I will admit I was a little confused when I first read the article in PWdaily; I thought the Author Assistant would also be used by the readers to look up their favorite authors. Not so. It’s just for the authors to update their pages. I feel like a goof. What makes it even better is that I actually called HC to see why I needed to login to look at features like the blog by Avon SVP and Publisher Liate Stehlink, and ask how could I register when there was no where to sign up? (Oddly enough, the help desk number on the webpage went to the mailbox of someone who is out of the office until Oct 1st. How’s that for good timing?)

Moving on from my thick-headedness, these new author pages have some features I like. They have authors such as Kim Harrison list their favorite websites, books and authors, and HC isn’t limiting things to favorites among the HC family. They also have many external links, which led me to discover that Patricia Briggs has a new book coming out in January—yeah!  I also discovered Cincinnati has icams at Fountain Square and the zoo, which is cool and yet creepy since I live in Cincinnati.

The new author pages do have some fun things, such as the Author Connections feautre (which I spent way too much time playing with), but we’ll see how this plays out. I would love to hear from one of the Avon authors using Author Assistant, to know whether this is easier or harder than taking care of your own site. How well is this new tool working out? So...anyone?