6 Essential Pages Every Indie Author Website Should Have

Now that your book is published, the next step is to promote your book in hopes it will drive sales. You’ve probably got a book launch and other author events planned out. But what have you planned for your fans who spend most of their time online?

The first platforms that come to mind may be Google Reads, Amazon and of course social media. At least it did for me.

But I’ve learned that the best place to build a relationship and connect with your readers and sell books is on your own website. You might be wondering why you need a website when you can easily market your book on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Here’s the thing…when you set up a website, that is YOUR platform. The readership you gain from your mailing list opt-ins belong to you.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, THEY own your followers. And when they change the playing rules like when Facebook update their algorithm earlier this year to promote worthy content, that means only a fraction of your posts will be seen.

6 Must-Have Pages For Your Author Website

Besides having the basics like a Home page, an About the Author page and Contact page there are other pages you need for your author website. Here are six of them.

Book Excerpt Page

A book excerpt page will give the reader a chance to read (or listen to) a sample of your book. It can be in text, an audio clip or both.

Reviews Page

When you display reviews your book has received, it’s exactly the social proof that will convince readers to buy their own copy.

Shop Page

Clearly, you want to sell books. But when you sell your books on sites like Amazon, there are fees you have to pay. If you want to keep 100% of the profits from book sales, you should set up a shop page so readers can buy your book directly from your website.

Events page

If you’re doing book tours, speaking events or celebrating with a book launch, you should have an events page to let readers know if you’ll be in their area. There is no greater feeling than connecting with a fan in person!

Photo Gallery

Show off pics of your events, pics that describe certain settings in your book and maybe some personal pics that shows you in ‘writer’s mode’ to give readers a sneak peek of your writing process with a photo gallery page.

And last but not least…

Your Website Needs A Blog

You might be asking yourself why on earth would you need a blog on an author website. A blog is the heart of your website. This is where you will connect with your readers by sharing stories like your writing process or what inspired you to write your book, blog about upcoming events, announce promotions and maybe some tips to help new and upcoming authors who also happens to be your fans.

In Closing

Now that you know you need a website to promote your book, the next step will be to hire a web designer who will bring out your personality and style.

And before I go, here’s one last piece of advice. When selecting a web designer to work with, make sure she (or he) will not only set up your author website but who will keep the training wheels on while you get the hang of creating pages, blog posts and how to maintain your website and not drop it on your lap without showing you the ropes.

I hope you found this post helpful. If you did and believe it will help new authors, please share this post.