The Authors Guild offers four main web services to its members: Sitebuilder, Hosting Only, Domain Name Registration, and GuildMail. The primary purpose of these web services is to create a presence for yourself on the Internet. You can combine these services or use them individually; choosing the combination of web services that is right for you depends upon where you are in the process of creating an Internet presence.

A Sitebuilder subscription is a good place to start. Sitebuilder is the Guild’s unique website-building software that allows you to easily create and maintain professional looking websites, without having to do any programming. Subscribers to Sitebuilder have free access to GuildMail and Authors Guild web services support staff. For more information on Sitebuilder, and to test drive the software, click here.

If you choose to take advantage of our Site Express service, we’ll build your website for you, and help you set up a domain name for it. Simply fill out the Site Express application form (a biography, information about your works, some events information), and we will present you with a draft of your site within one week. Site Express is a good way for beginners to quickly and easily get a website up and running. Websites designed via Site Express use a standard template. Once your site is launched (it usually takes about a week), we’ll help you learn how to use Sitebuilder’s simple tools to change the look and feel of your site, and keep it updated. To request an application, click here.

In order to take full advantage of all the website-building tools that Sitebuilder offers, we recommend using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser. A browser is a software program that enables you to view and interact with websites on the World Wide Web. Examples of other web browsers include Netscape Navigator, Safari, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. For a free, quick download of Mozilla Firefox, go to http://www.getfirefox.com.

If you already have a website, but it is not built with the Guild’s Sitebuilder tools, then our Hosting Only service may be the right choice for you. Choosing the Authors Guild as your hosting service means that we will allot a certain amount of space on our server to accommodate your website, and make it accessible to the public via the Word Wide Web. A web server is software that runs uninterrupted on a computer and allows other computers to access it. For more information about our hosting only options, please click here.

Once you have a website built, you will want to give a name to your site, so that people will be able to find you. A domain name is known, colloquially, as a “web address.” For example, the domain name for the Authors Guild’s main website is authorsguild.org. Domain Names, like social security numbers, are unique. Once you register a name for your site, no one else will be able to use it.

Sometimes the terms “domain name” and “web address” are used interchangeably with the acronym URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Technically, the URL is more complete and includes the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) prefix; for example, the URL for the Authors Guild’s website is http://www.authorsguild.org/, while the domain name is authorsguild.org.

To sign up for Domain Name Registration through the Authors Guild, click here. You will also be able to search availability to see if the domain name you would like to use is available to register. Remember, the best domain names are short, easily remembered, and clearly relate to your writing or yourself as an author. We recommend something close to your own name, or the title of a work that you are particularly interested in promoting.

GuildMail is the Authors Guild proprietary e-mail system. GuildMail allows you to send, receive, and store electronic messages. E-mail is an important part of your web presence, and whether or not you have your
own website, you should have e-mail. You can use your GuildMail address to correspond with other writers, subscribe to online newsletters, and stay in contact with friends, colleagues, and family all over the world. Click here for more information on GuildMail.

As you continue to work to expand your Internet presence, you may find that you have more questions about the meaning of certain web terms and functions. We recommend searching by keywords on the following websites for help: http://www.webopedia.com, http://www.netlingo.com, and http://www.wikipedia.org.

Please feel free to e-mail us at webservices@authorsguild.org for further assistance.