Hi, I’m Sara (owner of Book Series Recaps), and before I became an author, blogger, and teacher, I spent my days as a freelance web designer. I love helping other authors, and if that’s you, you live in the US and are looking to create an author website to begin your journey, I would love to help! I specialize in websites for indie authors.
If you don’t know how to create an author website or have the time, I’m available for hire at fixed and hourly rates. I can simply help you get started, or I can completely set it up for you. And if you like, I can provide training to help as you move on.
If you’re an indie author like me, you always look for ways to save money. I want to help you do that. Ultimately, I want you to know how to update your website, add photos, and more.
Affordable website services for authors:
What I can help with:
- Domain Registration with Godaddy
- Set up Godaddy hosting
- Set up WordPress
- Help choose a theme and customize it
- Set up basic pages and a blog
- Link to your books on retailer websites
- Set up your contact form
- Set up a professional email address using your domain
- Set up landing pages for visitors from your social media links
- Setup website security (SSL)
- Add my favorite plugins for security, backups, traffic trackers, spam blockers, etc.
- Create any needed social media graphics that will correspond with your new look (for example, story highlight graphics for Instagram)
- Create a form to capture emails and send them to a newsletter platform like Mailchimp or MailerLite
- Give training on updating your site
- At this time, I can only work with authors in the United States
What I would rather not help with:
- Direct selling on your website
- Updating a site hosted on a platform I am unfamiliar with
- Creating non-WordPress sites
- I work from home, so if I wouldn’t want my teenage children to read your book or your marketing messages, I cannot create your website. No erotica, etc.
Websites for Indie Authors: How much does an author website cost?
There are a few things to pay for when creating a website. Whether you hire me to help you or not, you will need to buy your domain name at a yearly fee. At the time of this writing, it costs around $20 per year on Godaddy. You will also need to purchase hosting space (yearly or monthly). Godaddy’s hosting starts at $5.99 a month and should suffice.
As for my fee, I’m working to build my portfolio, so I’m willing to cut you a killer deal on a basic setup: I will walk you through what you need to purchase on Godaddy, then set up WordPress, a basic theme and needed pages, SSL, security plugins, an email address, and a contact form for $75 USD. This basic setup deals with the technical side of web design. This fee does not include aesthetics.
From there, you can finish up on your own, or for an additional $15 an hour, I can make custom graphics for your website and/or social media. This can include a styled text-based author logo. I can set up a form to capture reader email addresses. I can format an email template in MailChimp or MailerLite. I can train you to update the site, and if you like, I can spruce up a page you have started by making formatting adjustments. I can give suggestions for improving your search engine optimization (SEO).