Authors rarely begin writing because of their passion for creating and managing websites, but maintaining an author website can be a vital aspect of building visibility as an author. An author website can increase your ‘searchability’ and provide a platform for you to share your writing.
Whether you’re wanting to reach new audiences, provide an avenue for freelance employment, or just want to increase your presence as a writer, websites can serve as an online hub or a ‘living business card’ for your career.
What is included in an author website?
Your website could be as simple as a headshot and bio, or as complex as an ever-evolving blog. Below are common inclusions on author websites, ranging from essential additions to optional add-ons.
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Your headshot and professional bio
An author bio is an important summary of your writing experience. They typically are written in the third person and range between 100 – 300 words.
A bio will introduce you – who you are and why you write. It will include key achievements, but don’t forget a personal touch to help readers remember you!
Optionally, your website could include a much longer about me section, written in the first-person. This could be an opportunity to tell your story, detailing your journey to writing and what is important to you.
You might also wish to include links to your public social media profiles here.
It is worthwhile including a headshot on your website. A headshot is a professional image of you to help readers put a face to your name.
Some writers invest in professionally photographed headshots, but others include photos taken themselves. Regardless, it is important that your photo is high resolution, and it is helpful for your headshot to not be incredibly close-up. If the headshot is used by a publisher, festival, or other organisation, they may need to resize it to suit their branding. A zoomed-in image decreases the resizing options available.
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An overview of your publications
If you have published books, upload high resolution images of their covers onto your website. You may wish to also include the book’s blurbs and link to your publisher’s webpage or to your book’s product page on the websites of your preferred booksellers.
If you are published in various journals, anthologies, or on other platforms, you should list these publications.
If you are currently unpublished, you could include information about your current work-in-progress on your website.
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Contact information
While it might feel uncomfortable to include contact information on the internet, it could be useful for potential collaborators to have a way to get in touch with you.
If you have an agent or publicist, you may include their information here instead of yours.
If you haven’t already, you can set up a professional email address (separate from your personal email). Including this email address on your website would provide an avenue for reviewers, employers, readers, and others to reach you.
Some writers choose to use contact forms or other tools rather than listing an email address publicly, to help manage or reduce spam. If this is a concern, it’s worth researching the options available and choosing an approach that best suits your needs.
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Praise and reviews
Most authors include a page on their website for positive reviews and blurbs on the front and back cover of their books. This recognition increases your credibility as a professional and is a (not so subtle) way of bragging about your brilliant work to catch the attention of potential collaborators.
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Information about upcoming events
If you’re prepared to regularly update your website, you might wish to include links and information about upcoming events or festivals that you’re involved in on your website.
Building an Identity
How do you want readers and collaborators to think about you as an author? Are you a humorous children’s author? Or a journalist who cares deeply about digging into everyone’s universal humanity? Maybe you’re a thriller author, or you’re drawn to stories about hope and belonging.
It is helpful to think about a tagline for yourself as an author. For example, Amy Hutton has used the tagline ‘romance author: prepare to swoon, stories for lovers of love’. Ashley Kalagian Blunt has drawn from an excellent review crowning her, ‘Australia’s queen of tech noir’. Or Inga Simpson has described herself as, ‘an Australian novelist and nature writer.’
Your tagline might appear on every page of your site. It is an opportunity to connect with the audience you’re trying to reach, and to home in on how you want to be known.
There are other opportunities to build your identity as an author on your website. Your headshot can give an important glimpse into who you are; do you look approachable and good-natured, or ready to get to business? Or a mixture of the two? The visual design of your website can also indicate the identity you’re building as an author.
Creating a Website
There are many website platform options available. They range in difficultly to set up, and cost effectiveness.
Some popular website builders include Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, WordPress, and Canva. These builders require monthly subscriptions to host your website. It is worth checking whether the domain is included in the subscription you select.
The domain is the unique URL where your site lives. Most sites will allow you to find and register a custom domain for your site, but this domain may only be covered by the builder for a select period. Owning a domain may incur additional fees.
Some authors choose to outsource their website creation, hiring a professional to build their website for them.
Although author websites can be time-consuming to set up, they can be a worthwhile long term investment in your career as an author.
If you see an author website you admire, consider reaching out to the author via their contact details to ask them about it. This can be a helpful way to learn more about their approach, as well as an opportunity to build connections within the writing community.
Further Resources
This information is provided as a general guide only. Writing NSW does not endorse or warrant any specific services mentioned, and writers should undertake their own research to ensure these are appropriate to their needs.
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