As clients finish their books and move from writing and editing to thinking about self-publishing and book promotion, the question of whether they need a website usually comes up.
The answer is a decisive, “That depends.”
If you’re playing around with a novel or a memoir, not sure if you’re going to write anything else, and not particularly focused on sales—even though I’m sure you’d love for it to be a bestseller—then you probably don’t need a website.
On the other hand, if you’ve turned novel writing into your new career, like my writing coach client, Barbara Hinske, or if you’re using your book to promote your business, an author website will function as your book’s calling card. In this era of increasing online influence, that’s critical.
Let’s assume that you’ve decided that you need an author website. You don’t have to get all crazy and have a ton of pages. In fact, a number of web designers these days recommend a scrolling landing page rather than a multi-page author website, especially if you only have a single book at this point. So, that’s what my writing coach client, Derek Reed, opted for.
His author website is simple but effective. Let’s take a look at what we created with web designer Patrick Jebber, of Monsters Unlimited.
First, we selected to turn Derek’s byline into the main URL—https://DerekJReed.com/—just in case he decides to keep writing and publishing. He also purchased a URL based on his book’s title, TheImperfectStorm.com, which redirects people to the DerekJReed.com website.
We knew we wanted Derek’s author website to marry with his wealth management firm’s website, while still establishing his personal brand that would speak to both him as an author and to his book. Aside from that, the priorities were simple:
- Place the book front and center, with a picture of the cover and an enticing synopsis.
- Since we want people to buy the book, a Get the Book Today! call-to-action followed, with links to the stores selling it, along with a rotating sequence of accolades.
- Readers need to know who’s behind the book and his credentials, so an About the Author section (with head shot) that focused on who Derek is on both the personal and professional sides came next.
- Derek is passionate about philanthropy and strategic giving, a major theme in his book, so we included a short piece about that.
- Since he wants to do more public speaking, we featured information about his presentations and workshops, with lists of topics, and a short video of him addressing a nonprofit group.
- In an unlikely and captivating approach, The Imperfect Storm wraps financial lessons into stories about Derek’s dad, the swordfishing captain of the Andrea Gail, until just a few weeks before it sank in The Perfect Storm. Both the content and the different way of addressing how to prepare for retirement make the book potentially interesting to the press, so we included a downloadable media kit.
- The landing page ends with a contact form.
You may not need all the elements that Derek opted for in his author website. Or you may want to opt to write a blog and/or have an opt-in offer where you give someone a freebie in exchange for them signing up for your email list. If you have a social media presence, you can choose to include links to those pages as well.
Hopefully, this list will help you create a simple and effective author website, whether you decide to work with a web designer or use a WordPress template and DIY this.
