I have written a novel and want to establish a web site?

[chnx]

I have written a novel. If I buy the domain name for the title of the novel, and use it, would that hurt my chance of getting the traditional publishers to look at my novel?

How would a literary agent and the publishers think of me and my work, when they see that I have establish a web site for the book, using the title of the book as the web site address?

Would I have to turn the web site address to them if they decide to buy my book?

[cathrl69]

I think they'll be utterly bemused as to why you are advertising something which doesn't exist.

If you want to sell your novel to a commercial publisher, then do that.

If you want to vanity publish and advertise it yourself, then do that.

But don't try to do some bizarrre mixture of the two.

[Belovedcoach238]

Hurt? No

But it isn't going to fool anyone into buying the book thinking it has a fanbase either.

Most publishers won't care that you have your own website. It's unlikely they'd ever bother to set one up for your book, unless it became vastly popular.

[Joss]

It's definitely not going to hurt, and many literary agents want writers submitting to them to already be established online, be it a website or social media like a twitter account. the sooner you start getting followers on twitter and establishing yourself as an up and coming writer, the easier it'll be to promote your novel if a publisher buys it. Also, many editors want to see a writer with a website or some social media presence. This will not hurt you and don't listen to anyone who says it will. I think it's fine to buy the domain name for the title of your book, but I think your'e better off getting the domain for your name or the domain you're going to use if you get published. Many web hosts offer good deals at the end of the year, and I ended up buying my name as a domain name for 99 cents for one year. I don't have a website and I'm not interested in creating one, so I only bought the domain name (no web hosting) and I forwarded it to my twitter account. Agents and publishers WILL look you up online if you submit to them and they're interested in your work. They'll Google your name to see if you have any kind of web presence and they'll be more the happier if you do.

I'm also assuming that you don't plan on making your book available on your website, but just general information about your book? I've seen many unpublished authors do this. I don't see anything wrong with buying your name as a domain name and the domain name for your book. When you write a query letter, leave the domain name in the signature and if the agent/editor is interested in leaning more, they can click the link(s). Though, Don't require them to go to your website for any info they need. Never do that. They should only click on the link because they're interested in knowing more (and assume they won't) and not because they have to go there to get more info, like your full query letter or email or something (this last bit is a rejection for you).

One last piece of advice about buying domains. If you decide to hire a web designer, NEVER let them get the domain for you. They will own it. And if they own it, you have to keep up their business and if you don't then they can take their domain back. So if you want to hire a web designer or programmer, buy your domain yourself so that you own it in case you decide to part ways with your webdesigner when you feel like it and you can take your domain with you. One way web designers get you is buy registering your domain for you (they do this as a free service to you) but they register it under their name and if your deal falls apart at any time then you lose out on the domain because it was never yours to begin with, so, for the upteenth time, haha. buy your own domain through an independent webhost like godaddy - I use 1&1.com - and then hire a web designer with your domain name already registered.

Lastly, lastly: the thing about registering the title of the book is that it might be a waste of money in the end if the publisher ends up changing the title. You can always buy the book title domain and even get the facebook page after a publisher buys your work and a title has been decided on. So that goes back to my first point, I'd probably buy my name as the domain name and use that instead of the book title. And if your name is already taken, then buy the domain name that you'll use as an author, like JohnDoeBooks.com

And yes, I know for a FACT that MANY publishers and agents want to see a website or at least a twitter feed from author's submitting to them. I've read many an interview by agents and editors and this is one thing that's commonly mentioned (web presence); they want to see that the authors is online and when they google your name they want a website or social media address to come up for you.