Author websites: what to put on your Books page
Hello! This is the second in a series of blog posts I’ve been sharing to offer tips and advice on what each page of your author website needs. Many authors worry about what exactly they need to put on their author websites, so hopefully these posts will help guide and reassure you. Last time we talked about your homepage. This time, it’s the turn of your second-most important page, the page all about your books….
What to put on your Books page
It sounds obvious but on your books page you should list all published works, starting with your most recent and working back.
Each book should have its cover image, plus its short blurb beside it.
Don’t forget to include links to buy your books (!) – ask your publisher which retailers they would like you to link to. Make sure that these links are obvious and stand out - you can use buttons or different fonts/colours to ensure that they make an impact.
This is also a good place to share lots of your best quotes and testimonials, and any links to press you are particularly proud of.
You can also use your Books page for reading group questions, and any Q&As you’ve done about the books.
Foreign editions
If your novels have been published in multiple languages, it’s probably best to create a sub page and list all your foreign editions here.
When it comes to foreign retailers, I suggest linking to your book on your publisher's website in that country, as they should have links to the most appropriate retailers listed there.
Books page calls to action
As I explained before in my previous blog post about the content for your homepage, with every page of your website, you should be thinking about what you want your visitor to do on that page, and making sure you organise your content accordingly.
Thankfully, it’s quite easy with this page - here, we want to make sure people find out more about your books and most importantly of all - can easily find a way to buy them.
So your most important call to action on your Books page is: BUY MY BOOK. Make sure you add this call to action for every single book listed, and make sure it’s prominent and easy for readers to find.
Essential Books page elements checklist
your books' covers! Make sure these are high-quality images and not pixellated (don't just drag them from Amazon, where often the quality is poor). If you want some info on resizing images for your website, you can read my blog post about this here
the blurbs for each of your books - you want website visitors to know what your books are actually about!
links to buy each of your books easily. Make sure that there are plenty of links to online retailers so that readers can easily purchase or pre-order
as always, a call to action - your call to action on this page should really be 'buy my book'!
testimonials and press quotes relating to each book
any artwork your publisher has created to promote your book online (so long as it fits with the general design of your site - don’t shoe-horn it in! Remember: less is more!)
links to any blog posts relevant to each novel. For example, if you have a post about what inspired you to write a particular book, you could include a link to it here
actual quotes from the books themselves to give readers a flavour of what to expect
reading group material, or author Q&As related to your books (rather than more generic ones about your writing - these are probably better off on your About page)
a foreign editions page just in case any foreign readers stumble on your website
Hope this has been helpful - next time I’ll cover what you should include on your About and Contact pages. You can read my post all about the content for your homepage here.
But…
If you can’t wait that long - then you can download my entire Author Website Content Guide right now by signing up to my newsletter!
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