Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Oldest Author Website

by Rob - January 24th, 2009.
Filed under: Milestones.

Hey, New York Times!

My friend Stephen Kotowych points out that this article in the Sunday, January 25, 2009, New York Times [but online since yesterday] says, “Back in 1996, [Brad] Meltzer built what was arguably the first author Web site for his first novel …”

Poppycock, says I! My website has been online since Wednesday, June 28, 1995. I’ve never claimed it was the first author website, but it’s often referred to as the first science-fiction author website (and Reuters called it that many years ago in an article).

So, how hard would it have been for the crack journalists at the New York Times to find out if any author websites predated 1996? Well, how ’bout a quick Google search on “author website 1995” (without the quotation marks). Oh, look, lo and behold, right there on the first page of results is my website, and this snippet of text: “Author of 17 SF novels. Sample chapters from each book, full-text short stories, … This web site online since 28 June 1995 — it’s older than Amazon.com!”

“Arguably” should not be used as a substitute for “I’m too lazy to check.” Perhaps the New York Times style guide should be updated to include that fine distinction. :)

The original URL of the main page of my multi-page website on June 28, 1995, was:

http://www.greyware.com/authors/sawyer/index.htm

Its current home, of course, is at sfwriter.com.

(I’ll make it even easier for the next person researching this topic by including all the keywords that might be useful so this message can be easily found via search engines: first author website; first author web site; first author homepage; first author home page; oldest author website; oldest author website; oldest author homepage; oldest author home page; author website 1995; author web site 1995; author homepage 1995; author home page 1995.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

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