13 great author websites

If you’re an author and are contemplating building a website, you might not be totally clear what you should and shouldn’t include. Of course, there isn’t a one size fits all answer to this, but I would certainly encourage you to have one. At the very least your website should explain who you are and give information about your books. Think about all of the potential people who might visit your site - booksellers, agents, readers, reviewers, libraries - and make sure you include information that they might need in a clearly design and accessible way. That said, we need to make sure your website is doing more than this and make it an effective and valuable resource for your writing business.

Most of the traffic that comes to your website will land on your home page, so this page needs to work the hardest for you. Many authors, who have a newsletter, will have their sign up front and centre on their home page. (see Diana Urban’s site for a great example). If you don’t have an author newsletter or you want to focus on something else on your home page, make it very clear what you would like visitors to do - pre-order your book? show your new cover? see your up-and-coming events?

Design-wise your website should work reflect your genre and be visually appealing. My advice would be keep your site as simple as possible, make sure you include these areas:

• Newsletter sign up page

• Books

• Events

• Contact/About

• Media Kit

• Links to social

And other areas of the site you might want to consider:

• Blog

• Sample chapters

• Audiobooks

• Other products (box sets etc)

• Videos

• TV & Film

• Merchandise

• FAQs

• Book club questions

I have picked 13 author websites I think do just this. Click on the images to go through to the home pages.

Malorie Blackman

Diana Urban

Anthony Horowitz

Bella Andre

Val McDermid

Clare Mackintosh

Callista Buchen

Heather Sunseri

Sylvia Day

Amy Maroney

Shannon Mayer

Patrick Ness

Marian Keyes

Further reading:

7 Seo tips for author websites - The Empowered Author

Blog ideas for author websites - The Empowered Author

6 Elements of A Successful Author Website - Writers Digest

Book Publicity Essentials: Author Website Tips - Dan Smith for Ingram Spark

The Basic Components of an Author Website - Jane Friedman

Book Marketing: Improve Your Author Website With Search Engine Optimization - The Creative Penn

What Should I Put on My Author Website?- John Burke for Ingram Spark 

45+ Author Websites with Stellar Designs - Bookbub