The Anatomy of a Writer Website
In previous posts, I talked about using social media versus having a dedicated author website, and also about websites for traditionally published authors. Today, I’m addressing the subject one last time to give you a checklist of pages you should have on your website.
First, what criteria should your website meet? It should be:
- Easy to navigate
- Mobile-friendly
- Pleasing to the eye
- Updated regularly
Second, what pages should your site have? I’ll demonstrate below with a few of our clients’ sites, built by Coriolis.
Home Page
You’ll need a home page, of course. You should put your most important information here: your upcoming or most recent book, any featured events, or important updates. It’s also nice to make this visual and include a headshot or your book cover.
Brian Finney’s Home Page – www.bhfinney.com
Introduction/Biography
You’ll need a page about you where you’ll put your bio or a short introduction so your readers can get to know you.
Ayize Jama-Everett’s About Page – www.ayizejamaeverett.com
Book Pages
You’ll need a Book(s) page for all your masterpieces. As suggested in the previous newsletter, you should have links to all the platforms on which your books are available.
Tom Lutz’s Books Page – www.tomlutzwriter.com
Shorter Works
If you write shorter form works, having a portfolio on your website or at least including links to your shorter works is helpful. You may want to sort them into genres and categories if applicable.
Brian Finney’s Other Writings
Press/Media
I suggest having a media page where readers and members of the press can download your media kit, headshot, bio, book covers, sell sheets, and anything else you may think they need. You could even add your interviews and events here.
Ayize Jama-Everett’s Media Page
Interviews/Events
You may also choose to have a separate page for interviews and events.
Tom Lutz’s News Page
Contact Page
Lastly, you’ll need to have a contact page. Some authors choose to include their contact information in their website’s header or footer instead. Those options are just as great. As long as readers and media have a way to reach you, you are golden.
Brian Finney’s Contact Page
There are many more pages you could add, such as a blog page, a gallery, a newsletter signup page, but if you include the above listed pages and use a pop-up for your newsletter, add some images in lieu of a gallery, and publish elsewhere often, you will be golden even without those extra pages.
~ Nanda
Writers' Conferences you might be interested in:
- Napa Valley Writers’ Conference – July 28 in St. Helena, CA
- Mendocino Coast Writers Conference – August 1 in Mendocino, CA
- Willamette Writers Conference – August 2 in Portland, OR
Upcoming Literary Events you could attend in LA:
- On July 28 at 5 PM, at Skylight Books Los Angeles, Sarah Rose Etter will read from her new novel The Book of X with Tommy Pico.
- On July 30 at 6:30 PM, at Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood, Tory Bilski will discuss and sign Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland.
- On July 31 at 7:30 PM, at The Last Book Store in Los Angeles, JL Ruiz will discuss his new novel, Irreversible Damage.
- On August 2 at 7 PM, at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Jason Stuart will discuss his new book, Shut Up, I’m Talking!
- On August 4 at 5 PM, at Beyond Baroque in Venice, bring your original poems, short stories, and more to the Duende Nights Open Mic.
