Most "author website examples" articles show you the same famous names without explaining why their sites actually work. This one is different. Using principles from reader psychology, it analyzes eighteen author websites across fiction, nonfiction, hybrid, and indie categories — and identifies exactly what each one does to turn a first-time visitor into a long-term reader. The patterns may surprise you.

Author websites fail because of bad architecture, not bad design. This guide shows you how to build a website as a system with clear inputs and outputs—not a collection of random pages. Learn to choose one primary job (discovery, conversion, or authority), remove pages that exist only because of loss aversion, and use Claude for structural decisions while ChatGPT handles content execution. Most effective author websites operate with five or fewer pages. Anything beyond that must justify itself structurally, not emotionally. Includes a complete workbook with the Page Survival Test and 90-day moratorium. Built for authors who are ready to make hard decisions and stop rebuilding.