Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Harbour Line
From$6.99
Author Website Development
A fast, accessible website you own outright — with the mailing list that is the only audience nobody can take away.
- Price From $1,290 starting from
- Typical timeline 4–7 weeks
Every social platform you build an audience on can change its rules, throttle your reach, or disappear. Your website and your mailing list cannot. For a career author, that is the whole argument.
We build a site sized to what authors actually need: a home page that establishes who you are quickly, a page per book with retailer links, an about page with your biography and press materials, a contact page, a blog or news section if you will genuinely use one, and an events page if you speak.
The mailing list is the most valuable part and gets built properly: a sign-up offer worth giving an email address for, a welcome sequence, and a provider you control. When your next book comes out, this is the audience you can reach directly.
Technically the site is built to be fast, accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA, and structured for search engines with correct metadata and schema. It is responsive from phone to desktop, and you get a content management system straightforward enough that you can add a book yourself without calling anyone.
You own everything — domain, hosting account, content, mailing list. If you want to move it elsewhere in three years, nothing stops you.
What you receive
Deliverables
Exactly what lands in your inbox, listed the same way it appears in your written scope.
- Responsive website, typically five to eight pages
- A page per book with retailer links and sample chapters
- Mailing list integration with a welcome sequence
- Contact form with spam protection
- Blog or news section where wanted
- Events page for speaking and appearances
- Search metadata, sitemap and schema markup
- WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance
- Training session and written handover documentation
What we need from you
Requirements
Having these ready before we start is what keeps the timeline honest.
- Your domain name, or help choosing one
- Cover files, author photograph and biography
- Book descriptions and retailer links
- A decision on your mailing list provider, or a recommendation from us
Production timelines are estimates. Actual schedules vary with manuscript length, revision rounds, author response time and third-party retailer processing.
How it works
Author Website Development, stage by stage
-
1
Planning
We agree the pages you need — usually fewer than you expect — and what each one is for.
-
2
Design
Designed against your covers and brand kit so the site feels like your books.
-
3
Build
Built for speed and accessibility, with content structured for search engines.
-
4
Content and list
Your content is loaded and the mailing list connected with its welcome sequence.
-
5
Launch and handover
The site goes live and you get a training session plus written documentation.
Examples
Browse the bookstore
Books this service has shaped
Sample catalog titles. Replace with a real portfolio of work you have permission to show before launch.
Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Second Tide
From$6.99
Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Evidence Gap
From$9.99
Sample cover — replace with client asset
Decision Debt
From$11.99
Cheaper as part of a package
Packages that commonly include author website development
If you need several services, a package is usually less than buying them individually.
Foundation
A complete, professional first edition
First-time authors with a finished, self-edited manuscript who want a properly produced paperback and eBook without paying for services they are not ready to use.
From
$1,690
Placeholder price. $400 reserves your slot; balance invoiced against milestones.
- Professional proofread, up to 60,000 words included
- Documented style sheet applied consistently throughout
- Original front, spine and back cover design
- Two initial cover concepts, one selected and refined
- Paperback, Reflowable eBook (EPUB) for major reading apps
- One ISBN assigned for the paperback edition
- Listing submitted to major online retailers
- Timeline: 10–14 weeks from manuscript handover
Craft
Deeper editorial and a design-led jacket
Authors who want their manuscript genuinely improved before it is produced — a full copyedit, more design exploration, and a hardcover edition alongside the paperback.
From
$3,450
Placeholder price. $750 reserves your slot; balance invoiced against milestones.
- Full copyedit, up to 90,000 words included
- Tracked changes plus an editorial summary letter
- Three original cover concepts, one selected and refined
- Competitive category research informing the design brief
- Paperback, Hardcover with dust jacket, Reflowable eBook (EPUB) for major reading apps
- Three ISBNs assigned (paperback, hardcover, eBook)
- Listing submitted to major online retailers
- Timeline: 16–22 weeks from manuscript handover
Yes, for one reason: you do not control social platforms. Reach algorithms change, accounts get suspended in error, platforms decline. Your site and your list are the only parts of your platform that are actually yours.
That is the point. You get a content management system, a training session and written documentation. Adding a book or a blog post should take you ten minutes.
Domain registration, hosting and your mailing list provider — typically modest annual and monthly amounts paid directly by you to those providers, so you keep control. We will give you the actual numbers before you commit.
You do, completely. The domain is registered in your name, the hosting account is yours, and the content and mailing list belong to you. You can move to another developer whenever you like.
Often bought together
All services
Related services
Marketing
Author Branding
A consistent visual and verbal identity across everything with your name on it — because readers follow authors, not just books.
Marketing
Book Marketing
A defined 90-day campaign of listing optimization, reader outreach and launch assets, reported on activity delivered.
Marketing
Social Media Marketing
A sustainable content plan and designed assets for the platforms where your readers actually are — not all of them.
Talk it through
Not sure whether you need author website development?
Send us the manuscript. If this is not the service that would help your book most, we will tell you which one is.
Your manuscript stays confidential. We claim no rights in your work at any stage.