Author Websites - what works?

[Mon0Zer0]

Without turning this into a self-promo post, what are the best author websites you've seen, and what did you like about them? What didn't you like?

In your opinion, what is the must have functionality that every author website should have?

 

[atsouthorn]

I'm a web developer professionally and work closely with UI/UX (user interaction/experience) designers closely. There are a few key areas for any seller's website, let alone an author. One caveat is that some of these are guidelines based around the design, so aren't 100% set in stone.

- A call to action should be as easily accessible as possible. For an author, this is most likely an email signup form or social media buttons, or both. You don't want to hide these at the bottom or only on certain pages - you want to have them around the middle of the homepage and clearly visible, and anywhere else you'd catch people - blog posts, contact page etc.

- Offer your product straight away. For an author, you'll want to show some cover work, an extract, a review, basically something to highlight what you're selling. If you make it all about you without your work, you'd be surprised how quickly people turn away without even scrolling down. We find about a third of people don't even scroll down. Maybe they came to the site by accident, maybe they didn't like what they saw, but try and keep them engaged asap.

- Performance. This one is a little more technical but applies to any site. If your site takes a few seconds to load on desktop computers, you're going to lose a lot of visitors. If people are using phones and 4G in a tricky area or even 3G for whatever reason, this load time is significantly increased. People won't stare at a blank screen for more than a few seconds nowadays. Everyone's in a rush.

- Design. This one is subjective, and based on a lot of author websites I've seen, the design doesn't tend to be the highest requirement. However, I'm not solely talking about rich imagery and pretty colours, I'm talking about the layout and structure. If your user is confused about where things are, where to find links to your book, and where in general to look for what they're searching for, then you could lose a buyer. Think simple.

- Target audience. Appealing to older readers? Consider displaying engaging content and blog posts straight away. Young adult? Consider a nice modern design with rich imagery. Children? Something interactive. You get the drill.

I could go on, but I think it's more valuable to show some examples as you've asked for. Some great websites I like:

I like Andy Weir's website: Andy Weir

It shows everything I want - latest book, clear visual newsletter form, clear links to other pages/media, and also sets a clear design for what to expect from him - space books!

For something with a bit of a more interactive feel but following the same principles above, I like the James S A Corey site: Home - James S.A. Corey

Finally, I of course like my own promotional website, which at the moment goes against half of what I've said above!

 

[Juliana]

Really great answer above, and I agree with everything. Especially this bit:

Target audience. Appealing to older readers? Consider displaying engaging content and blog posts straight away. Young adult? Consider a nice modern design with rich imagery. Children? Something interactive. You get the drill.

Figure out your target audience and go look at as many big name author websites as you can. A romance author and a sci fi author are going to have different approaches; same for YA or children's books (author websites for kid lit for example often have an interactive tab with things like coloring pages and other activities to download). A self published author will have a different approach from a traditionally published author who has marketing backing from their publisher, etc. Find out where your work fits in and research that segment of the market.

Then there are other concerns in addition to design. Money is one. For example, personally I can't afford to spend much in the way of hosting, design etc so I chose to go with a blogging platform (free at first, though now I pay premium for ad-free and for a wider range of options), and it works well for what I need. It's super limited in terms of design options, but I've tried to fit as much of what I like in other author websites into the constraints of this particular platform.

Technology is another factor. The platform I use is really easy to navigate and to make updates to, and I don't have the time/desire to learn about websites or the money to hire someone to make updates whenever I need them. If you're really proficient with web programming etc then you have different options open to you.

 

[LeonStevens]

I could go on, but I think it's more valuable to show some examples as you've asked for. Some great websites I like:

I like Andy Weir's website: Andy Weir

It shows everything I want - latest book, clear visual newsletter form, clear links to other pages/media, and also sets a clear design for what to expect from him - space books!

So, I just went to the site and saw:

Why it is still advertising pre-order? I got it for Christmas and finished reading it?