Marketing Your Book, Part 3: Your Author Website

It's Thursday, which means I'm doing a LIVE at 11 am CT. You can see it on YouTube?here. My co-host, Lucas Marino and I are talking about an aspect of building an empire you won't want to miss!

Okay--in Parts?1?and?2?of this series, we’ve set a goal and written your author bio. Yes, both are incredibly important pieces of your book marketing masterplan. Next, let’s dive into how you can use your website and make it work for you, as it is meant to, all day, every day, and everywhere!

1. URLs: Book Title vs. Author Name vs. Company Name. I advise you go straight to AUTHORNAME.com. And, most likely, you already have a website with your name as the URL. This means there’s no need to get a second URL, such as?www.BOOKTITLEHERE.com, unless you (a) have cash burning a hole in your pocket (in which case, I have Venmo…and lots of books for sale on Amazon), or (b) you really want to get it, in which case, point it to:?www.YOURURL.com/book(s).

If you don’t have a website, grab your name (get creative if you’re John Q. Smith, try AuthorJohnQSmith.com or JohnQSmithAuthor.com or even theJohnQSmithAuthor.com). Then, set up a page as suggested above.

Yes, it’s cheap and easy to grab URLs, but you do have to keep paying for them and managing them, which at the very least is unnecessary administrative work.

2. Let’s get back to?www.AUTHORNAME.com/book?or /books, if you have more than one book, or you’re releasing a book and a journal at the same time. Add your 3D book cover, book description, your bio (or have a separate bio page for your long-form bio, and add a your short author bio on this page), and links to where people can buy the book. Most authors link to Amazon or even to multiple online booksellers via Draft2Digital’s Books2Read option (here’s a link?to?You MUST Write a Book’s Universal link page).

3. Make special editions of your book available to purchase on your website, such as signed copies or limited hardcover editions.

4. Have an FAQ page on your website that includes book reviews, testimonials, or other information to encourage relationship building with your readers.

5.?On every web page, have a way to join your email list. You can give something away (two chapters of your book, a list of tips, a free report…the possibilities are endless).

6. You’ll definitely need a?media page?with a list of appearances on traditional media, as well as podcasts, blogs, and articles where you and/or your book have been featured.

7. Other pages can include: book bonuses (or resources), your current and previous newsletter links, pages featuring other things you have to sell (such as coaching, courses, speaking, etc.). If you host a podcast, radio show, television show, or are doing cutting edge things like NFTs or crypto-currency, by all means, mention that on a special page, too!

8. Make sure you’ve got a Contact Me Page with?all?of your contact info (including a professional mailing address {not your personal home address}) along with a contact me form, links to your social media, etc.

People all over the world can be looking at your website at all hours of the day and night–and, just like your book, you want your website to work hard on your behalf. Be sure to audit your site a few times a year to ensure all of the links and functionality are in working order, there aren’t any of those dreaded 404 errors, and info is updated. (Recently I found a page with something that said, “Coming January 2022!” Oops!)

I hope this was helpful, and I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Honorée Corder | I help professionals write, publish, market, and monetize their books.

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