If your author website is your most important sales and connection tool for your publishing business, then you can think of the homepage of your website as the handle of that tool; the tool can’t be properly used unless the handle is built correctly.

Your homepage is where readers visiting your site will decide—often within mere seconds—whether they’re sticking around to explore more, or navigating right on out of there. 

This seemingly puts a lot of pressure on designing the “perfect” homepage, but the great news is that there’s really only one “trick” to remember in order to design one that works best for you: homepages aren’t one-size-fits-all; they’re goal-driven.

Let’s break down how to build a homepage based on your goals so you can build something that actually works for you, your books, and your stage of authorship.

Start With One Clear Goal

Before you dive into design, colors, layout, or fonts, you must answer an important question: What is the number-one thing you want visitors to your website to do?

Once you have that answer, your entire homepage should work to support it. If you’d like more guidance on how to choose a goal, check out this article.

Some common author website goals include:

• Selling your latest or bestselling book
• Growing your email newsletter list
• Promoting a new or upcoming release
• Driving traffic to a specific series
• Guiding readers to the right book for them
• Building your author brand

It’s okay to have multiple goals, but just keep in mind that when your homepage tries to do everything, it can often end up doing nothing particularly well. By choosing a main goal and making sure your homepage clearly and immediately features it, you give visitors an easy, purposeful direction to move in.

And the best way to display that goal? Via your hero section.

The Power of the Hero Section

The hero section of your homepage (or of any website page) is the section that appears at the top of that page, just below the header/navigation area of your website. It’s considered “above the fold,” meaning when someone lands on that page, they don’t need to scroll to see the content of that section, making it immediately easy to take in.

The hero section of your homepage is where the main goal of your website should live. So once you’ve selected a main goal, design your homepage hero to include information that supports achieving that goal. To do that, consider including:

• A clear headline (what it is you’re promoting)
• A short supporting line (if necessary)
• A strong call to action (sign up, buy now, or learn more)
• A visual element that demonstrates your brand (book cover or genre-related graphics)

By way of example, if your central goal is to sell a specific book, your hero section headline might say something like “Start the series fans can’t put down today” and include an image of the book and a link to buy the book. If your central goal is to grow your email newsletter, then your headline might be “Receive a free book when you sign up” and include a working sign-up form and an image of the free book.

The hero doesn’t have to be flashy or complex—on the contrary, it should be simple, directive, and display your genre or author brand clearly. That way people know they’re in the right place when they land on your homepage.

Additional Core Homepage Sections

Once you’ve identified your goal and built your hero section to best support it, the most effective homepages next tend to share a few foundational sections. These may vary based on where you are in your author career, but they are great considerations to include if you’re otherwise unsure what to feature.

Newsletter Sign-up Option

Next to your website, your email list is the most valuable tool you will ever own as an authorpreneur. It’s the one thing you fully own and control and will always possess no matter how much other platforms’ algorithms or rules might change.

For that reason, it’s important to always be working on building it, no matter if you’re just starting out (even if you haven’t published yet) or if you’ve got a list 10,000 strong. You want to make sure your sign-up form or link is easy to find, easy to use, and worth signing up for.

When designing this section of your homepage, consider:

• Offering a reader magnet (free story, bonus chapters, workbook pages, etc.)
• Keeping the form simple (name and email is usually enough)
• Reinforcing the benefit of joining (“receive exclusive content” or “early access to new releases,” etc.)

If your newsletter sign-up isn’t in your hero section, it should still appear early on the homepage. It’s too important to bury, so consider making it the second or third section listed.

Featured Book or Series

It’s a wise idea to have a clear place to showcase at least a sampling of your books without the need for visitors to navigate away from your homepage to see what you write.

Depending on your goal, you could build a section that features:

• Your bestselling book
• Your newest release
• The first book in a series
• An entire series
• A curated selection of titles

Make sure to include the book cover(s), a short hook or blurb for the book or series, and a clear CTA (“buy now,” “start reading,” or “learn more”). But try to avoid overwhelming visitors by presenting too many options. Remember, you want to guide them exactly where you’d like them to go.

Short Author Bio

Readers enjoy connecting with people, not just their products. So give them a glimpse of the author behind the books by building an short author bio section that’s about 2-5 sentences long, is relevant to your genre and audience, and feels human and approachable.

Some ideas for what to include are:

• Mention of what you write (genre, best-selling series, etc.)
• A touch of personality (this is different from personal info)
• Optional credibility (experience, awards, etc.)
• A high-quality photo of yourself

The goal with your short author bio is to give visitors just a taste of who you are, and provide options to learn more or connect with you. A “learn more” button can lead to your “About” page, where you provide a longer version of your bio, while social media buttons can take visitors directly to your most popular platforms.

Want to learn more about how to write great author bios specifically for your website? Check out this article.

Homepage Design Principles

Once you’ve got each of your sections planned out (order, content, and CTAs), next it’s time to design. 

You don’t need to be a professional web designer to craft a compelling homepage or full website. Just remembering a few simple rules can go a long way:

• Clarity beats creativity. You don’t have to be over-the-top with visual elements; just be clear about who you are and what you write.
• Space is your friend. Don’t cram too many graphics or text into one area; give your elements room to be seen.
• Consistent branding is key. The fonts, colors, images, and tones used should meet the expectations of your genre.
• Mobile optimization matters. Consistently check in on how your site translates to a mobile screen as you build. (Learn more about mobile optimization here.)

Many website builders include pre-built templates that you can utilize to more easily design and build your site. Just be sure that the template you choose can be adjusted to best fit your goals and represent your genre.

Key Points to Keep in Mind

A high-performing author homepage is:

• Goal-driven
• Clear and focused with CTAs
• Built around a strong hero section
• Supported by other essential sections
• Designed simply but mindfully

Your homepage doesn’t need to be flashy or complicated. It just needs to guide readers toward the right meaningful action for your business, while successfully communicating what to expect from your books. 

If you can achieve that without making your reader confused or have to work hard, then you’ll have yourself a successful author website homepage.

Related Questions

Is it okay to have a one-page author website?

Yes, and this can be especially useful for pre-published or newly published authors. As long as your single-page website still provides all the basic information a reader would expect to find when they visit your site, you can include everything on a single page that doesn’t link to additional internal pages. Just keep in mind that each section may need to be larger or longer to include what other pages would.

Should I display all my books on my homepage?

This depends on what stage of your publishing career you’re in. If you’re a newer author with three or fewer books, it can be just fine to include all your books on your homepage. But if your catalogue ranges much higher than that, it can be wise to only include your bestsellers or newest release so as not to cause overwhelm.

How long should a homepage be?

There is no set number of sections a homepage “should” be, so instead think about the central goal you want to achieve. Including fewer sections is usually advised so as not to cause decision fatigue, but too few sections may make it hard for visitors to know what to do next.