Photo of laptop with wordpress dashboard on screen, cup of tea and notebook with a pen
Books,  Business,  Publishing,  Writing

The Business of Being an Author Part 2

December 13, 2019 /

Your Author Website

In this post, I’ll go over the necessity of having a website and the services it provides that are directly related to being an author. Read Part 1 here.

A website is possibly the most essential aspect of any business, but especially for an author–regardless of publishing path. Your website is the place where everything resides. It is your virtual home, the place where readers get to know you, your characters, and your books. Each page is a visual calling card displaying your brand using colors, images, and text.

Author websites serve multiple functions. It’s a display case, your social media clearinghouse, a storefront, the primary location where readers sign up for your newsletter, the clubhouse for your fans, and your promotional service. It provides a way for fans and colleagues to contact you and it’s where you share news and reviews.

Photo of woman's hands typing on a laptop

Now that you understand the importance of having a website, the next step is how to get one. I’m not going to go into how to purchase a domain and set up hosting today. Nor will I compare various platforms, that is something everyone needs to research on their own because this is not a one-size-fits-all decision. This is your first major business decision after deciding that you want to publish.

Pros & Cons of building a website yourself

Instead, I’ll pose a question–is this something you can DIY, or is it something better left to a professional? Yes, you can DIY it, but first, ask yourself if it’s worth the time and/or monetary cost versus savings. Another question to ask oneself is whether or not you’re able and willing to learn the skills needed to build and maintain your website.

If you decide to use someone knowledgable to build your site, to avoid spending thousands of dollars, look to friends and family, or authors with a side-hustle. It is worth the effort to reach out to your author support network and ask. This is a great way to stretch your start-up budget by offering to barter services with them.

There are many free and paid platforms that you can use to build a professional-looking website. WordPress, both .com and .org, Wix, and Squarespace, are just a few of the options out there.

For myself, DIY was the way to go. I took a couple of online courses, both free and paid, to learn how to create this site. Just google how to build a WordPress site. This saved me money that I can spend in areas where my skills are lacking. There was a small amount, less than $50 a year, I paid upfront for my domain name and hosting. The most substantial cost was the time it took me to learn to build a WordPress.org site. Fortunately, website maintenance is mostly automated and only takes a few minutes a week. I believe that the cost of my time will pay for itself in the long run.

Knowledge and skills

photo of scrabble tiles spelling out S-E-O

I continue to take classes to learn how to maintain and improve my website and the functions it serves for me. Not only did I learn how to build a website, I learned a bit about several subjects necessary to maintain it. Including but not limited to; SEO, a bit of HTML, branding, marketing, privacy policies, and building and maintaining a newsletter list.

So, fellow writers, you need your own website! It doesn’t matter if you are traditionally published, Indie published, share your musings on for free on sites like Medium, Wattpad, or donation sites like Patreon having your own author website is a necessity.

Do you have a website and did you build it yourself?

Look for Part 3 of this series after the new year.