Project Spotlight: constanceemmett.com
I always say this, but I have the best clients! I’m really happy to be sharing another project spotlight with you, this time for historical fiction author Constance Emmett.
Constance was so lovely to work with, and made my job building her website a true pleasure.
The Brief
Constance is the author of three novels, all in one way or another inspired by her own family’s rich history, as immigrants to the United States from both Ireland and England.
When she got in touch with me, Constance already had a website and blog on Wordpress that she had set up herself, but she wasn’t particularly pleased with how it looked and wanted something more professional to represent her growing catalogue. However, she didn’t feel confident enough to start building a new site herself.
Constance was keen to incorporate striking photography in the website, to reflect the magnificent landscapes that serve as a backdrop to her stories. She had chosen some beautiful stock photos which we used as full-width headers across each page of the website, to really conjure up the atmosphere reflected in her writing, and add cohesion to visitors as they navigate through the pages.
Constance also reviews books for the HNS UK Historical Review, and wanted a space to re-post these, so we created a dedicated blog section for this. Sharing these reviews on her own website will help with its SEO, and give visitors a reason to return.
Finally, we kept the overall website design calm, clear and free from clutter, with a restrained colour palette and timeless fonts, to allow the photography to take centre-stage.
Scroll down to see more of Constance’s website and find out more about how she found our project…
The Details
Version: Squarespace 7.1
Fonts used: Sorts Mill Goudy, Open Sans
View the site: constanceemmett.com
Constance’s Verdict
“I’m over the moon [with my new website]! It’s beautiful and simple, leaving me with few moving parts to fuss over and lots of instruction about how-to add, subtract, edit, etc. I will be proud when those directed or just curious enjoy my new website. Charlotte is a consummate professional and may I say, I very nice person.”
The Post-launch Q&A
Hi Constance! Tell us a little about your writing journey.
Historical fiction, although with BOUND, I've joined or created the historical thriller genre. I spill into the LGBTQ+ (mostly L and G) fiction and according to Amazon, historical military fiction! An unusual crossover.
I've published 3 novels with at least two more in my head and my first one in a drawer that could be resurrected. I wrote as a child and a twenty-something, but had no idea how to learn how to write or how to stick with it with it until I was in my fifties.
What was happening in your author career when you decided it was time for a new website?
I began a blog some years ago and was steady at posting essays about various topics, whatever took my fancy or was topical for me, with appropriate photos and illustrations. I enjoyed that for years but began letting it go some time ago. With my lack of attention and the amateurishness of the look, I didn't want anyone going to the old website, so I knew it was time for a new one.
The idea of trying to build another one was daunting and I wanted one I would be proud of, so I looked at the pros online and quickly found Charlotte (great SEO Charlotte!). Her story -- designer and author -- and the look of her creations won me over immediately. The process and result were beyond wonderful.
What nearly stopped you from booking?
The price was high, enough to think about, but I only hesitated for a few minutes, literally. "You get what you pay for..." and the cost was not going to deprive me of essentials or even frivolities, so I jumped right on it and am so happy I did!
Did you have an author website before?
(See two questions back). Yes, but I let it go as a blog, which showed, and although I tried for a pleasing design, my ineptness left me with one that looked amateurish (naturally) and a little crappy.
How do you feel about your new website?
Over the moon! It's beautiful and simple, leaving me with few moving parts to fuss over and lots of instruction about how-to add, subtract, edit, etc. I will be proud when those directed or just curious enjoy my new website.
Did it make a difference working with a web designer who is also a published author?
Very much so: Charlotte wasn't trying to bend my design into a business model for me, other than an author's representation. She was intuitive about what an author like me needed, would want and could deal with: three different and important things.
Her questionnaires reveal her deep understanding of someone in my position as well as authors with much more success, but I never felt judged for sidelined for one nanosecond. She is a consummate professional and may I say, I very nice person.
What surprised you most about the process?
I was anxious, even with Charlotte's steady hand and thoughtful process, but I followed her outlined process to the letter or the best of my ability and presto! it was easy and completed within the timeframe given for both of us. A joy, really!
What difference do you hope your website will make to your author career over the next few years?
It will make a huge difference in how I am judged as an author, particularly by agents, publishers or marketers and readers (let's not forget them!). It's polished, it shines, and it represents me and my work in the best light. I'm proud of my website now so whatever I can add to it (my continuing reviews for the HNS UK Historical Review, my new publications, any award that falls my way, more reviews of my books or events I attend).
I really think this website will take me through the rest of my career. If not, I'll go back to Charlotte without hesitation for a retune, redo.
If a writer friend called you tomorrow and asked whether they should work with Charlotte Duckworth Studio, what would you tell them?
Do it! Sign up with CD Studio now! Don't hem and haw, trust the CD Studio process, because dear friend, you will have a website you will love, on time and within a week of your gathering the info to make it.
“You will never regret spending the money and trusting Charlotte.”
Is there anything you feel could have been done to improve your experience?
Honestly, nothing crossed my mind from the time I signed up and paid. I knew I was in safe hands. I say this as a person who buys gadgets that don't work on the internet, subscribe to things I know I don't want or need, and know it when I do but still do! So I'm a textbook case of a second-guessing person in many realms (always was on exams, for instance).
As the process went on, I was relaxed and busy with the enjoyable questionnaires and gathering information and photographs, etc., and I never questioned that process or the small waiting period of a week between then and seeing the finished product. I did not worry at all. In fact, once I started the process, my anxiety dissipated until I had to go live, but then again, Charlotte had it mapped out for me, so I relaxed. It was so easy!
Last but not least - share a little bit about your book / writing for readers who might be interested in learning more!
Constance Emmett was born in Brooklyn, New York where her mother's family landed after leaving Belfast, Northern Ireland. Raised in the lower Hudson Valley by a family of great readers, she became a great reader and a child writer. Her studies and career as a biologist took time and attention away from her writing, but after viewing a televised interview of novelist Sarah Waters explaining that she'd written Tipping the Velvet because she wanted to write what she wanted to read, Constance began writing on weekends.
Her debut novel, Heroine of Her Own Life (2019) and its sequel, Everything Will Be All Right (2022), books 1 and 2 in the Finding Their Way Home series, were inspired by her Irish family and published by Next Chapter. She is writing book 3 in the series and in 2026 published (Next Chapter) Bound, a novel set in Revolutionary War New York, also inspired by a direct ancestor and released in time for America's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Constance's fiction incorporates her love of origins. Her Irish family stories found a lifelong home in Constance and formed her as a writer. She creates characters who experience dislocation, but have the resilience common to all survivors, often finding redemption.
She lives with her wife and their dog in the rural foothills of the Berkshires, Western Massachusetts.
Constance holds dual American and Republic of Ireland citizenship.
Constance is a member of the Historical Novel Society (North American/UK and Irish branch) and regularly reviews for the Historical Review. Other memberships include The Irish Writers' Union, Straw Dog Writers Guild and The Irish Writers Centre.
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