Crealanta Magazine

How to Make an Author Website FOR FREE [The Ultimate Guide 2023] -

Jan 26, 2023

Because creating books is considered to be the hard aspect, many authors stop there. But book marketing is a vital aspect of publishing and is perhaps the most crucial. A website for your author is a crucial part of your book marketing strategy. A lot of authors find the process overwhelming. But don't worry, we have provided a step-by-step guide on how you can develop your own expert website for your author with less than zero budget. There are no coding or knowledge of design is required!

Here are the quick-links for your complete resource guide on creating a website for authors:

The benefits of establishing an author Website

Here are some of the benefits of building your own author site.

1. Capability to create meaningful relationships with your customers and

An author website allows the author to create an author site that allows you to interact in a meaningful way with readers and fans. Additionally, it can be utilized to build an email list that keeps your customers informed of upcoming events and the new releases of your book titles.

2. The ability to directly sell direct to your readers (cut off the middleman)

Directly selling books to customers through your author's website has several benefits including:

  • A higher profit margin. It's not necessary to pay hefty royalty fees. Platforms like only charge a five percent commission per sale (up to $99/month). Comparatively, platforms such as Amazon generally charge around 30% to 35% of the royalties.
  • Instant payouts. No more waiting for your earnings to hit a certain threshold or even waiting until a specific day of the month. The selling of your own website allows you to be paid immediately after orders come in, resulting in an increase in your budget, which is easily available for other tasks like book marketing.
  • Greater control over the ordering fulfillment. Your readers' purchase experience is entirely within your control. Give your clients memorabilia or trinkets such as the book's signed copy as well as coffee mugs, and much more. In addition, you are able to promptly respond to any feedback received from your customers and provide personalized customer service. This will help establish a long-lasting relationship with your customers and increase your book sales in the future.

is also free forever and you are able to make use of the platform to market your ebook and don't need to spend any money until you've started making sales.

3. Ability to establish additional streams of income

If someone has bought your book, there's a high possibility that they'll be interested in other related products you have to sell. This includes products like:

  • Online courses
  • Coaching services
  • Memberships (paid memberships, in exchange for providing content to your members)
  • The physical products like merchandise

An excellent example is, for instance, if you've written an ebook titled How to Start a PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS You can make use of your author website to sell classes and online seminars as well as one-on-one training related to entrepreneurialism or business photography.

How to Create an Author Website Free of Cost in 4 Steps

1. Choose Your Website Builder Platform

The very first thing to consider when creating author websites is to select a website builder platform. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you select the best platform to build your author website:

  1. How much money do I want to spend on my author site? Spoiler alert Yes, it is possible to design professional websites for authors with an unimaginative budget of $0. The amount you spend will be determined by the stage of your career you're in. If you're a newbie to the game then it's probably a good idea to use a free or low-cost platform. Be aware that it is available for free forever pricing. This means it costs you nothing to build your author website with built-in the ability to sell online.
  2. What kind of web building or design knowledge can I count on? If you have no or limited prior experience building or designing websites, then you need to choose a platform for your website that makes it easy to build your own website. Take a look at the templates and samples available to users. Look for simple drag and drop website building tools that don't require the use of any programming skills.
  3. Do I need any particular feature? We recommend that authors that you choose a platform for building websites which has eCommerce built-in (i.e. the ability to take payments) so you can make sales directly on your site.

We recommend using as it's a totally free platform for building websites that comes with tons of notable features for authors including:

  • The plan is extremely generous 's forever-free plan gives you unrestricted access to all of the feature set of the platform. There is only a 5% fee for every order up to a maximum of $99/month (i.e. you won't be paying anything if you don't get any book sales , which is perfect for novice authors)
  • Simple drag and drop website builder
  • Free domain and hosting (you may also join a custom domain)
  • Ability to sell various products types such as physical products (e.g. books, and other items e.g. bookmarks, tshirts, etc), digital downloads (e.g. ebooks or audiobooks) Online training, coaching, as well as the possibility of joining
  • Automatically handling UK & EU VAT so it is possible to sell your products internationally in peace
  • Integration of BookFunnel and Zapier
  • Integration with Google Analytics
  • Payouts instantaneous and safe via Paypal and Stripe
  • Marketing tools such as discount code affiliate marketing, referral system, cross-sells as well as upsells, among others.

2. Add Your Books and Other Lists of Products

When you've selected the platform of your choice, start uploading your product listing, including ebooks, books and anything else you want to offer for sale.

Every product description should contain the price, the corresponding image, and a brief review of the product.

Images for books are your book's covers, and the description should be your page's back cover copy. It should be a short, interesting description of the main points of your book. This should not exceed 300 words.

Also, you have the choice of linking to products that are similar to yours in case you own similar courses for instance linking the books to your page.

3. Customize Your Website Design

The design of your site to accomplish two things: promote your brand and promote your business.

If you're just beginning then you should take some time to think about your brand prior to building your website for authors. You should think about what kind of audience you want to reach out to, as well as what you'd like your visitors to understand about you when they land on your page. Visitors who are new to your site should know the content of your work from the moment they step foot at your website. (If you're a fanfiction writer For instance, your writing should be characterized by fantasy-like colors and illustrations. If you write not fiction and is informative, then you want to convey a professional style.)

