The Goal
Professor Tom Lutz is an author, a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the UC Riverside, the founding editor in chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the founder of The LARB Radio Hour, The LARB Quarterly Journal, The LARB/USC Publishing Workshop, and LARB Books. We made a separate post about him with more information, which you can find here.
He contacted us to help strengthen his author platform before the publication of his first novel.
Tom understood that having an author website was crucial for any writer in 2019. He asked us to design a website that would be easy to navigate, attractive, search engine optimized, and that would showcase his credentials, published works, and interests.
We worked closely with Tom to make sure that we delivered a website that met and exceeded his expectations.
Process
First, we took note of the essential pages and everything that needed to be included on the website.
We then created a mind map to organize our ideas for the various pages. In the end, we settled on this layout for Tom’s author site:
Design
Tom wanted a website that would be the perfect balance between personable and professional so we explored various design elements and chose those that would be in line with his author brand.
We carefully considered the colors and fonts to be used, based on Tom’s book covers and existing headshots.
After considering several fonts, picking those that are web-safe, readable, and user-friendly, we found the perfect combination for him. We also finalized the colors for his palette.
Press Kit
Since Tom didn’t have a Press Kit, we made one for him using the same colors and fonts to tie it in with his website and get a more cohesive look.
Development
After consulting Tom on the direction he wanted to go with the design, we created a mockup of his author website, so he could provide feedback on the design. Once he was happy with the look of the site, it was time to fill it with content.
We scoured the internet to find all articles, interviews, reviews, as well as photographs of Tom –everything related to his work as an author, editor, and founder. We carefully organized these into folders to be used.
To fill in the gaps in content, we wrote some text, and then we added everything to Tom’s author site.
Then we tested the website’s usability and functionality, and worked to refine the page layouts and the design.
Results
Once the site was ready to go, we presented a live, password protected version of it to Tom.
We asked for Tom’s feedback and made revisions.
Once Tom was happy with everything, we took off the password protection and made the site live. In total, www.TomLutzWriter.com has 8 main pages and 26 subpages. We’d call that comprehensive!
Clicking on the image below will redirect you to the website so you can see it all.
TomLutzWriter.com created by Coriolis Company
Client Testimonial
”Nanda Dyssou and Coriolis went above and beyond. A wonderful experience.
Tom LutzAuthor, Professor, Founding Editor-in-Chief of LARB
