Do you, an author, really need a website? In this well-connected world of social media? Really? I mean, really?
There’s a lot of advice out there that, as an author, you need a presence on social media to be successful. The thing is, if you’re not naturally inclined toward sharing on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or Tumblr or TikTok or whatever it is, then feeling like you must have a social media presence can be exhausting or intimidating.
I’m not here to tell you that you need a presence on social media in order to be successful.
But I am here to tell you that you absolutely need a website.
It doesn’t have to be much of a website. You don’t need a blog, you don’t need lots of pictures or updates or chatty commentary about your pet rabbit. That stuff is great, and if you want it and feel up to providing it, fabulous! But you don’t need it.
Here’s what you do need: a basic landing page, featuring your books, your bio… and your contact info.
If someone hears something great about your book, the first thing they’ll do is Google you. Give the somewhere to go! Give them something to look at! Let them know what else you’ve written and where (and when) they can buy it!
So far so good, right? But what’s the deal about your contact info?
People will want to get in touch with you. Sometimes it’s because they love what you’ve done, and want to tell you so.
But there’s another reason people may want to get in touch: to give you money. If you write an article, a short story, a book that can be excerpted… someone might want to rerun it in an anthology, or hire you to write something else. And if they don’t have a way to contact you, then you’re losing out on business.
“But,” I can hear you saying, “I don’t want to give people my info!” Fair enough. Fortunately, you have options! If you have an agent or a publisher, you can use their information. You can use Gmail or your email service of choice to create a public-facing email. Or you can create an email form on your website itself that people can use to write to you. (Don’t forget to check your inbox regularly!)
Here are some examples of good author contact pages:
Even an author page on Facebook or LinkedIn would suffice!
Good luck!
-Anne
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash