Search
23 / 30 July 2007
This site opened on 28 May 2007. The same day I searched for it on the internet. It wasn't there - of course.
I left it for a few days, then tried again. Nothing. I left it for a couple of weeks. I trawled the returns to see if the site was rising up the list of responses. I got bored in the 300s.
When Greg and I created the Labyrinth site - www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk - we had the same experience. At first, all our hard work was invisible. You could only find the site if you knew the exact address because search engines hadn't located it.
We were reminded of this in Harrogate where Greg has been teaching some creative writing sessions this week. Several times the question was asked:
'What do I do with all the research I can't find room for in my novel?'
Well, Greg and I are away at the end of this week into next, doing some research of our own, so I won't be posting next Monday. (That said, the week after, 6 August, we are launching a competition ...)
Anyway, the answer we came up with to the research question was:
'Publish it on a free website as a kind of bonus to people interested in the same things that capture your imagination.'
Then some of the Labyrinth website found its way - with masses of other material - into Greg's history book Secrets of the Labyrinth.
But it is a frustrating time when you can't see the results of your labours - if you know that lots of interested surfers will never find it.
Then, about four weeks in, I used the search terms 'Mosse' and 'Sepulchre'. Fifth. Then I used 'Sepulchre' and 'Mosse'. I got a return in seventh place. A couple of days later it was third. By the end of the week it was first.
You see, authors understand that they can never please everybody. Not everyone will enjoy their book. But they just want the people who are likely to enjoy it to get to hear about it and, maybe, have the opportunity to buy it.
So I suppose there are two reasons for this website - just as there were for Labyrinth. A place to publish the historical back story that couldn't figure in the novel. And a way of saying:
'Hey, this is what it's about!'
These are the reasons why we built the Sepulchre.
