groundwork. Publishing houses aren't going to throw money at untested authors so we have to go out there ourselves and start building our platforms.

Things like word of mouth, email blasts, business cards, websites and a professional, social media presence are the new starting grounds for greenhorns. We can't expect someone else to take a chance on us if we aren't willing to go out there and do some legwork. We have to go through our days building our readership and getting people excited about our work. In short, we have to fake it till we make it.

Happy writing!