Writer’s Guild: Benefits of An Author’s Website

Original Content | 7/29/2025 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

When I finished and published my first novel, it became apparent to me that an Author’s Website was important. I set about creating mine.

What are the benefits of an Author’s Website?

• It shows professionalism and dedication to prospective agents, publishers, event coordinators, journalists, and your readers. An agent or a publisher is far more likely to become interested in your novel if you demonstrate that you are dedicated to your craft. A website will confirm your dedication.
• You have full control over your brand and the presentation of your work. Even if social media or retail outlets remove or cancel your work, the website ensures your internet presence will persist.
• It serves as a wonderful place to showcase your work. Short stories, blog posts, and planned releases can be centrally located there, allowing a reader a much more immersive experience that demonstrates your writing style, and can entice new readers.
• It can attract new readers. If you optimize your search engine visibility, people who are searching for your type of literature may come across your website.

The quality of your writing must be your cornerstone, but without effective marketing, even the best work will wither on the vine. An Author’s Website is an important component of that marketing strategy.

I’ve created an Author’s website, and below are images that show how I laid mine out. I’m only going to show the index (first) page:

Note the items I have included:

• A menu bar that allows a user to navigate between the various pages, including the Home page, a page that contains short stories I have written, a biography of myself, a blog page where articles like this will appear, a contact form, and a page for other authors that I know and admire.
• A short entry about myself.
• A place where my current novel is featured. I’ve included links, to the right, to the best reviews. I made sure to place a button there to allow a user to easily get a copy of the novel.
• A gallery of the novels I have written. Only one exists at this time, but I plan a sequel, and that is represented in the gallery.
• A place to sign up for the newsletter that, while not yet launched, will be coming soon.
• A place to see all my latest blog posts. Only one post exists at this time, and the posts will be geared towards new writers.
• The footer contains a menu copy, a copyright notice, and icons (not yet active) for sharing on social media.

There are a few places where I add a little humor. For example, try to submit me a contact without completing the Captcha step. 😂😂😂

I also ensured that this website is ‘responsive’, that is, that it will render both on computers and portable devices (such as an Android phone.

An Author’s website is important. If you intend to be serious about your craft, I highly recommend you invest the time (or the money, if you are not website-design savvy) to create one!

Happy writing!

[GSWarrior]

Very nice. I wish you continued success as a writer.

[cyclotic]

My daughter is a book editor. She told me that authors need to have a strong social media presence before publishers will even consider them.

BTW authors: She just became unemployed due to a reorganization. If you know of publishers looking for editors or need a freelancer send me a message.

[Lazamataz]

I find social media, particularly TwitterX, to be rife with scammers. I have no intention of building much of a social media presence. If publishers require that, then I guess I am forever out of luck.

[hillarynot]

I wrote articles for State and Local Bar Associations for several years on management topics. Particularly enjoyed the feedback I received from those.

Have moved on since retirement but recently published an autobiography for family members and friends. I autographed each with the following statement “If you have trouble sleeping, this is a guaranteed cure”

I’ve often considered writing a book to publish — I do enjoy writing - but a good topic has eluded me thus far

[FNU LNU]

Columbia

[tired&retired]

Reminds me of the movie Dumb & Dumber where Jim Cary is jumping for joy and yelling “I’m somebody! as he found his name in the phone book.

[Lazamataz]

Reminds me of the movie Dumb & Dumber

I was an actor in the movie "Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest". Guess which one I was?

[ConjunctionJunction]

You might enjoy Larry Correia’s author website:

https://monsterhunternation.com/about/

[Larry Lucido]

What you did there...

...I see it.

[Lazamataz]

A touch ‘busy’ for my tastes. Two reasons:

1) Sparse is easier on the eyes, and
2) His website doesn’t appear ‘responsive’ and might not scale well on a phone or iPad.

But hey, he’s more successful than I am, so who am I to judge?

[Lazamataz]

[Lazamataz]

His website is indeed ‘responsive’, but there is too much material to navigate by phone.

However, he has a Wikipedia entry. I will not feel like I have arrived until I have a Wikipedia entry.

[ConjunctionJunction]

You definitely need a Wikipedia page!

😁

[Lazamataz]

I haven’t talked to my attorney friend yet, but I did find something quite applicable to your situation:

https://kindlepreneur.com/ebook-piracy/

[nicollo]

script src="https://MonsterHunterNation.com/wp-content/themes/twentyfourteen/js/html5.js?ver=3.7.0">

As in "2014".

[Lazamataz]

Yeah, the ‘2014’ is definitely showing. 😊

[Lazamataz]

But I do see it is WordPress. It clearly hasn’t been updated in a while, because WP has advanced its stuff to being responsive.

Like I observed before, it actually looks okay on an Android, but there is wayyyy too much content. I know that if I were shopping for books, the overwhelming quantity would discourage me from visiting/staying on the site.

[Lazamataz]

I’ve often considered writing a book to publish — I do enjoy writing - but a good topic has eluded me thus far

It's simple. Just come up with an idea nobody else has. 😁

[nicollo]

The cool thing is that it is still up. That’s one of the biggest problems with web presence, maintaining it.

Btw, I’m writing a book that will be published both online, no restrictions, and by print. Wish me luck convincing a publisher, but my goal is SEO access for a book that no one will read online, but will buy instead a readable book or Kindle version from the website.

The idea is that the search engines will sell the print and kindle editions it for me.

[Lazamataz]

but my goal is SEO access for a book

I know little-to-nothing about SEO optimization. If you do, please share? Maybe I can make my website stand out more in searches.