What should be on an author website?
- 7 essential pages: home, books, about, newsletter signup, contact, press kit, blog.
- Email capture on every page.
- Mobile-first design.
- Load under 3 seconds.
- High-res author photos and book covers.
An author website should have seven essential pages: home (with bio plus featured book), books (every title with buy links), about (the longer bio), newsletter signup, contact, press kit (for journalists), and optional blog. Every page needs an email capture form, mobile-responsive design, and sub-3-second load time. Author photos and book covers must be high-res.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Authors with overstuffed websites (every blog post, every event, every social link) confuse readers; authors with seven focused pages convert visitors to subscribers. The seven-page structure is the result of testing across thousands of indie author sites — it works because it answers the questions readers and journalists actually have.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Home: featured book, bio, signup CTA.
- Books: every title with cover, blurb, buy links.
- About: longer bio, photo, contact.
- Newsletter signup: prominent on every page.
- Contact: email or contact form.
- Press kit: bio (three lengths), photo, descriptions, comps.
- Blog (optional): under 12 posts is fine; more is better.
Chapter iii·Example
A self-publishing romance author’s 7-page site converts 3.2% of visitors to newsletter subscribers — far above the industry average of 1-1.5%. The combination of focused content and prominent signup forms outperforms her previous 18-page site (1.8% conversion) by ~80%.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom holds website content, press kit, and metadata in one project.
See the Market studio