Get found online, connect with your readers and sell more books
This course is ideal for: Aspiring and established authors who want a professional online presence to nurture fans, generate buzz and increase sales.
You will:
Understand what you MUST have on your website
Connect with readers
Establish your credibility (even if your book isn’t published yet)
Showcase your writing/books
Generate sales
Create a blueprint on your next steps in building your author platform
“The course was thorough and covered a lot more than I had anticipated. Michelle is a fantastic tutor. She was able to provide lots of clear and practical ‘how to’ advice, terrific website examples and ideas to think about when personalising our own sites.”
– Alida Galati, Your Author Website graduate
See more reviews
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Duration 1
This is an online self-paced course
Duration:
Your 12 months' access begins straight away
Course Creator: Michelle Barraclough $165 | |||||
A website is vital for any published author. This is where your fans and potential readers will go to find out more about you. It's the ideal way for you to connect with them, announce any new projects and generate buzz and sales for your book.
It’s also essential for any aspiring author. Yes, you read that correctly. Even if your book isn’t published yet – or you haven’t even finished your manuscript – it’s important to start building your author platform now. This helps you establish your credibility as an author to potential publishers/agents, showcases your professionalism, creates anticipation for your book and helps you gain a ready army of followers to support its release.
Michelle Barraclough, talks about Your Author Website.
“This was a really useful course with practical applications. The modules were user-friendly and the course could be completed in my own time. I was hesitant to have an author website, but now I am confident I can create and maintain one.”
Jane Carrick, Your Author Website graduate
An overview
Whether you are an established or aspiring author, your website is the go to place for readers, media outlets, reviewers and potential publishers/agents to find out more about you.
Gone are the days where you can get your vaguely tech-savyy third cousin to slap up a webpage on the internet (readers and fans can spot a sloppy DIY job a mile away!). You need a professional presence that’s going to appeal to people – but is also very affordable and easy for you to use.
It’s also a mistake to take advice from web experts who are not experienced in the specific needs of authors. They are likely to advise you on bells and whistles that you either don’t need, or that are too “salesy”.
This course will walk you through exactly what your author website needs, depending on where you are in your author journey.
It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We’ll lead you step by step into what you need to do. And it’s all broken down into bite-sized chunks, explained in an easy-to-follow video format.
To be clear, we’re not going to teach you how to code! You won't learn how to become a website-creating machine. You’re an author, not a web developer. We believe that you need to focus on your “genius” – writing.
However, we do want to equip you with the exact knowledge you need to ensure you have a very clear blueprint you can take to a website designer. (And yes we’ll give you suggestions on this too.) You can be confident that your website has all the essential elements, achieves the right goals and becomes a powerful marketing machine for you as an author.
If you are very tech-savvy and absolutely determined to build it yourself (even though we think you should stick to writing!), we’ll show you the easiest DIY platforms and help you determine the one that best suits you.
“This course exceeded my expectations. I had concerns it would be far too technical. It wasn’t. The course and trainer were fantastic”
Amber Castle, Your Author Website graduate
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to determine the goals of your website and how to achieve them.
- What you need to know about domain names and which ones to register.
- How to choose your website platform.
- The essentials of a professional brand style on your website and other materials.
- How to structure your website so it’s easy for users to navigate.
- Essential elements on your home page (you only get one chance to make a first impression!).
- What you MUST include in your bio or about page.
- The best way to showcase your books – and how to do that when yours isn’t published yet.
- How to market any events, talks or festivals you’re in.
- Create a hub for any reviews, media mentions, podcast interviews and so on.
- To blog or not to blog? That is the question!
- Should you send out a regular newsletter?
- SEO basics for your website.
- Do you need an online store?
By the end of this course you will:
Have all the knowledge to create a clear and comprehensive website brief that ticks all the boxes. You will have confidence in knowing that you’ve taken advice from web experts who have a deep understanding of the publishing industry and are passionate about helping authors become successful by building the foundation of a powerful author platform.
“What a fantastically presented course! Michelle goes through each step of the process in a really easy to understand manner, and shows you some great examples of author websites, along with suggestions for improvement so you can make yours even better. It really covers all bases.
Emma, Your Author Website graduate
How our “self-paced courses” work
This is one of AWC’s 35+ “self-paced” online courses. But what does that mean? Allow us to explain:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I'm a self-published/indie author. Will this course be useful to me?
A: Absolutely! In fact, if you’re an indie author it’s vital that you have a powerful author website because this is likely to be the central hub of all your marketing activities. You want it to be working effectively so that it promotes you as an author and sells your books for you!
Q: Will the course help me create my website as a freelance writer?
A: This course focuses on promoting you as an author of books. The key goal is to position you as a credible author. We know that some authors also have side gigs as proofreaders or freelance writers. While we will show you how to feature these services on your website, the main aim of this course is to create a website that showcases you as an author of books.
Q: I haven't finished my manuscript yet. Should I do this course?
A: Yes! It’s very important that you establish your author platform now. As soon as you send that manuscript out to agents or publishers, they need to be able to find out more about you – who you are, what they can expect from you and how you are different to other authors. This course will help you define your objectives and brand so that when agents and publishers come looking, you have a professional ‘home’ on the internet waiting for them.
Q: I hate the idea of promoting myself. Do I really need an author website?
A: If you want to sell books and connect with readers, then the answer is yes. Put it this way. If you need to get from Sydney to Melbourne, you can choose to go in a car. Or you can choose to walk. When you have an author website, it’s easier to promote/sell your books and connect with readers. If you don’t have an author website, you’ll get there in the end, but it will take a lot longer and be a lot harder. So the choice is yours!
Remember, your website will do a lot of the promotion for you.
Q: Does the course cover how to write effective blog posts?
A: The course will cover some of the basics of blogging for authors such as content ideas, frequency, layout and content moderation and yes, what makes an effective blog post.
Q: I'm not techy at all. Will the course be gobbledygook to someone like me?
A: It’s ok if you’re not techy. This course is designed for non-techy people and explained in plain English. The aim of the course is to help you understand exactly what your author website needs, so that you can brief a web designer with confidence.
| Key information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key information: | |||||
Duration 1
This is an online self-paced course
Duration:
Your 12 months' access begins straight away
Course Creator: Michelle Barraclough $165 | |||||
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