Every author needs a webpage, and yet as gifted as authors are with words, they often find it remarkably difficult to decide what to include on their website. If you find yourself in this group, don’t despair. You are most definitely not alone. And we are here to help.
Your website can be as fancy or as simple as you want it to be. But there are a few things that every good author website will have:
A substantial author bio.
Talk about your career as a writer. Do you have a “day” job? Talk about that and how it influences your work. Include some personal details as you feel comfortable, such as family, your hometown, and hobbies. Have certain authors or books influenced your path as a writer? Give them a shout out, too. The point of the author bio is to make you appear approachable. You want readers to connect with you as a person. And remember, you want your bio to be easily quotable, so write it in the third person. It’s not as weird as referring to yourself in the third person at the neighborhood cocktail party. We promise.
A good headshot of the author.
Include a simple, flattering image of yourself. Keep it clean and fairly professional. No drunken party photos or images of you in head-to-toe snow gear. Bikini and speedo images should probably be avoided, too.
A sample of your work.
If you’ve already published, then include an excerpt of your work. And if you haven’t, then include samples. These can be a part of the website or available as pdf downloads. If you want to go super fancy, make them epub format for people’s electronic readers.
Positive reviews.
Have you had great feedback on your published work? What about your writing style in general? Include a few of the top reviews. If you don’t have any yet, now’s a good time to seek some out. Ask fellow writers. As a professional courtesy, most writers are willing to write a review. Plus, it beefs up their image, too, since that means their opinion is important.
Contact information.
Include a way for people to contact you. Offer a snail mail address if appropriate. But definitely include an email address. This can be a “mail to” link, a form, or your email address written out in long form. To avoid spam bots, if you write out the address, do it in a format similar to “yourname at email dot com.”
What about a blog?
If you want to go more in-depth and have the time to dedicate to it, then a blog is an excellent addition to any author website. But a blog poorly done won’t help, and it could hurt. So be sure you are committed to the idea and put in the time to write well.
Each author we publish gets a page on our website. This gaurantees our authors and their books can be found online, but we know readers are far more likely to find and visit an author’s personal website than they are to visit a publisher’s website. When possible, we boost our author’s online spaces with our own so that readers can find their favorite authors and connect with them on their social media as well as their websites.
The Layout of Your Author Website
Ultimately, the layout is entirely up to you. But the two most common layouts are a single page that scrolls vertically with all the relevant information or a site with multiple pages with dedicated purposes.
Either can be effective if done well.
If you opt for multiple pages, we recommend you include these:
- About
- This is where your author photo and author bio will go.
- This is also a good place to put your social media links and your contact information or a contact form.
- Contact
- If you did not put your contact information on your about page, or if you would prefer to use a contact form instead of an email address link, it’s good to have a dedicated page for that. You do not need this in multiple places, so once you pick one you’re set.
- Books
- Even if you only have one book, it’s good to plan for the future. This Books page should offer an easy overview of all your published books.
- Individual book pages for each published title
- Setting up an individual page for each book you write and publish ensures it is easy to include retailer links for each title individually, as well as collect and showcase positive reviews or endorsements for that book.
- News or Events
- It can be good to set up a page where you can share important news with your readers. Whether this is a page featuring upcoming events or a section of a blog designed to help drive traffic and awareness to your next signing, this is a great thing to have on your website.
- Blog
- If you decide to have a blog, this is another good thing to have hosted on your website. Blogs can be great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which will allow you to be found more easily on Google and other search engines.
Those are the basic pages of a website! But please take creative liberty and showcase your own personal brand in your author website, as that will make it most impactful for your audience.
