Author Websites: What you need to know.

A Q&A with website and brand designer Meghan Coppinger, of Sea Spark Creative.

Welcome to the first paid-subscriber edition of Publishing Confidential. Your support of my work is appreciated more than you know.

Authors often ask me what they should do regarding their websites: Should they have one built (yes)? What should it include? How often should it be updated? Where should certain information appear? The truth is, I can only answer so many questions about building websites, which is why I asked web designer and brand designer Meghan Coppinger, who runs Sea Spark Creative, to do a Q&A about the nitty gritty of author websites.

Full disclosure: Meghan is my web and brand asset designer; she is super collaborative and creative. I have been bad about writing copy for my website and getting Meghan everything she needs to get it up and running! She is very patient, and I am very behind.

You can see more of her work here. She can be reached at meghan@seasparkcreative.com.

Sea Spark Creative | Publishing Confidential Q+A

What are the five most important elements an author website should include for functionality? For example, social media feeds, buy buttons for their books, a way to subscribe to a newsletter, etc.

Every author’s website should include an easy-to-use navigation bar, a keyword-filled blog, a powerful about page, up-to-date social media feeds, and compelling, on-brand imagery.