As a former librarian, I tend to look at websites for content and ease of use. As a designer, I look at the functionality and aesthetics of a website. As an author and a reader, it's a combination of both.
Here's some website basics for authors to consider.
So does an author need a website?
Some authors don't have a website. But think about it. A website is your calling card for you as an author & it’s also a spring board to your other online presences.
This is where readers, media, authors, and the general public can find out about you and your books and the best bit is that the author has control over look and content, unlike social media platforms (which can change user agreements and the way content is displayed at any time).
A website can as simple as you like but needs to focus on you as an author.
Design Features to think about
Reflect the author brand
- A brand is a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."
- At the core, branding is the audience expectation of you as an author.
- Difference ways you can brand by – genre, your writing voice, theme, or name.
- Your branding will determine your online look.
- For a comprehensive look at branding, there are many articles online including this good one by Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn website.
For example, a couple of years ago, I changed my branding from:
to
and also have a symbol that I used within the pages of my last release.
This was then reflected on my website.
Layout
For ease of use and to attract the user's eye to the most important information, a simple layout is best. That means not too many columns or information scattered everywhere.
For a great looking and user friendly website, check out Keri Arthur.
Navigation bar
The navigation bar is handy to have for quick access to other pages on the site. It can be horizontal or vertical.
Or it can be a 'hamburger' menu, which is the three horizontal lines to represent a collapsed menu, i.e. once clicked it gives you the actual menu.
I find this adds another step to the process, though this kind of menu is automatic with responsive templates when they are viewed by devices.
I prefer a horizontal navigation menu. The one on my website is static at the top of the page as you scroll.
You can have sub-menus under the main menu.
Easy to update?
Are you going to update your website? Or are you going to pay someone to pay it?
I use Weebly which is a drag and drop, user-friendly platform.
Many use Wordpress for the amount of templates available and widgets that can be added to the site.
Responsive template
Automatically changes the way the way the website looks depending on device page it is viewed on.
Notice the hamburger menu.
Number of pages needed
Some hosting sites may have a limit depending on level of service/payment, so keep that in mind when choosing your platform.
Basic content on websites
Home page
The home page is the spring board to your website and can have a lot of different types of information.
This includes latest release, upcoming release, newsletter signups, news, social media widgets. This is to grab the interest of different aspects of the author.
Some people have blogs on the home of their website.
Many authors also use pop-ups to sign for their newsletter. Personally these pop-ups annoy me because they happen every time I go to that website. I may have even signed up to the newsletter. If I want to subscribe to a newsletter, seeing a sign-up form or area on the website is more likely to get my attention.
Books (/Releases)
Initially having one page for your releases can be sufficient. (I call it Releases because mine are shorter works. When I think of books, I think of novella and novel length stories).
The above page has images of each of my releases. Clicking the image takes you to an individual release page. I don't include the blurbs on the Releases page as the more releases are added, the more a user has to scroll down to view them all. Keeping it as covers only makes it simpler to use and have a cleaner look.
Under the
Releases tab in the menu, there is a sub-menu with more options including 'other short stories' and a 'bibliography'.
If you have many releases, you can then divide it by series as
Keri Arthur does. If you don't, there would be way too much scrolling to list every individual book on one page.
Each series then has a landing page with the covers of each book in the series.
On the right hand side are links to 'Keri Arthur' as an author on all the different retailers.
Another way to get to the Series landing page is via the navigation menu. This gives a user different options of finding the same page (we do this on the DarkSider website but instead of books we have DarkSiders listed on a landing page or via the sub-menu or by going through the pages).
By clicking the chosen book in the series landing page, we get an individual book page. In this case, I chose book 2 of the series.
This page holds a blurb, publishing information such as ISBN and date published, and a really cool thing is having The Series down the bottom.
It also has links to this individual book on the right hand side. This is so handy! I can't express how important this is. I don't know how many times I've gone to an author's website and there are no buy links. Do not assume all readers will do a search on their preferred platform to find you. And some authors split their work between having exclusivity with Amazon and going wide.
