If you’re an indie author who’s still writing your first book, you might think you don’t need a website just yet.
After all, you don’t even have a book to sell!
But I’m going to encourage you to get that website up and running long before your book launches.
And there are two very good reasons.
First, having your own website establishes credibility and gives potential readers a place to learn more about you, your stories, and your upcoming books.
It’s your little corner of the internet where readers can connect with you without having to hunt you down on five different social media platforms.
Second, there’s a bigger picture here.
The success path I teach my coaching clients eventually leads to selling books directly through their own websites once their Amazon sales are steady and dependable.
Why? Because selling direct gives you more control over your business, your customer relationships, and your profits.
But we have to start somewhere.
And today, I’m going to walk you through building a simple, professional author website without spending a small fortune or needing a degree in computer science.
1. Choose Your Domain Name
Your domain is your website’s address, and ideally, it should include your author name or pen name plus one relevant keyword.
For example, instead of simply using ChristinaKaye.com, I might choose AuthorChristinaKaye.com or ChristinaKayeBooks.com.
Adding a relevant keyword can give search engines a little extra context about your website, although it’s certainly not a magic SEO trick. It also helps distinguish you from anyone else who happens to share your name.
You can purchase a domain through several providers, but I recommend Hostinger, which is also where I recommend hosting your website. It’s affordable, beginner-friendly, and lets you manage nearly everything related to your website in one place.
Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my links, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend tools and services I genuinely believe are helpful for indie authors.
2. Decide Which Website Builder to Use
There are plenty of website builders out there, but in my opinion, two of the best options for indie authors are Wix and WordPress.org.
Wix is especially beginner-friendly. It offers attractive templates, drag-and-drop editing, and hosting all in one package. The downside? You’re somewhat limited by its platform, and subscription costs can add up as your needs grow.
WordPress.org is my personal recommendation. Yes, there’s a bit more of a learning curve initially, but once you get comfortable with it, it’s surprisingly easy to maintain. Plus, it’s incredibly flexible, customizable, and capable of growing right alongside your author career.
And here’s the best part: WordPress.org software is free for life! You’ll still need to pay for hosting, your domain, and any premium tools you choose, but the software itself costs nothing.
Just make sure you’re choosing WordPress.ORG, not WordPress.COM. They’re two different platforms, and for the flexibility we’re talking about here, you want the self-hosted .org version.
3. Pick a Theme and Make It Your Own
A website theme is essentially the foundation of your site’s appearance. It helps determine the layout, typography, and overall design.
WordPress offers thousands of free themes, and you can also purchase premium themes for a reasonable price. Once you’ve chosen one, you can install it directly through your WordPress dashboard under Appearance → Themes.
My advice? Keep it simple and elegant.
You don’t need flashing graphics, complicated menus, or fifteen different things competing for your readers’ attention. A clean, professional website will serve you much better.
Most importantly, make sure your website reflects your author brand and the genre you write.
Use your established brand colors, fonts, curated stock photography, and visual elements consistently throughout every page. If you write dark psychological thrillers, for example, your website probably shouldn’t look like a cheerful pastel-colored bakery.
Your readers should get a feel for the kinds of stories you write the moment they land on your homepage.
4. Install a Few Helpful Plugins
If you’re using WordPress.org, plugins are little tools you install to add functionality to your website without having to write code yourself.
And trust me, there are plugins for just about everything!
Here are a few I recommend:
Elementor Pro: This is my favorite website-building tool. It turns WordPress into a visual drag-and-drop builder, making it much easier to create beautiful, customized pages without touching code. There’s a free version, too, but Pro gives you more design tools and features.
Yoast SEO: A helpful free plugin that guides you through basic search engine optimization so Google can better understand your content.
WPForms Lite: Makes it easy to create a contact form so readers can reach you without displaying your email address publicly.
UpdraftPlus: Helps you back up your website so you can restore it if something goes wrong.
MonsterInsights: An optional tool that connects your site to Google Analytics, allowing you to see how visitors find and use your website. Google Analytics itself is free, although MonsterInsights also offers paid features.
You don’t need dozens of plugins. In fact, installing too many can slow your site down and create unnecessary maintenance headaches.
Start with what you actually need.
[INSERT ELEMENTOR PRO AFFILIATE LINK]
Affiliate disclosure: I may earn a commission if you purchase Elementor Pro through my link, at no additional cost to you.
5. Choose Your Website Host
If you choose Wix, you can skip this step because hosting is included with its platform.
