Author Website Design

Check out these author websites for some inspiration for your own site.

T.L. Higley writes a series of novels incorporating the seven wonders of the ancient world and other historic locations. Her author website is highly creative and interactive, with games, souvenirs, contests, historical facts, travel photos and more. In addition to being attractive and fun, this site does a great job of promoting Tracy's opt-in list and her books. Take a look at the promotional box located next to each book description:

Mellanie True Hills uses a classic single-page salesletter to promote her book, A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life. Her main author website does a great job of promoting her book and her speaking services. Be sure to check out the wealth of resources she offers to meeting planners who are considering booking her as a speaker.

The sales page for Flygirl, by Sherri L. Smith, features an impressive list of reviews and awards, including an image of her book featured on the cover of Booklist magazine. Take a look at her terrific discussion guide for the book, which even includes tips on how to start a book club.

For an interesting and enlightening evaluation of the websites for several current New York Times bestsellers, see this post from the Champlain College Publishing Initiative.

If you know of an outstanding author website, please share it by leaving a comment below, and say why you think the site is so effective.

Comments

[MaAnna Stephenson]

Thanks for this informative post with a wonderful variety of website links. Higley's site is great, and the book trailer is top notch. I also enjoyed reading the site reviews of the NY Times bestseller author sites, although the reviewer had just a wee bit of favoritism toward one style choice. Different styles appeal to the specific audiences of the each book, which was not taken into consideration. The style of cover for a vampire fiction book would probably not work well for an upbeat self-help book. Same with the different site styles. All of the sites on the list had merit for their particular audience.

[Kirsten Lesko]

Thanks for this. I love "sticky" websites & am always looking for ideas for my own - for when the time comes anyway ;)

[bookwhirl]

Two thumbs up for this website promotion technique.