5 amazing author website built by my students
I’m almost bursting with excitement to share this post with you! Since I launched the DIY Author Website Course last year, I’ve had some amazing feedback from students.
It’s honestly been the greatest joy to hear from them and see the results of their efforts - which are honestly so creative they have blown me away!
So today’s post is all about celebrating them, and their achievements, and hopefully giving you a little insight into the kind of thing you can achieve if you take the plunge and choose to build your author website yourself.
What is the DIY Author Website Course?
The DIY Author Website Course is the only course specifically designed to help authors build their own author website from scratch. No previous knowledge of website building required!
While I obviously love building websites for authors, there’s nothing more satisfying that seeing authors take control of their own author website and learn how to make the most of it.
It’s also so wonderful to see all the creative ideas that authors bring to their websites when they feel empowered to build them themselves.
Five amazing author websites built by my students
So without further ado, take a look at these beauties!
What I particularly love about Will’s website is the bold use of fonts and the creative use of colour. His website has a confident, bold feel, entirely in keeping with the ‘big’ themes in his novels.
There are plenty of calls-to-action on each page, ensuring that a visitor to the website is enticed to go on a journey and visit every page.
On the Books page, I particularly love how he has staggered the quotes and again, the striking use of fonts really helps break up the content.
Will’s verdict on the DIY Author Website Course
“Wow, want to thank you for delivering exactly as you promised — and more. Procured your DIY course and Squarespace and launched my author website in 72 hours... Couldn’t be happier. Thank you for empowering me (and, I’m sure, many other authors in my general position).”
Kristina’s website is so full of joy, it makes me happy just looking at it! I love her bright, fun use of colour, and the fact she’s made full use of Squarespace’s new text effects.
She also has site-wide animations active on her site, so that the pages load as you scroll down. Again, adding a fun, modern element to the design.
Find out how to add site-wide animations to your Squarespace website →
Kristina’s verdict on the DIY Author Website Course
“Your course was soooo helpful. I actually started to enjoy myself while making the website. Yay!”
Melissa’s website is comprehensive! When she first sent me the link I couldn’t believe she’d managed to build it all off the back of completing my author website course.
She’s a prolific author, with many books to her name, all beautifully displayed and categorised on her Books page. She’s also added tons of extra content for her readers to enjoy - including videos, free resources, events and more.
On a design note, I love her simple monochrome template, and the use of beautiful graphics - and a wonderful script font for her author name itself. She’s also used the scrolling text effect to draw attention to things she wants to highlight.
Melissa’s verdict on the DIY Author Website Course
“Your course was very good for explaining everything and after a while I started to get confident with finding solutions myself and then coming back to the course to check I hadn't missed things. Thank you for adding professional details like favicons etc, that was important.”
I was lucky enough to meet Tania at an event recently and she revealed that she had signed up to my author website course, but that she was a bit of a technophobe so had put off actually starting it. I reassured her that this was very common among authors…
But look what she’s created! I’m so impressed. She’s taken inspiration from her book’s cover brilliantly, to create a cohesive, complementary design that puts her debut novel front and centre.
I love the addition of the star emojis in some of her featured reviews - little touches like this can really bring a design to life. She also has prominent BUY NOW buttons throughout the site to ensure visitors can quickly and easily click through to purchase her book.
Tania is exactly the sort of author I had in mind when I designed the course and I’m so thrilled to see her site up and running.
Tania’s verdict on the DIY Author Website Course
“Thanks so much for your brilliant course! If even a technophobe like me can design the website myself, you know it’s an amazing course!”
Kate was one of the very first people to complete my author website course, and I still remember when she tweeted me to say she’d finished it - I was so thrilled! I immediately logged on to take a look at what she’d created and honestly, I couldn’t believe it.
But what’s better still is that since that day, Kate has gone on to refine her website, making changes to the design.
This makes me even happier, to be honest, because it shows that she’s now confident using Squarespace and can adapt the website as her career grows.
I particularly love her inventive way of encouraging sign ups to her newsletter - calling it the Malvern Farm Murder Club, and creating a dedicated page to encourage readers to sign up.
Kate’s verdict on the DIY Author Website Course
“Authors in need of some help building a website, I highly recommend Charlotte Duckworth’s online course… I’ve almost got something worth sharing - in just one day! Charlotte, you are a genius! Thank you ⭐⭐ ”
Sign up to the DIY Author Website Course!
I am so proud of this course, and of all the students who have taken it. It’s honestly been such a rewarding thing to build, and watch authors make the most of!
If it sounds like something that might be of interest to you, then you can find out all you need to know about what it includes here.