But if you’re using WordPress.org, you’ll need a hosting provider.
Think of your domain as your website’s address and hosting as the space where all your website’s files and content live. You need both for people to visit your site.
Again, I recommend Hostinger because it’s affordable, reliable, and beginner-friendly. It also offers convenient WordPress installation, so you don’t have to figure out all the technical details yourself.
[INSERT HOSTINGER AFFILIATE LINK]
While you’re setting everything up, I strongly encourage you to create a professional email address using your domain.
For example, hello@christinakayebooks.com looks much more professional than christinawritesbooks@yahoo.com.
It’s a small detail, but those little details add up when you’re building a credible author brand. Just check which email options are included with your hosting plan.
6. Add Your Pages and Write Your Copy
Here’s where authors tend to overcomplicate things.
You do NOT need a twenty-page website, a fancy blog, or an entire media center right now. Those things can come later.
For now, you only need four basic pages.
And before we get into them, here’s one important tip: Write your website copy in first-person point of view.
Instead of saying, “Christina Kaye is an award-winning author who loves writing thrillers,” say, “I’m Christina, and I’ve always been fascinated by the darker side of human nature.”
See the difference?
Your readers aren’t visiting your website to read a corporate biography. They’re there to connect with the person behind the stories. First-person writing feels warmer, more personal, and more inviting.
Home
Your homepage should immediately tell visitors whose website they’ve landed on and what kind of stories you write.
Start with your author name and a simple title or tagline, positioned over or beside a large, high-quality image that fits your genre.
For example, a fantasy author might use an atmospheric image of an ancient castle, while a romance author might choose a beautiful, dreamy landscape.
Underneath that, add a short welcome message that lets readers know they’ve found the right place.
Keep it brief! You don’t need to tell your entire life story on your homepage.
About Me
This is where readers get to know the person behind the books.
Include a good-quality photo of yourself beside a short, first-person bio about your journey as a storyteller.
Why do you write? What inspires your stories? What do you love about the genre?
Keep it relevant to your readers, and make it relatable. You want them to feel like they’re getting to know a real person, not reading someone’s résumé.
One fun thing I have my coaching clients do is include a section called 5–10 Random Fun Facts About Me.
Share your favorite snack, your weirdest writing habit, your obsession with collecting books, or whatever makes you uniquely YOU.
Readers love those little personal details!
My Books
Even if your book isn’t published yet, it deserves a place on your website.
For now, add a temporary book cover or placeholder image beside a short synopsis of your story. You can replace both with your official cover and professionally polished book blurb when they’re ready.
Make sure you include a clearly visible COMING SOON message.
And once your book is officially published, come back and add a button linking directly to its Amazon product page so readers can purchase it.
As you publish more books, you can continue adding them to this page.
Contact Me
Finally, give readers a way to reach you!
Start with a short, friendly message letting them know you love hearing from readers and welcome their messages.
Then include either your professional email address or a simple contact form.
A contact form is just a small form visitors fill out directly on your website. Using a plugin like WPForms, you can create one and embed it on your Contact page. Their message gets sent to your designated email inbox without requiring you to display your email address publicly.
And don’t forget one more thing!
Add a little “But wait! Let’s stay connected!” message beneath your contact information.
Then include clickable icons for the social media platforms where you’re active. Each icon should link directly to your corresponding profile so readers can follow you with one click.
Easy peasy!
Your Website Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect. It Just Has to Exist.
Here’s what I want you to remember: You don’t need a perfect website, and you certainly don’t need to plan some elaborate “website launch.”
You just need a clean, professional place where readers can discover you, learn about your stories, and start connecting with you.
Before you make it public, though, have someone you trust, preferably an editor or someone with a good eye for detail, review your pages. Ask them to check for typos, broken links, confusing navigation, and anything that doesn’t look quite right.
And once your website is built? The hard part’s over!
You won’t need to spend hours working on it every week. Just keep your software updated, check that everything’s functioning properly, and make changes whenever you have new books, announcements, or information to share.
Remember, you’re not just building a website for the book you’re writing today. You’re building a foundation for the author career you’re working toward.
And the sooner you lay that foundation, the better.
Want a Little Help With Your Author Website?
Whether you’ve already built a website and aren’t sure it’s working for you, or you’re starting from scratch and need some guidance, I’d love to help!
If you’d like me to look at your current website and provide honest, constructive feedback, or help you build a professional author website from the ground up, book a free call with me now.
