Writing is an art that transcends time and space. Authors take their readers to a different world and a different era in a matter of seconds. Though we are moving fast towards visual media and social networks, authors still exert a significant influence on readers around the world. After all, however good the movie is, we always say the book was better.
To retain the influence of literature on the audience and to reach out to the new generation, author websites are indispensable. Through author websites, you can establish a deep connection with your readers, and promote your works to a wider population. Here in Strikingly, we help you out with everything you may need to launch your website.
Benefits of author websites
- Book Marketing
There are multiple benefits of building author websites, but the most important one is book marketing. Every author wants to sell more copies of their books, and an online presence is a sure way of achieving that.
- Wider readership
Leveraging the power of the internet, you can reach out to readers from every part of the globe. Author websites, when combined with social media integration have the potential to take you from a few thousands of readers to millions and billions.
- Sell online
An added advantage of having your personal website is that you can sell your books directly from your website, instead of depending on other e-commerce platforms or physical stores. Besides, you can also provide links to other platforms from where readers may prefer to access your works. For example, you can take your readers to your book on Amazon, if they want to read it on Kindle.
- More popularity
Authors pages are excellent PR tools. Though writing is your main job as an author, there are many more related avenues open for you. You can conduct webinars or host podcasts to build a rapport with your readers. Through author websites, folks who want to approach you for a literary conference or forum will be able to contact you easily. Some of these engagements may bring you a direct monetary benefit, while some others will help you in building the follower base which you can turn into readership eventually.
Authors websites examples
From the vast number of authors pages hosted in Strikingly platform, we have picked up some of the best author websites that can inspire you to build yours.
Sim Mau is a comic book writer and visual artist. On this website, you can see a simple authors web design with multiple work portfolios. Also, it has a bio talking about the author’s origin and achievements. You can also contact the author through email or social media icons given at the bottom of the page. This website has a neat navigation bar on the left-hand side, helping users to access the information they want without having to think about how.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website.
2. Pépé Smit is a children’s book author. This author’s website design is truly eye-catching aimed at attracting her young audience. The theme, colors, and content are all tailor-made for tiny tot readers. The first thing kids would see on her website is the cute and funny deer, from her latest publication. Further down, there is a listing of her other works. One remarkable thing about this website is that it is multilingual. Kids can read her works in Dutch or English, and switching between the two has been made simple through navigation buttons on the top.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website.
Essential features of author websites
If you are an author, then creativity is an inherent trait in you. Once you decide to make a personal website for yourself, there is no limit on things you can show on it. To get you started, we have listed a few essential features that are must-haves in author websites irrespective of language and genre.
- Portfolio
An author website would be incomplete without a listing of your works. As soon as the user enters your website, the first thing that they see should be your most recent work. Irrespective of whether you are an amateur writer or a renowned personality, you need to market your books left, right, and center.
- Your Bio
It is always a good idea to give your readers a glimpse of your background. Apart from details of your genre and books, include some personal information about you, such as your family, your inspiration for writing, etc. This will help your readers to relate to you, and understand your works in a better way.
- Blog
You may be a novel or non-fiction book author. But it helps to occasionally write blog articles to instantly engage with your website audience. The good thing about a personal blog is that you can write about anything and everything that captures your imagination. For example, one day you can write a guide on how to get a book published, and the next day you can write a review of your favorite book. A blog can also serve as a canvas for experimenting with genres that you are not used to writing.
- Contact
A contact page will give publishers and journalists an easy way of reaching you. This will help you in getting more opportunities to publish your works and promote them. You can also communicate the other way round, by sending newsletters to your users.
- Social media
Be sure to include social media icons on your website. Being active on social media is non-negotiable when it comes to careers in mass communication. Engage with your readers and convert them into followers. When you launch a book, start its promotions on social media and websites well ahead of the actual launching date. This will help you to generate pre-orders.
- E-book store
Today, you don't have to approach a publisher for your work to see daylight. You can skip the whole process of hunting for publishers and handling rejection after rejection. Be your own publisher and sell e-books. Apart from digital copies, you may also build an online store for printed books. You can even charge a premium price for autographed books.
- Clear navigation
Users should be able to navigate to the different sections of your website effortlessly. Most internet users today are impatient and hate spending time figuring out how to get to a particular page.
Build your author website with Strikingly
Strikingly offers you an easy no-cost DIY way of building your website, without having to employ a techie or pay a huge web hosting charge. This saves you a lot of time and money. Not just for launching your website, but also for updating your works and displaying new promotions, you don't have to depend on a third-party.
Building your own website may look like a Herculean task, especially if you are a newbie in the cyber-city. Don’t panic. Strikingly is here to guide you through the whole website production process. To start with, we offer a variety of authors websites design templates suitable for different genres that you can choose from. These templates will help you in getting your author web design quickly. Once you have selected a suitable author website template, start editing it and add or remove sections you want in your site. The drag-and-drop site editor is highly intuitive. In addition, you can always refer to our support page or ping our happiness officers for help.
Strikingly provides many advanced features that can help you in making some extra revenue from your website. One such feature is memberships. You may have shared valuable writing tips or your research methodology on your website. You can monetize it by making it accessible to members only. Readers can create a username and password on your website by paying a fee. Strikingly will take care of account creation and payments seamlessly.
Image taken from Strikingly website.
You can also launch a book store of your digital products, and use Strikingly’s payment gateway integration to receive payments from platforms like Paypal or Stripe.
When you launch your website, take care to follow the best practices for SEO. Get a good domain name that matches your name, or you can use Strikingly’s free subdomain that will automatically boost your site’s SEO performance. Along with better search engine ranks, Strikingly helps you with increasing your social media following also through its integrations with all major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. To keep in touch with your readers, you can send regular newsletters to your readers’ list, built via Strikingly’s email opt-in pop-up.
Image taken from Strikingly website.
Today’s readers want to check out websites on-the-go, and so rendering websites on mobile is an essential part of hosting a website. Strikingly offers impeccable responsiveness when it comes to dealing with different devices - mobile, tablet, and desktop.
Engage with your readers on Strikingly
Your website audience may already know you and your works, or they may have stumbled upon your website while searching for something on the internet. Whichever way it is, your goal should be to convert visitors into buyers. Strikingly will help you in doing exactly that.
