by Tamara Sztainbok
Nowadays, the most effective way you as a writer can make contact and continue to connect with your audience, maintain a public platform just for you, and promote and sell your books is through your author website.
Your author website can be clean and lean—like a digital business card—or it can contain more interactivity/bells and whistles, but the most important thing for any author is that you have a website at all and that it be adjusted behind the scenes to work for you.
When your site contains 10 essential elements that make your author website stand out, your site will inevitably be an inviting and “on brand” space just for you on the web, contain key technical markers so it shows up in people’s online searches, and engage readers to take action in some way.
If you don’t have a website yet, now is the time to start reaching your audiences in an immediate, relevant way online.
(Not quite on board with having a website designed just yet? Read our article, “A Website Is the Most Valuable Tool Every Author Needs” and you’ll see how a website is the #1 tool every author should have.)
When setting up your author website—either on your own, or with the help of a professional website designer—it’s vital to make sure it contains these 10 essentials to make stand out from your fellow writers and the competition.
There are plenty of authors on the web, so making yours unique and highly functional will distinguish yours above the others, vital for your visibility, reputation and sales.
Did you know the “About” page is the most visited page on any website? It’s where visitors start to make deeper connections with you and get to know what makes you tick.
Your “About” page should include:
What many authors do is have a “Books” page in their website’s menu, which showcases all of their books. But in addition, each book should have its own separate page.
In some situations, less is more, but in the world of websites, more is better:
Website pages for your books should include:
Additionally, if you offer services such as editing or manuscript review, those should be on a separate page as well.
Keeping your authorial efforts and your job-like efforts distinct allows site visitors to target what it is exactly they’re looking for. It also makes it easier for you to share the specific book or service with others if they all have separate pages on your site.
Readers, reviewers, agents and publishers need to know how to reach you quickly and easily. If your contact information is hard to find, they may give up and move on to another writer.
Have a tab on your main navigation menu that leads to your Contact page. Decide how you want to be reached and let people know how to do it. If you want to be reached by email, include your email address or a contact form. If you want to be reached by mail, include an address. If you include a contact form, keep it short, asking for only the information you need.
Invite visitors to engage with you on social media. Make sure you have accounts on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and include links to your accounts on every page of your website so visitors can follow you on social media easily.
Social proof can include excerpts from fan mail, book reviews and notable media appearances. Reviews and testimonials speak for themselves and lend credibility and authority to your work.
If you sprinkle them throughout your website—on your Book and Service pages, your Home page and your About page—people will be constantly reminded of the glowing things said about you, your books and what you do.
In order to sell books, you’ll need to get the word out beyond your website and your own social media accounts. That’s where the media come in. Include a Press page on your site that makes it easy for media outlets and reviewers to contact you.
Give them all the information they’ll need in order to feature you:
Once you’re getting media coverage and invitations to speak, let your fans know where you’ll be appearing in the future. Create an Events or News page where you list your upcoming launches, readings, speaking engagements, and TV or radio appearances.
Blogging is essential for your website for a number of reasons:
Your email subscribers will be your most loyal fans and greatest ambassadors to their like-minded friends. Through regular emails, you can share your latest blog posts, upcoming events, and behind-the-scenes looks at your current writing.
Include social sharing buttons (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) on the pages of your site you’d like visitors to share on social media, particularly your book pages and blog posts.
A responsive website is one that adapts to whatever screen it’s being viewed on. Whether someone is looking at your site on a mobile phone, a tablet or a desktop computer, your website should look beautiful, be easily navigable, and function seamlessly. This is not only for visitor ease but also to maintain your web ranking: search engines penalize your site if it’s not built to be responsive.
An author website that serves primarily as a digital business card is better than no website at all. That said, the websites that get the most visitors, engagement, and clicks (which lead to more visitors and engagement) are built with some behind-the-scenes technology that makes sure they adapt to visitors’ needs.
Mobile-responsive is one such necessity. You also want to have a subscribe pop-up, links to your and other websites, and other “SEO” implementation that helps serve your site to people surfing the web as well as to those looking expressly for you.
An author website is an extension of you as the writer and of your work. It must connect to fans and provide the opportunity for you to promote your work.
Got questions about your author website? Please leave me a comment below.
Or if you find you’re ready to have your own author website built for you, check out our website design packages that provide authors with beautiful, user-friendly websites!
Our 4-month Mentored Book Programs, Online Courses, & Writing Coaching and Editing Hours. From November 21-27, 2023
5 Responses
I found this very helpful, but have numerous questions regarding setting up a website. Please see the book I finished last fall and is now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.
“Not Just an Ordinary Pony”
M.E. Colman
Please check out the book and let me know if you think a website would help.
Many thanks.
Hi Elizabeth, I have a published book too and I’m 17. I need help because I don’t know how to get my book out there. It’s called Mindset of a Millionaire by Brandon Campbell. Brand new, done yesterday. Any pointers?
Congrats on your newly released book, Brandon! That’s wonderful, and I hope you get loads of traction. Now comes all the marketing, which you can do through a variety of methods: guest blogs, social media, live events, panel discussions and conferences, getting reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and so much more. Do a quick Google search to see people’s ideas on how to market your self-published book and you’ll be amazed at the creative ways you can get more eyeballs on your work. Best of luck with it! ~ Jenna
Hi, Margo- I looked at your Amazon page and your book looks lovely. Given how dynamic the book is with varying modes of expression, and that you have a newsletter, I think a website would be useful. A website can serve as a home base where you can drive traffic from social media, where you can post additional blog content that will help inspire further interest in your book and develop a relationship with your audience, and where you can sell your book with all proceeds going directly to you if you set it up that you collect payment and ship copies out, or with a button leading people to online booksellers. We have resources on our site that will help you set up a simple WordPress website or you can certainly find all manner of guidance on the web (including comprehensive blogs and videos) for all the available platforms. You can also have someone set up the site for you, which is naturally the easiest option, but you’ll want them to teach you how to use it so you can add blogs when you like. Best of luck with it and let us know how it goes or if you have questions! Jenna
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