What we're measuring against
An author website has one job: make a reader, agent, journalist, or event organiser feel confident about you within the first ten seconds. It doesn't need to be flashy. It doesn't need to win design awards. It needs to communicate that you are a serious writer who takes their work — and their relationship with readers — seriously.
Every item on this checklist exists because its absence damages that impression. Some items are structural. Some are copy. Some are pure design. All of them matter.
"Your author website is the one place on the internet you control completely. Every choice on it is a signal."
The 11-item checklist
01
A clear identity above the fold
Within three seconds of landing on your site, a visitor should know your name, what you write, and who it's for. Not buried in a paragraph. Not hidden behind a slider. Right there, immediately, in the first thing they see. Most author sites fail this test. A large serif headline with your name, a single-line genre descriptor, and one strong visual is all it takes.
02
A professional author photo
Not a phone selfie. Not a cropped wedding photo. A real author headshot — well-lit, in focus, that looks like you on a good day. Readers and agents are making a judgement about you as a professional. Your photo is the fastest shortcut to that judgement. One good photo is all you need. It doesn't have to be expensive. It has to be intentional.
03
A genre-matched visual identity
The colours, fonts, and overall feel of your site should belong in the same world as your books. A cosy mystery author and a dark thriller author should not have the same website. Visual dissonance confuses readers and signals that the author hasn't thought carefully about their brand. Your site's aesthetic is your first promise to a reader about what they're going to get.
04
A dedicated books page
Every book deserves its own section with the cover image, a compelling description (not a copy-paste of the back cover), the series it belongs to if applicable, and buy links to major retailers. Make it easy to find and easy to buy. If a reader comes to your site specifically to find your books and can't locate them in under ten seconds, you've failed the only thing that actually pays.
05
Two author bios
A short bio (two or three sentences) for use in the header or sidebar. A long bio (three to five paragraphs) for your About page. Both in third person. The short bio appears everywhere a journalist or event organiser needs something fast. The long bio is where you tell the full story. Having only one forces you into an awkward compromise every time you're asked for "a short bio."
06
A newsletter signup — with a reason to sign up
Not just a form that says "Subscribe to my newsletter." A clear, specific promise about what subscribers get and how often. Your email list is the only reader relationship you own outright. Every other platform can change its algorithm, suspend your account, or disappear entirely. Your list cannot. Treat the signup as a serious ask and make the case for why it's worth it.
07
A media or press page
Even if you've never been interviewed, having a media page signals professionalism and makes it dramatically easier for journalists, podcasters, and event organisers to say yes to you. Include: a high-resolution author photo (downloadable), your short and long bio, a list of topics you can speak to, any previous press or appearances, and a clear media contact email. The easier you make it, the more often people use it.
08
An events section
Even if your events calendar is currently empty, having the page ready signals that you do events and that you take your public presence seriously. When you do have events, readers who found you online need somewhere to look. An empty events page with a note that you're available for readings, signings, and festivals is better than no events page at all.
09
Mobile-responsive design
More than half of all web traffic is mobile. If your site looks broken on a phone — text that's too small, images that overflow the screen, buttons that are impossible to tap — you're failing the majority of the people who visit it. Mobile responsiveness is not optional. It's baseline. Every modern platform supports it, but it still requires deliberate design decisions to get right.
10
Fast load time
A site that takes more than three seconds to load loses a significant percentage of visitors before they've seen a single word of your writing. The most common culprits: unoptimised images, too many plugins, cheap shared hosting, and heavy video embeds above the fold. Most author sites don't need to be technically complex, which means there's no good reason for them to be slow.
11
A clear, working contact method
A contact form, a direct email address, or both. This sounds obvious, and yet. We regularly see author sites where the contact page is buried in the navigation, the form is broken, or the only contact method is a link to a social media DM. Agents, publishers, interview requests, and reader mail all require a working contact method. Check yours. Actually send yourself a test message.
Not sure how your current site stacks up?
We review author websites and give honest feedback. If you'd rather just have us build one that hits every point on this list, we can do that too.
3 things you don't need
Just as important as what to include is what to leave out. These three additions appear on author websites constantly and consistently make the experience worse — not better.
Skip this
An autoplay music player. It doesn't create atmosphere. It creates a jarring, disorienting experience for anyone who arrives with headphones in, music already playing, or who is simply reading in a quiet room. No professional author website built in the last decade uses autoplay audio. There are better ways to signal your genre's mood through typography, colour, and imagery.
Skip this
A blog you don't actually update. A blog page with three posts from 2019 and a long gap of silence does not demonstrate that you're active and engaged. It demonstrates that you started a blog and gave up. Only add a blog if you have a genuine plan to publish consistently. Otherwise, the absence of a blog is far less damaging than the presence of a neglected one. If you do want to blog, read our guide on building an author website for the right way to structure it.
Skip this
A visitor counter. Displaying how many people have visited your site has a very specific effect: if the number is low, it signals that your site is low-traffic. If the number is high, it tells visitors nothing useful about your books. There is no number on a visitor counter that makes a reader more likely to buy. Remove it.
What to do next
Run through this checklist against your current site — or the site you're planning. If you're missing three or fewer items, you may be able to add them yourself with an afternoon of work. If you're missing five or more, you're likely dealing with a structural issue that the platform or template is creating, not just a content gap.
In that case, the more efficient path is usually a professional rebuild rather than trying to patch a foundation that wasn't designed for what you need. Our piece on what author website design costs walks through exactly what that investment looks like at every price point.
If you'd like to talk through what your site needs specifically, the fastest way is to send us a message. We look at author sites every day. We'll give you a straight answer.