Another way to split your work is by sub-genre as
Anna Hackett has done.
It may take a little bit of work to do all this but if you update regularly, it really is a well thought out, and easy-to-use way to navigate.
Bio information
Biographical information about the author can be found on a Bio page or About page. As it suggests, this is where you find information about the author.
At a minimum it needs a blurb about the author and an author photograph. Now some don't like their photo out there. I've seen avatars used but the majority do as readers do like to see what an author looks like.
Sometimes this bio information is found on the home page. That's fine if your home page isn't cluttered. Just as long as it's easy to find, it doesn't matter.
Some authors have a seperate media page have the additional information of photographs in different resolutions, press releases, details of agent or PR person etc.
I have a short bio for official use, and a long story that goes a little more in depth. I also have two different bio pics and social media links on the page. At the bottom of the page, are some more photos (not seen here).
Check out some of the bio pages of some of our DarkSiders.
Contact
You need a way for people to contact you even if it's via a contact form. The good thing about contact forms is that you don't have to have your email address on the site and it helps avoid bots spamming you. I have my email address also listed but have added spaces in it, so it can't be used by bots.
In recent years, authors have been placing privacy notices and/or privacy policies to this page. This lets the person know how their information will be handled.
On my page, I also have a link to my newsletter sign up page.
Social Media links
Links to your social media is very important. Everyone has their own preference to which platform they want to follow an author and by finding it on the website, it gives them the flexibility to choose.
The social media links can be added to every page to maximise exposure.
The above are the Weebly social media platforms I chose from their widget.
I also added social media links to my footer. As you can see there are more on the footer.
Footer
A footer can provide information that can go across all pages. As above, it can be simple and have only social media links, Privacy Notice & Policy, copyright notice, website designer. But you can add newsletter sign ups, and also things like feeds from social media.
Images
Remember images you use are subject to copyright. Do the right thing and purchase images you use if you don't own the copyright. There are many stock image sites and they have special deals every so often so you can find one to suit your budget.
Size of the images can slow down your website being viewed. It's best to use low resolution images (web quality) of 72 or 96 dpi. 300 dpi is used for print and are large files, so best only to keep to media page (as media can be online or print or both).
Blogs
This is optional of course, but can be connected to a website. I had my blog before my website, so I kept my
blog to another platform. Though I've tried to keep the branding the same across both.
Some have a news page instead of a blog and put the latest news on that page.
Further more
- There are many other items you can have on your website - FAQ, Events, Bonus Features, Articles (if you don't have a blog), Links to other authors, artwork based on your books, news archives.
- Many sites now have notification about cookies when you enter a site. Changes to EU regulations requires EU viewers, but it can be set so everyone sees it.
- Remember to try and update it every so often so it doesn’t remain static.
- A change in look is expected every few years or so.
Search Engine Optimisation makes it easier for search engines to find your site.
E.g. romance, author, writer, speculative fiction, specfic, fantasy, paranormal romance, sci-fi romance, romantic elements, books, short stories, novellas, dragons, etc etc.
So remember, keep it simple and easy to navigate.
Eleni
~~
Eleni Konstantine writes speculative fiction and has had a number of short stories published.
Her love of reading comes from her avid reader mum. As a child, illustrated fairy tales and Greek mythology opened up a world of wonder for Eleni. She was bitten by the story bug which soon turned into the writing bug. She finds something enchanting about escaping the world she knows and entering another one. Magic, dragons, wizards, fairies, witches, unicorns, vampires and other mythical creatures have always fascinated her. What's not to like when anything can happen? Sprinkle in a romance and a happy ending and she’s on cloud nine.
Eleni has a love of chocolate (of course!), fizzy drinks, coffee and relishes her afternoon naps. She lives in South Australia with her family and is human to a sassy Rottweiler.
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