The Importance of an Author Website
Author websites are yet another way for writers to promote themselves to their readers. You can aggregate your collection of writings, advertise new releases, share social media links, leak extra tidbits about your stories, or even introduce yourself to the reading community. But that’s mainly for big-time authors, right? Or those who have contracts with publishing companies?
On the contrary, when it comes to launching yourself as a self-published author, an author website can be the most important platform you have – even over an Amazon or Goodreads page. While both those options are important as well, an author website accomplishes six main things:
Why to Have an Author Site
It’s a hub of information about you, your books, new releases, and serves as a base for linking to other things.
It shows professionalism. When a reader finds an unknown author in their recommendations list, before they commit to buying, they’re likely to do a quick Google search of your name. An author website shows you’re invested in your craft and have confidence that your book is worth their time.
It secures a presence. Anyone can create an Amazon or Goodreads profile, and there’s only limited information you can provide there. An author website establishes you as the one and only author of your name.
It better advertises your social media presence. Rather than hunting through the web by themselves, trying to determine which 'so-and-so’ is the one they’re seeking, they can easily follow you across all your available platforms from one effortless location.
Better advertise later releases. Rather than starting from scratch with your next published book, or risk getting lost in the news feed of Twitter with your promo, an author website allows you to promote and share your next release to an audience that already knows you. Plus, if a new reader were to find your website after checking out your first book, they can easily view that you have others in store.
It’s easy to organize your collection. As you publish more books, there’s no danger of getting the sequence out of whack; readers can look to your officially declared order, and get back to reading without hesitance or confusion that may cause them to look elsewhere.
The question stands, however: Do you really need an author website?
