Your Online Presence in an Author Website Designed for You
If you're a published author—or you intend to become one—it is essential you have an aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly and search-engine-optimized site author website for marketing yourself and your books or services.
An author website serves many purposes. It:
- reinforces your credibility as an author
- gives interested visitors and readers information about you and your work
- allows you to control your "brand" or narrative about what information you share and how it's presented
- shows people you are interested in engaging with them.
A properly designed author website- even a simple one- that is attractive and easy to navigate enables you to connect with readers on your terms, control how and what information you share, sell your books, keep people informed with a blog, and much more.
The author website design can be simple and low-cost or interactive and custom built, but most important is that you have one, so when people do an online search for your name, your website pops up and gives them the info they were looking for!
Website Design and Development
- Design an attractive and user-friendly theme across a range of site hosts (WordPress, Wix, and Mailerlite)
- Create individual pages and blog post page infrastructure
- Integrate various media, plug-ins, e-commerce, and beyond
- Provide continual support and maintenance
*Still not convinced you need an author website? Read this article, "Think You Don't Need an Author Website? Think Again."
A Website for Every Author
With our author website design services, we will build you a 5-page website on one of three platforms, depending on your budget and desire for interactivity and functionality.
- Basic Author Website Design Package (platform Mailerlite): Set it and forget it with an attractive and functional "business card on the web"- Free option: 5-page site using templates. Comes with free domain, free hosting, and free email marketing (optional). No blog.- Low-cost option: 5-page site using templates. Comes with custom domain, hosting, email marketing (optional) and blog.
- Room for Growth Author Website Design Package (platform WordPress): for the author who wants to be able to learn and manage your own website and add functionality whenever you need as you grow your business.- 5-page site using customizable templates. Low annual fee includes WordPress "Elementor" theme and hosting. Domain extra.
- Custom Author All-in-One Website Design Package (platform Wix): get the brand design, layout, and custom environment unique to you and your "brand" as an author- 5-page custom designed website. Monthly fee includes Wix theme, hosting + custom domain.
Add-ons:
- Brand consultation to meet with your designer and determine the look and feel of your site (colors, images, logo, etc.)
- 1-hour tutorial for the Basic and the Room for Growth website packages to learn how to navigate and take over the management of your site so you can independently add pages, make changes, host a blog, or sell your books
- Have website designer add pages or plugins for greater interactivity/functionality
- Individual pages content writing or editing
Choose from:
Basic Author Website Design Package
Clean interface, some functionality, includes sales and email marketing features. Website, hosting, domain*, and email marketing are included. A great out-of-box solution!
- Free version includes a Mailerlite-branded domain and hosting, email marketing, no blog
- Paid version to Mailerlite includes option to use *custom domain (purchased separately), hosting, blog, email marketing, and sales ($10 USD/mo.)Tutorial for learning how to manage and maintain the site included.
$600 (1 payment total)
Room for Growth Author Website Design Package
Interactive, best for SEO, easy to add pages, blog posts, and plugins. Excellent growth potential for entrepreneur/author
Additional charges to WordPress: $99 USD/year for theme and hosting. Domain is not included and must be purchased from outside provider.
Tutorial for learning how to manage and update site available as a 1-hour Add-on.
Referral to our trusted partner Inkling Design for ongoing updates and maintenance gladly provided.
$720 (2 payments of $360 each)
Custom Author Website Design Package
Interactive and elegant, a Wix site provides a beautiful interface, easy functionality for visitors, and is entirely customizable.
This all-in-one solution includes a custom domain, hosting, and in-house plugins. The easy-to-learn drag-and-drop design enables you to add as you grow.
Additional charges to Wix: Combo plan $16 USD/mo.* or Business Basic plan $26 USD/mo.* for online selling. *Based on annual rate
Tutorial for how to manage and update site included.
$1,370 (2 payments of $670 each)
Add-Ons
Add-on Hourly Consultation
- Brand consultation to meet with your developer and determine the look and feel of your site (colors, images, logo, etc.)
- Platform account set-up/domain purchasing support
- Tutorial to learn how to navigate and manage your site, so you can add pages, make changes, host a blog, or sell your books
- Add pages or plugins for greater interactivity/functionality
- Existing website renovation/editing
- Individual pages content writing or content editing
$120/hr.
5-Page Author Website Copywriting Package
Not sure how to write compelling copy for your website or don't have the time? Let us handle it for you!
Your website copywriter will interview you to get all the info they need, write the rough drafts for your Homepage, About, Contact and 2 interior pages of your choosing, revise them to your specifications (2 revisions included), settle the copy onto the website, then proofread it a last time to make sure it's clean, clear and ready for your readers!
$1,220 (2 payments of $610 each)
Examples of Author Website Homepages
See for Yourself ...
- Samples of Basic Mailerlite websites
- Samples of Room-for-Growth WordPress websites
- Sample of Custom Wix Author website
Not sure which is right for your needs? Contact us any time to let us help!
FAQs
What are the 5 website pages you design?
Each author website design automatically comes with a Homepage, About page, and a Contact page plus 2 interior pages of your choice (blog, testimonials, sales, portfolio, CV, etc.) Additional pages may be added at our hourly rate.
What happens after I decide which site design I want to buy?
Once you decide on which website service you'd like, we will send you a comprehensive questionnaire to learn more about you and how you would like to be represented on your site. We will also guide you through creating and uploading a series of files such as your logo, images, your website page content, and links to other websites.
*If you don't have these things and would like some Brand guidance, we're happy to help you with that (add-on).
How many revisions in the author website design are included?
You are welcome to two revisions:
- After your designer has created a first "draft" of your site, they will invite you to look at it with them in a 30-minute meeting, so you can make adjustments together.
- After revising it based on your feedback, they will share the URL of the site for you to make any last changes in writing.
Can I learn how to manage my site and add pages, interactive plugins, or content?
Yes, our designers will be happy to introduce the "back end" of your site to you and explain how you can add or edit your content and pages. Tutorials are included in the package price of the Basic and Custom design; tutorial for the Room for Growth package is available as a separate add-on.
Don't want to manage the tech yourself? No problem. You can also retain your designer on an hourly basis to help you with any updates, adjustments or things that are technically higher level that come up in the future!
Do I write the content for the website or do you provide it?
We're happy to write your content for you (Please see our Author Website Copywriting Package) or edit any content you write yourself (on an hourly basis) to make sure it's clear, compelling, and correct.
Our Web Designers
Astrid Sucipto-Low, owner of Digital Pixie and collaborative partner with One Lit Place.
*Basic and Custom Author Website Design Packages.
Jessica de Bruyn, Developmental Editor, Writing Coach, & Web Developer for One Lit Place.
*Room for Growth WordPress Elementor Author Website Design Package.
