As an author, you need a website. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money but it is important.
It doesn’t matter if you write science fiction, romance or non-fiction work. Having a website in this day and age is essential.
An author website is your online platform to connect with your readers. It’s a way to keep readers informed of your work, encourage them to read your books and built your own brand.
As it’s your website, you can choose to add whatever you like to it. You have full reign to be creative not just aesthetically but also in regards to content. Blogs are a great way to encourage readers to stay on your website longer as they can gain a personal insight into your writing world. And the longer they stay, the more chance you will have of convincing them to take a gamble on your books and read them.
While social media like Facebook and Instagram can do wonders for marketing, at the end of the day, you don’t own your page. It’s unlikely that social media will disappear anytime soon but events like having your account hacked or being banned can (and do) happen. If you rely on other platforms and something goes wrong, that’s it. It’s all gone. All that hard work you put into making great posts and the contacts you have build will just disappear. Now, if you have your own website, everything you post is yours. Spending a bit of time on a website and building up a mailing list means that should something go wrong, you haven’t lost everything.
Having a website allows you to market in several ways. You can add more details about individual books, run competitions, talk directly (via blog) to readers. You can even add extra information, such as character profiles. But another great way to market is via the humble newsletter. Having someone sign up to your newsletter means they are going to read all your updates, including sales and new book releases. A well-populated newsletter can be worth its weight in gold. These people actively signed up to know more about you and your work. You haven’t had to spend money to convince them like conventional marketing. And once they are on your list, you have a ready-made audience. Having a website allows you to tap into this often overlooked form of marketing.
Looking the part of professional author can go a long way in building trust with an audience of readers. You can show them you take yourself seriously and they should, too. Being able to direct readers and other professionals to your website, as opposed to social media, gives an expectation of professionalism. Should you wish to expand your author career, having a website can be a great way to let people know about the work you do and how they can contact you if they wish to work with you.
Building a website can be a daunting prospect, which is why I have free guides on how do the process in a quick and simple way. If you’d like more information on these guides, please check out this page: Support
I do also build websites myself in the costing between £120-250 for a customised website. For more information check out this page: Website Building