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Are you a fiction writer building your own site?

If so, this post is for you.

Through our experience in working with dozens of fiction authors, these are the pages that we’ve found every fiction website needs.

1. Home

This is your landing page, the first page your visitors will see when they navigate to your website. Therefore, you will want your home page to make it clear who you are and what you write. Don’t make your visitors guess.

Your home page will set the tone for the rest of the website, so focus on easy-to-understand navigation, clear calls to action, and a design that reflects who you are as a writer. Your book(s) should be featured prominently.

Many writers also opt to have their blog on their home page, which is perfectly acceptable. You can also choose to keep your blog on a separate page.

2. About

This is your bio section. Don’t get too bogged down talking about all the minute details of your life story; that will get monotonous rather quickly. Instead, focus on hitting the highlights of your life, especially those that pertain to why you started writing or where you get inspiration for your books.

Choose a professional headshot for this page.

Tweetables:

  • @AuthorMedia tells us what pages a fiction website should have. Click to Tweet
  • Do you need to add another page to your fiction website? @AuthorMedia answers the question. Click to Tweet

3. Book

If you’re only selling one book, use this page to give your readers information about that book–but not too much information. You don’t want your readers to just read about your book; you want them to buy your book. So give them just enough to hook their interest, then provide clear calls to action with “Buy Now” buttons and links to buy the book.

Are you in the process of writing your first book? Include a signup form where your visitors can choose to receive book updates.

If you have multiple books, it’s better to have one page that lists your books and links to individual book pages for each book. If you try to fit all the information for every book onto one page, that page can become crowded very quickly. Plus, it’s almost guaranteed that you won’t rank #1 on Google for any of your books.

Overwhelmed by the thought of listing your books? Check out our MyBookTable plugin, which was designed specifically for this issue.

4. Contact

Make it easy for your fans to get in touch with you! We recommend putting a contact form on a page labeled “Contact” or “Contact Me.” Also, if you haven’t listed your social media profiles elsewhere, make sure that they’re easily visible on this page.

5. Blog (?)

If you didn’t include your blog on the homepage, then you’ll need a separate blog page. This is where you’ll be adding your new content.

Should I also include a ____ page?

Many authors suggest additional pages to us, ranging from speaking pages to stories about how they got their inspiration for the name of a minor character.

Should you add that extra page? Here’s a good rule of thumb: Don’t add another page unless you want people to do something specific, like booking you for a speaking engagement. That extra page with your character bios is nice, but will distract people from the page where you’re actually selling your book. Save extra content for your blog.

Need help?

Feeling overwhelmed? Not sure where to start? Consider having us build your site for you.

Contact Us to Get Started!

 

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