Author websites
Give readers somewhere to find you.
Retailer pages sell books. An author website builds the author.
Quill & Reed creates clear, professional websites that give your books, reader list and future work a permanent home online.
Do authors need a website?
An author does not technically need a website to publish a book, but a website gives them an online presence they control. It can bring together books, biography, reviews, events, media information and an email list without relying entirely on retailer or social-media platforms.
Why it matters
The one place online that is yours.
Amazon is useful for buying. Instagram and TikTok are useful for social reach. But neither is fully owned by the author, and both can change their rules.
An author website can become your central home, book archive, search presence, mailing-list sign-up, media resource, event hub and platform for future books.
What an author website may include
Core pages
- Home
- About
- Books
- Individual book pages
- Reviews
- News
- Events
- Media / Press
- Newsletter
- Contact
Where appropriate
- Reading order
- Series pages
- Resources
- Business / speaking
Visual approach
Specific to you, not a template with a new name.
Each site should feel specific to the author, genre, books and audience. To stay efficient, we start from a small set of strong underlying design families — literary, crime and thriller, romance, fantasy and speculative, children’s, and business and non-fiction — as starting points, not rigid templates.
We handle site structure, copy architecture, responsive design, SEO foundations, book pages, mailing-list setup, analytics foundations and launch integration.
Example of our work
The Unread series website.
This is the author website we built for our own book series, The Unread Trilogy by Ashton Thomas. It shows the approach we take for authors: a site that feels like the books, not a template.
“No one told it to erase them.”
- Atmospheric home page that sets the tone of the genre
- Individual book page with formats (paperback, hardback, eBook)
- Series page showing reading order across three books
- Extract page so readers can sample the writing
- Reader list sign-up with clear consent and multiple languages
- Author page, themes page and a privacy policy
Ownership
What you own.
The author retains ownership of their domain, content, mailing list and supplied assets, subject to the terms of any third-party services used to host or operate the site. That includes your author brand, reader data, supplied photography and book assets.
The underlying software and hosting belong to their providers; we do not claim otherwise, and we do not claim your brand or data.
Search and discoverability
Built to be understood by search engines — and AI systems.
SEO foundations may include clean URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, a sitemap, structured data where appropriate, author and book pages, mobile optimisation, internal linking and indexable content.
Sites are also structured clearly so search engines and AI systems can better understand who you are, what you have written, your genres and series, publication information, FAQs and media information.
We do not guarantee Google rankings or AI citations.
Mailing list
A direct relationship with readers.
A mailing list lets you reach readers directly with launch updates, future books, events and new releases — without depending on an algorithm. We can support setup; consent and data-protection compliance must be maintained on an ongoing basis.
Website copy
Words for the site, approved by you.
We may support or prepare copy for your biography, book descriptions, homepage, press page, FAQs and metadata. You approve everything before it goes live.
Future books
Built for the next book too.
A good author site makes it easy to add future books, a new series, reading order, events, press, reviews and newsletter activity — so it grows with your writing rather than needing to be rebuilt.
Websites inside the packages
Publish + Grow
Author website included. Built by us, with basic updates within package scope.
Managed Author
Author website included, plus more active ongoing website management.
Publishing with Quill & Reed
Author website included from Publish + Grow.
Built alongside the book, so it is ready for launch.
Already published
Standalone Author Website plan.
£99/month × 12 · £1,188 total. For books that are already out; no republishing needed.
Author website questions
Do authors need a website?
Not technically, but it is the one place online you control, and it gives readers, press and event organisers somewhere reliable to find you.
Do I own the domain?
Yes. The domain is registered to you.
Can I use my existing domain?
Yes. We can connect the new site to a domain you already own.
Can you redesign an existing author site?
Yes, where that is the right move. If your current site works well, we will say so.
Can the site support multiple books?
Yes. Each book can have its own page, and new books can be added over time.
Can it support a series?
Yes, with series pages and reading order where helpful.
Can I collect email subscribers?
Yes. Mailing-list sign-up is part of the setup, with consent handled properly.
Is SEO included?
SEO foundations are included: clean URLs, page titles, descriptions, a sitemap, structured data where appropriate and indexable content.
Do you guarantee Google rankings?
No. Nobody can honestly guarantee rankings. We build the site so search engines can understand it clearly.
Can I update the site myself?
This depends on how the site is set up and is discussed at the start. Publish + Grow includes basic updates from us; Managed Author includes more active ongoing management.
What happens after the 12-month package?
Before your agreement ends, we will explain the available ongoing options clearly. Your domain, content, mailing list and reader data remain yours.