If you're not an expert in technology or have no coding skills can help you build an online store in a matter of minutes using no-cost themes. You don't need a professional web designer. There are built-in tutorials to aid you in every step of building a store as well as a wealth of suggestions on how you can personalize your author site. It is recommended that taking a look at your account in order to take stock of the possibilities.

This video tutorial covers all the basics of how to get your website up and running:


If you have a technical background in coding and want to customize your website it is offered within the store builders.

4. Promote Your Author's Website

When your website is complete and you've uploaded your books along with other merchandise then the next task is to ensure that people are actively visiting your author site. Here are some simple ideas on how you can increase website traffic and keep people visiting.

  • Make sure to include the link to your website on all your social media pages.
  • Include a blog on your website where you discuss your current work, forthcoming events as well as topics that are related to your publications. Include links to your most recent or most popular blog articles on your social media accounts to drive new and return traffic. Blog content can also allow the author to increase their chances to be ranked on Google Search Results, resulting in more people visiting your author website.
  • Create an author community through posting recommendations and reviews for other authors' work. Link the profile of the author to the social media platforms they use. The concept is that the person whom you've mentioned will hyperlink your work to their followers.

5. (Optional) Create a custom Domain Name

If you're using a website builder platform like , by default you will get a free fully-hosted domain name with the following format: .com/[yourwebsitenamehere] or an example would be .com/janesmithauthor. This means you won't have to invest any money for domain names.

However, you also have an option to join a custom domain name that you prefer e.g. www.janesmithauthor.com. A personalized domain is your private website address that is accessible on the web that makes sure your site appear more professional. You can buy your preferred domain names from any domain hosting service (e.g. GoDaddy), and you can easily connect the domain name that you've purchased on your website.

Here are some tips about how to select the most appropriate domain name.

  • Your name is your most effective shot. If you're already in the market and you want to add something more simple to the end of your name, such as tomjoneswriter.com
  • Make it as easy as possible. It is not necessary to use the use of difficult spelling. Readers should be able to look at the domain name and figure out the meaning without having to think too hard. Additional points if it's simple to memorize
  • If possible, don't include number or punctuation marks as it can make it difficult to relay your domain's information to your readers
  • Make your domain name not as the name of your publication. Your domain name should be able to be applicable for the years to come, and even when you have new publications

Things You Should Include On Your Author Website

Successful author websites should include crucial elements like:

  • Author bio pagewhere new visitors on your site are familiar with you and the brand you represent. This dedicated page should include a brief bio, as well as highlight the publications you have published, your credentials as well as any awards that have been given to your efforts. Make sure to include the photo of your author.
  • Shop section of your site must list all products you're selling on your website as an author.
  • Product page (i.e. your own product listing page) must include a short description of your book's title, the book's cover image along with other things like an FAQ, You might also like and reviews from customers.
  • Contact Page with an email newsletter subscription form. If applicable, you may consider including your publicist's or agency's contact details on your Contact page. Make sure you include social media links so your readers know where they can connect with your on social media.
  • Blog is a great way to keep visitors coming back to your author website as well as have your website listed on search engines such as Google. Make use of your blog to provide up-to-date information on your upcoming publications as well as upcoming events. Blogs can also be used to write post with book reviews, advice or hyperlinks to other authors' blog sites in this section.

FAQ - Create Author websites

Do I need to purchase domain names?

It is a good option to buy a domain name to make your website appear more professional. It's not necessary. There are domain names for free from the website builder platform of your choice. provides a free domain name with the following format .com/[yourcustomnamehere]. It is also possible to buy and join a custom domain name as well.

Are ebooks available for sale on my site?

Yes! makes it easy to sell ebooks on your website. Upload the electronic pdf file for your book, and then complete details about the item, such as the description, price, photos, and more.

Does an author's website have to be created?

It is highly recommended that you have an author's website which is why the majority of authors own one. Author websites give you greater control over how you wish to convey to your reader. They allow people to get involved with and your business, as well as steam line your book marketing campaigns. If you are able to drive more website traffic toward your product page, then you will see increased book sales. The simplest website can be worthwhile.

How much does it cost to develop a author site?

The short answer is zero. You can build a professional author website that has built-in ecommerce functionality with little to no upfront cost.

The breakdown of the things that you must pay for is as follows:

  • Have an author website with an integrated ecommerce function
     Cost: $0. (if you are using platforms such as )
  • Conduct marketing activities to drive customers to your website
     Cost is: Zero (there are plenty of ways for bringing traffic to your site with no budget Check out our suggestions in the previous paragraph)
  • Have a custom domain name
     Cost: Free if you're using the website builder's free domain names. But you can also buy your own domain names for a range of prices, ranging from just $0.99 to thousands of dollars based upon the domain name of your choice.

In addition to the cost Beyond the cost, you may be thinking about the time and effort necessary to begin and manage your author site. If you follow the steps we've listed in the previous paragraphs, you're likely to be able to finish setting everything up within a day (but be sure to keep in mind that building the site and growing traffic require more time and depend on your marketing efforts).

Final Reflections

The creation of an author's website can seem like a daunting step in your path to the top of your game It's a crucial element of creating an author site that is engaging and helps you connect with your readers. You can have a professional author website for absolutely no cost, without the need to employ a web designer by following our step-by-step instructions that we've given in the previous paragraphs. There's a chance your website's marketing potential your website for authors is worthy of your time and effort.