Website (Re)Launch Bootcamp with Janna Morishima

Yes, there is a discount for Studio members! Information about the discount will be posted inside the Studio program, and emailed to Studio members. Email hello@kidscomicsunite.com if you have questions about it.

The course begins on Wednesday July 12th and ends on Thursday, August 17th. The first lesson is on July 12th, at 12:30 pm EST. After that, there will be five more weekly lessons on Tuesdays at 12:00 pm EST.

There will also be three Friday co-working sessions at 10:30 am EST, and three Monday office hours at 11:00 am EST.

We will have a “Demo Day” celebration on Thursday, August 17th, at 7 pm EST.

The lessons are all recorded and replays will be available within 48 hours.

Live lessons, co-working sessions, and office hours are held via Zoom. The lesson replays are video recordings hosted privately on YouTube.

Class discussion will also happen asynchronously in the Mighty Network course activity feed.

Handouts, checklists, and templates will be in pdf format and hosted in the Mighty Network course space.

As long as the KCU Mighty Networks exists, you will have access to the course content! Hopefully this means “lifetime access”! 🙂

If you are not happy with the course or decide it’s not right for you for any reason, let us know within the first three weeks of the course and we’ll give you a full refund.

Yes, you can definitely take it at your own pace. I’ve designed the course to be very hands-on, and the goal is to get you to the finish line with a brand-new public website by the end of the 6 weeks.

But if you need more time, that’s perfectly fine! You will still have access to all the lessons and can complete everything at whatever rate works best for you.

I absolutely recommend that you should have a website, for several reasons:

First, there is a psychological benefit to investing in yourself and presenting your writing or artwork to the world in a professional way. It’s a way of taking yourself seriously and internalizing that you are committed to your work.

Second, by starting a website now, and keeping it fresh with a blog or a periodically updated portfolio, you are creating the foundation that will allow you to launch a stronger marketing campaign, once your books are on track for publication.

Third, having a website gives you much greater control over your online presence. One of the first things that an agent or editor does when they are reviewing your pitch is google you. Ideally, your website is one of the first things they see, and allows you to make a good impression.

No, please don’t rely on social media as your sole online presence! First of all, you don’t own your social media account. The social media platform owns it, and can revoke your account at any time. They could go out of business. They could change their algorithm and make your content almost impossible to find.

If you buy your own domain and create your own website, you own it 100%. You have total control and can more easily curate it to reflect exactly what you want the world to know about you and your work. Websites are also much more flexible and can grow as your career grows. For example, at some point you may want to add an online store, or a course, or digital downloads, etc., and this is easy to do with your own website.

This course is great for you! The goal is to buckle down and create a completely new website, or at least make major revisions to your current site.

This course will help you find a website platform that is easy to use. And the course is not just about learning, but also doing. So you’ll be building your website during the course, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask for help if you get stuck at any point.

Not necessarily! Some platforms (like Wix) have “free” versions that cost nothing.

In this course, though, I will show you why I think it’s worth it to pay for at least the minimum “paid” version. (If you’re curious, this article explains a lot of the reasons!) Both Wix and Squarespace have basic plans that cost $16 per month. Wordpress is free, but you’ll have to pay for hosting and other upgrades like security plug-ins, so it ends up being similar in cost.

This course will help you figure out the costs and decide on what’s best for you.

Yes, you’ll have to pay yearly hosting and domain charges. Unless you use Google Sites, in which case you only have to pay the annual domain charge, which could be as low as $12 a year. (Yes, it is possible to build a simple, secure, functional author/illustrator website for as little as that!)

If you already have a website with one platform (for example Wordpress), but you don't like it and want to switch, you can definitely build a new website and then switch your domain so it points to your new website. You may need to contact your platform’s helpdesk for assistance in making this switch, but it usually isn’t too difficult.