Do you know The Bare Minimum Requirements of an Author Website
Right?! I know! Like I'm one to talk. I totally took down my author website because I was too lazy to maintain it and this one feels like it's three shades of half-assed right now because of how many changes are going on at one time. But, as the lead editor of this slowly humping along business, I figured I'd write a post about author websites.
Despite the plethora of resources telling authors what they should include on their author website, this is one of the more frequently asked questions I see in author forums. I'm baffled by it because it's asked pretty frequently. "What should I put on my author website?"
Inevitably someone makes the comment to just "look at other author websites and do what you like on yours". It sounds so simple. But is it really? Creating an author website can be a coldly mechanical thing with very little of the author themself in it, or it can be lots of fun and showcase the author's personality. Whatever it is, it does need to come off as professional so that the author can be taken seriously as a writer.
Now this isn't about hosting, buying domains, or anything like that. This is strickly the absolute least required information on your author website.
The Bare Minimum
There are a few specific things an authro website needs to include to even be an author website. Without the following information it's just a random website and who knows what it is for.
The author's name: It needs to be pretty obvious on the homepage that this website is for a specific author. Which author? The one who's name is there.
About the Author: Even if your website is just a single page, there should probably be an 'about the author' section with a basic bio. It can be as simple or weird as "John Handcock writes and collects rats." Honestly, the further from the droll boring this-might-as-well-be-a-resume kind of bio you see everywhere, the more likely it is that your readers will stay on the website past the first five minutes.
Links to your books: Because this is the main reason so many authors have websites. It's the only resources for finding your books and directing readers towards buying them that the author completely controls.
Contact information: Because readers will want to write to you. So, will scammers so remember that and be careful. There are so many people who are going to be trying to contact you if you become popular. People who want to collaborate with you, anyone who wants to interview you, possible publishers and others who might want to license your work. So, an author website is pretty dang important for self-published authors. Less so for traditionally published authors.
Press Kit: What's a press kit? It's really just numbers two, three, and four all rolled into one with some digital image assests that are easily downloadable for anyone who wants to write about you or your books.
And that's it. Really all you need. However, if an author can't afford to buy a domain and pay for hosting, all of the above can be set up from social media fairly easily. The advantage of having a website is the personalization that digs into the author's work.
Commentaires