An author website has one job above all others: to turn a curious reader into someone holding your book. Everything else — the sweeping header image, the four-paragraph biography, the blog you meant to update in March — is decoration until that job is done. The good news is that you do not need a designer on retainer or a developer on speed dial. You need a handful of well-built pages, a mailing list that works, and a privacy notice that will not land you in awkward correspondence with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Here is a practical order of work, starting with what readers and booksellers actually look for.
Most author sites fail by trying to be everything. Strip it back and you will find five pages doing the heavy lifting:
Everything else — events, press kit, extracts, a blog — is a bonus. Add them when you have something worth saying, not because a template came with the slots.
A book page is a sales page, whether you like the word or not. Lead with the cover, sized large enough to read the title on a phone. Follow it with a one-line hook, then the blurb as it appears on the back cover. Add the practical facts: format, page count, whether it is part of a series, and the reading order if it is.
Then handle the buying question directly. A wall of fifteen retailer logos is noise. Pick a primary call to action — "Buy the paperback" — and a small set of sensible alternatives underneath for readers who prefer a bookshop, an ebook, or an audiobook. If you sell direct, state the postage cost before the checkout, not after, and be clear about delivery times. Distance sales to UK consumers come with a statutory cancellation right for most physical goods, so if you are posting books yourself, check your obligations with Trading Standards or take proper advice before you set your terms.
Finally, add a short extract. A chapter or two, or a scene that ends on a turn, does more for conversions than any amount of praise. Reviews and endorsements help too, provided you have permission to quote them.
Social platforms come and go, and reach is never guaranteed. An email list is the one audience you keep. Give people a reason to join: a free short story, the first chapter, a deleted scene, a map, a reading-group guide. Ask for an email address and a first name and nothing else.
Say plainly what they will get and how often — "a newsletter every six to eight weeks, plus news of new releases" is a promise you can keep. Use a proper email provider rather than your everyday inbox, switch on double opt-in so you hold a record of consent, and send a welcome email immediately. That first message is the one most people actually open. Then send something regularly, even if it is short. A list that hears from you twice a year will not remember who you are.
If you collect names and email addresses from people in the UK, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to you, whether you are a sole trader with one book or a publisher with forty. You are the data controller. That sounds grand; in practice it means being honest and tidy.
Your privacy notice should cover, in readable language:
Link to it in your footer and at the point of sign-up, where people are actually deciding. Keep records of consent, because if someone asks how they ended up on your list, "I think they ticked something" is not an answer. Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication on your accounts. If data is lost or exposed in a way that risks people's rights, you generally need to tell the ICO within 72 hours, so it pays to have a rough idea of what you would do.
This is general guidance rather than legal advice. The ICO publishes free, plain-English resources for small organisations, and if your list grows large or you handle sensitive information, a solicitor who specialises in data protection is money well spent.
A cookie banner is only required for non-essential cookies, but analytics and embedded media usually count. Get consent before those cookies are set, keep the banner simple, and never pre-tick a box. If you embed video from a third-party platform, consider a click-to-load option so nothing is set until the reader chooses to watch. List your cookies in the privacy notice or a linked page.
Test your site on a phone, because that is where most readers will find you. Buy buttons should sit high on the page and be big enough to tap without swearing. Check that every retailer link works — a dead link to a book that no longer exists is a lost sale and a small dent in trust. Compress your cover images, add alt text, and keep your page weight down so the site loads on a train. Then click through your own checkout once, all the way to the confirmation email, to confirm the whole chain works.
Then leave it alone for a quarter. Come back, read it as a stranger would, and fix the one thing that made you wince. Small, regular improvements beat a grand redesign every time.
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