Why Author Websites Suck

Happy Friday,

I have a dumb obsession.

Every time I read a book, I go look at the author’s website.

I’m always hoping the site will be great—especially if I loved the book. Every time I go look at an author site, I’m kind of hoping “this” will be the author with a great site. Usually I’m sorely disappointed.

Mostly, they suck.

I can tell by looking that the site isn’t doing a thing to find their readers or sell their book. It just sits there. Like a lump. A cost that never pays for itself.

Most websites, if they were an employee, would get fired for lack of performance.

Same thing on Medium. When I discover that someone I’m reading has a book published, I go look at their site. Usually, it’s the same thing.

Famous authors are no different.

Once, I looked at the websites of the Pulitzer winners. They were so bad I wrote about it on Medium. You know what I’m going to say next.

Mostly, they suck.

Why Author Websites Suck

You know why that happens, right? Because most designers aren’t marketers.

Mostly, they’re people who learned how to use a system. Wordpress or Square Space or whatever. Which is great if you, yourself, don’t know how to do that.

Knowing how to use wordpress doesn’t mean a person knows how to sell anything, much less something that requires holding interest long term when there’s no date that the thing “closes.” Scarcity is an easy sell.

Holding interest long term is a different animal.

That’s why most author sites are nothing but a billboard for the author. Because they don’t know what else to do. They don’t know how to sell books or build a fanbase, so they just make a showcase. Like a big old billboard for the author.

Famous authors can get away with a billboard.

They already have book sales.

If you’re an unknown author, it’s like putting up a billboard on a closed road. A lovely showcase of a writer that no one is Googling or searching for.

Websites are what I do.

Websites are what I’ve done since 1995. Specifically, taking dud sites and helping them earn their keep and sell the stuff, whether it’s $50 coffee or a book.

Some designers have a niche. Like, they only build real estate sites or author sites or photography sites. My niche is sites that don’t perform.

Here’s what I can promise you.

Your website isn’t for you. It’s for them. Your customers and potential customers. For an author, that’s readers.

If your readers don’t see any value in your website, eventually you won’t either. Maybe you just accept it. Or maybe you wake up one day and wonder if it could work better.

If maybe your website could be working a little harder to find your readers so you don’t have to. The answer is yes. Yes, it could.

I’m working on a workbook to walk authors through that process. So they can fix their sites so they go out into the world and find their readers. Which means they can spend more time writing and less time hawking on social media.

Honestly, I have NO idea what to call it.

Dawned on me that feedback from y’all helped me name my book review publication so I’m hoping maybe a brainstorm session might work for my book, too.

If you have title suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

If you’re interested in the workbook, let me know that, too, k?

Thanks!

:)

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More reading… (friend links so non-members can read free)

• The Real Woman Who Wore Rose’s Necklace On The Titanic

• Keanu Reeves, Ode to Happiness

• My Medium Wishlist for 2022

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Did you know if you click the heart or leave a comment, Substack gives you stars for being responsive? You don’t see them, but I do —so, thank you! :)

xo,
Linda