As an author, your perfect day likely involves getting immersed in your stories. When you’re in your zone, the words just flow. Everything in your head comes to life. That’s what you love. What you may not love is the business side of being an author. Marketing and sales require a considerable amount of time and energy, but you don’t need to bang your head against the wall or drain your bank account with expensive services. Authors need a website to simplify and improve in key areas.
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Why Authors Need a Website
As soon as you published your first book, you learned very quickly that successful writers spend more time on marketing and other related tasks than they do on writing. More specifically, your success as an author and your profitability are directly tied to building relationships with readers and promoting your books. Without an author’s website, you’re likely spinning your wheels unnecessarily fast and leaving money on the table. Why do authors need a website?
Branding Via Your Website
Branding is essential as a writer With proper branding, your fans will recognize you by name. More than that, they’ll know exactly what type of reading experience you’ll deliver. While part of this is about creating consistently great books, your website is a powerful reinforcement. A simple link to your website at the end of your books and in your bios will drive your readers to your page.
Font styles, graphics and colors all come together to make a statement about you. Your website also highlights your books and other writing activities you participate in. Your readers can learn about you as a person through your blog, which further creates and builds your brand identity.
Nurturing Fan Loyalty
Loyal fans are fans who look forward to reading your next book. They may follow its progress in your blog and be among the first to take advantage of a presale opportunity. More than that, loyal fans spread the word about your books. They may retweet your promo tweets, talk to their friends about the books and take other steps to help you spread the word.
So, how does a website foster fan loyalty? There are people who eventually get around to reading your latest book because they had a good experience with the last one. These are fans, no doubt. However, when they are drawn to your website, their journey takes a new turn. They can interact with you, learn about you and maybe even get sneak peeks or bonus material. You become a favorite author rather than an author they like.
Using Your Author Website as a Community
When you look at why authors need a website, keep in mind that community is huge for authors. People love to talk about the books they love. When your website is suitably designed, you can foster a community centered around your books. You can add surveys, polls and other activities that make your website interactive and engaging. What happens when you poll your readers to see what direction your next chapter should take? They read the book to find out. What happens when your readers find other people online who love the same books they do? They become a part of that community.
Marketing Your Books Effectively
There are many ways to promote your book, and you can check out some ideas here. Unfortunately, many of those opportunities cost a pretty penny. More than that, some of those promotion sites that you once used may not produce the same results as they once did. The industry is highly competitive, and it grows more competitive by the day. The number of people cramming into those promotional sites is enormous, and readers often tune out such noise.
Your readers may initially reach your website from of your links in your books or bio, but they can be enticed to return through a newsletter or blog. These are ways to remain in touch with your fans and to build loyalty. They are also excellent marketing opportunities. Announce a special sale. Hype up a new release. Spread the word about a pre-sale. You don’t have to spend a fortune on promotions and marketing when you have an active fan base engaged through your newsletter and blog posts.
Driving Sales
Many authors use their websites as a means of executing sales as well. You can use a platform like Payhip to create an online store for your ebooks. Payhip charges a small fee, but it is dramatically less than what many retailers charge. This means you can retain more of your royalties. For those who want to make more money (and who doesn’t?), authors need a website.
This is only one way to monetize a website. For example, you can sign up for Adsense to generate some revenue from your visitors. If you find products that you want to share with your readers, you can promote one through affiliate marketing or sponsorship. When you get a very large fan base, companies may approach you with offers. Otherwise, you can connect with companies to set it up.
Designing Your Author Website
Designing a website can seem like a major project. It can be, but you can streamline it by using the right platform and sticking to a simple layout. I use Bluehost for my author website and for this website. The setup process is pretty simply, and you can buy your domain through the site. It offers many WordPress themes at no additional cost, and there are fancier themes available for a premium. There are tons of free plug-ins for just about any purpose you have in mind. There was a little bit of a learning curve for me, but my anti-tech brain figured it out .
Once your website is up, you can click the link for OptIn Monster in your WordPress dashboard. You get basic OptIn Monster services for free. If you’re a new author without a huge amount of traffic to your website initially, the free plan is all you probably need. This service allows your tour visitors to opt-in to receive your newsletters and emails. It sets up the popup display for users to submit their contact info, and it collects the info for you.
While you don’t need to get fancy with your author website today (or at all), designing and launching a basic site soon makes sense for many authors.