Why You Need an Author Website (and What Belongs in an Effective Design)
About ten years ago, I started working as co-director of Writing Workshops Los Angeles, and we needed a new website. I had designed a couple Squarespace sites for other projects, and I really enjoyed it. So it was a fun challenge to build my most complicated site yet. I loved the way it turned out and I wanted more. It was a few years later before I had my first bonafide client: bestselling novelist and future adapted-for-TV author Janelle Brown. I’m still grateful she gave me a chance, and two books later, Janelle still uses the layout I designed.
Since then, I’m going on fifty websites that I’ve designed, mostly for authors, several small businesses, and one large university library.
I wanted to put together a post about why it’s important for authors to have a professional website. I was on the other end of things when I first encountered the lost opportunities that can occur without a functioning website.
As director of WWLA, I frequently encountered the work of a writer that impressed me, and I wanted to reach out to them to see if they’d be interested in teaching for us. I would go to Google, search for their website, and when I wasn’t able to find one through which to contact them, that was it! I could probably have tracked them down on social media, friended or followed them so that I would be allowed to send them a message they may not even see, but there are a lot of impressive writers out there. I would usually move on.
A well-designed author website can
give visitors a sense of your voice and style
convey the tone and context of your latest book
organize your writing and publicity in one location
advertise upcoming events
collect subscribers to build your platform
ensure you don't miss opportunities
allow agents, publishers, and future employers to contact you
Debut authors and writers with a new book
Any time is a good time to launch your first website or spruce up an existing website, but the imminent publication of a new book is especially excellent timing. The press accompanying a new book will bring your name to new readers and they’re going to want to look into you. An effective website will collect all the relevant information in one spot and make it easy for visitors to navigate. A new design can also reflect the style of your book cover and make the reader’s visit an extension of their experience with the book, as in Lakiesha Carr’s website above or the author websites below.
If you don’t have a book coming out, an author website can also be a stylish way to organize and publicize clips in a single location. Ashley Stimpson has a really nice example of a journalist’s website. Let’s take a look at what a well-designed website should offer its visitors.
Basic author website components
Landing page
About
Book(s)
News & Events
Other Writing
Contact
Landing page
A website's landing page (where visitors land if they type in your basic domain, e.g., chrisdaley.com) is critical to a successful online presence. It is often the first point of contact for visitors, providing them with a first impression of your book. The landing page is designed to capture the visitor's attention and easily allow them to sign up for a newsletter, buy your book, or find something else they’re looking for. A successful landing page can provide visitors with a clear call to action, encouraging them to take a specific action.
In the website above, Katherine Beutner offers two calls to action: “Learn more” about her forthcoming book Killingly or “Sign up” for her newsletter. Simple and to the point. The design of the page also evokes the endpapers from the hardcover version of her novel, depicting vintage illustrations of animal anatomy.
In the website above, which is for a writer who is also a visual effects designer and researcher, Raqi Syed only issues one call to action: Feel “Welcome.” However, she uses the landing page to give the visitor a strong, quick first impression of her work. The background image is a compelling digital rendering of her avatar; she introduces herself to visitors with a two-sentence logline; and she includes four hashtags that capture the spirit of her work. Once you click through the Welcome button, you reach a home page with more information on Raqi’s roles.
There’s one more option to consider. The landing page can also work as a single-page website if you want to keep things minimal. Below, you can see Darren Manley introduces himself, highlights an essay, provides a contact form, and issues a call to action to sign up for his newsletter.
About
While some writers choose to include their bio and author photo on the landing page, having an About page makes it intuitive for the visitor to find. You can also choose to add other elements like sundry photos or an artist statement. However, media outlets and other organizations (such as a residency or a creative writing school) will want an easily located bio and photo to repurpose. You could even have a short bio and a long bio and/or photos of different dimensions for them to
choose from. If you are going to only have one photo, it’s best if it can be cropped a few different ways. (A new website is also an excellent excuse to get some new author photos!)
Book(s)
If you have a new book coming out, it’s good to have a website ready to go by the time the title is available for pre-order. The page in the menu can be named for the book or, if you have multiple books, you could have a dropdown menu like Gayle Brandeis’s website to the right. A book page on an author website should provide information about the book that is useful for potential readers, such as:
A high-quality image of the book cover
Jacket copy that the book uses to encourage potential readers to want to read more
Links to various online retailers where readers can easily purchase the book, such as Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, that other place, or indie bookstores
Advance praise for the book and review excerpts
Overall, the book page on an author website should be easy to navigate and provide all the relevant information readers need to make an informed decision about whether to buy the book.
News & Events
You can use these categories in lots of different ways, but it’s important to report news to maintain interest in the book (reviews, awards, media appearances) and share events so people can turn out to support your work.
There are many reasons why I use Squarespace (the tools to create gorgeous designs, outstanding and user-friendly features, the best tech support I’ve ever encountered), but I really like the new list layout they offer for information like news the author wants to share or events on a book tour. Once the site is designed, it’s easy to add updates.
Other Writing
Visitors to your author website are likely there because of your book, but this is a perfect chance to introduce them to your other short-form work, such as short stories, essays, or articles. You can call this page “Other Writing,” “Selected Publications,” “Fiction & Nonfiction,” “Journalism” — whatever works.
This page specifically dedicated to your other publications will make it easy for visitors to find and browse through your work. (If you have a lot of publications, consider grouping them by category.) The most important information is the title and publication (linked if at all possible). There are so many fun options for how to list the publications depending on how many there are — from Edan Lepucki’s poster style (left) to Mary Otis’s list style (right) and variations in between.
Contact
One of the most important pages in your website will be the Contact page. To return to my arguments for why you need an author website in the first place, many people will be visiting your site specifically to get in touch with you and you want to make sure it’s as convenient as possible. Most website platforms will offer a contact form, which allows visitors to reach out without having to make your email address public. You can also list your agent and publicist here for questions about representation, promotion, and other issues best handled by the professionals. It’s also a good idea to include links to your social media accounts if you’d like people to contact you that way. (If you’d like to contact me, you can do so here.)
Some other pages you might want to consider for your website:
Services you might offer (editing/teaching/etc.)
Reading guides
Image galleries
A blog
Even an amazing collection of lists like you’ll find at Kevin Brockmeier’s website
A website of your own
I’d like to return to the idea that you can give visitors to your website a sense of your voice and persona. In Cecil Castellucci’s website to the left, you can learn certain things about her from the pages in her menu: “tea with cecil” invites approachability, “other arts” calls attention to her multidisciplinarity, and “students & teachers” indicates some educational value to her work. The other pages—home, about, news, events, books, and contact—point visitors exactly where they need to go.
Designing websites is one of my favorite things to do, and I would love to work with you to create something beautiful.
Please get in touch with any questions at all!