Author or Book Website?

You are an author. You have written one or more books. Should your website be you, or your books, or perhaps a combination of the two? While there is no standard answer, there are several questions you can ask yourself that will help you make the right decision—the right decision being the one that leads to most sales and exposure.

Let's start with some basic definitions. An author website is a website that highlights the author and, ideally has some information about all their books. A book website is a website that highlights the book itself, where the author is secondary. Author websites generally have the author's name as the website address where book websites use some variation of the book title.

Here are some basic pros and cons of each:

• A book website is great for search engine optimization purposes (SEO). Google and other search engines will prioritize websites that appear to focus on the keywords or topics for which the users are searching.
• A book website is more likely to "close the sale" than an author website if a reader is interested in the book. Author websites require either more searching, scrolling, or clicking to find the details of the book, which is more likely to deter readers from continuing.
• An author website is ideal for promoting the author's name and increasing exposure. The media appreciates author websites when writing about the author or conducting interviews.
• An author website provides a single web address that you can promote. This is most advantageous when you have more than one book.

Some questions to consider:

• Will your credibility help book sales? If you are an expert in your field and your books are in your area of expertise, it is crucial that you have an author website to promote yourself. If your books are written anonymously, then you probably don't want an author website.
• Do you have a great story? Author J.K Rowling has a great story about how her Harry Potter book was rejected so many times, and of course, how she became one of the best-selling authors of all time. Your story might not be as fascinating, but if it is interesting, an author website is the place to tell it.
• Do you have, or plan to publish multiple books? If yes, create both an author website you can promote and book websites for each book.

For the majority of authors, having both an author website and book websites is the way to go. You can do well in search results, you can promote just one web address for all of your books, and you can let the world know more about you. With any of the HostingAuthors.com paid plans, you'll have an author page as well as multiple book pages under the same account. If you just have one book and don't plan on writing anymore in the near future, a single book website might be fine, especially if you have a section about the author (included with our free book websites). Either way, you'll have a website, which is a giant step in the right direction.