Our unique approach to an author website template

The problem authors and writers face

Authors are creative talents putting out their work for the love of literary creation. Authors aren’t quite small businesses with a real marketing budget, and they certainly aren’t corporations with a bottomless pit of money to spend.

Whilst the promotion of their books is partially handled by the publisher, the promotion of the author is the responsibility of the author – conceptually, practically and financially.

A natural starting place is for authors to turn to free blogging platforms like WordPress or Blogger: Create a free account, install a template, and you’re off and running! Well, not quite.

Certainly, a big upside to free or even premium templates is they’re cheap. They can easily be found and sourced with a quick Google search. But these upsides, are what create the downside.

Because they’re so easy to get, anyone can get them.

When you buy cheap, you look cheap

When you purchase that dirt-cheap template, the visual appeal and quality gets reflected straight back into your image on the web. A “cheap, unprofessional appearance” is a big disadvantage for any author.

Then there are premium templates

Now you’re talking. Here you can get your hands on some quite attractive designs. They’re usually fairly contemporary, they’re pretty trendy, all at a price that won’t break the bank.

The thing about templates that I’ve never understood

But again, If you found that premium theme, bought it for $49, and installed it in 2 minutes, so can the next author. This means your website will look exactly like the other 200 people that found this theme.

The thing I’ve never understood is this: The themes you’re likely to pick will be ‘author’, ‘writer’ or ‘poet’ themed. So chances are, it’s not a butcher, or plumber that’s going to have your theme. Chances are it’s another author that’s going to have your theme.

Head to one of the largest template marketplaces on the web, Template Monster. Do a quick search of their templates for the keyword ‘author’. How many results? I got 7 results.

You’ve spent your whole writing career developing a unique literary voice. But now that you’re published, you’re presenting your book with a design shared by 12 other YA sci-fi fantasy authors?

Unique and Buyout licences

Both budget and premium themes come with the option of securing a buyout or unique licence.

• ‘Buyout’ licences guarantees that you are the last person to buy the template from the seller.
• ‘Unique’ licences guarantee that you are the first and the last person to buy the template from the seller.

The kicker? To purchase a buyout licence you’re likely forking out upwards of $5,000, and for that rate, you might as well go for a totally custom design.

How our approach to templates is totally unique

We don’t deal in ‘dime-a-dozen’ templates that offer you no exclusivity of use or professional support.

Instead, we offer a collection of author website options you can view in detail, select from, buy direct off the shelf (or personalise), own outright – and be totally clear up front about all the costs involved in delivering the site you want.

The Jin & Co. approach to author website templates:

• We progressively develop a range of unique, one-of-a-kind designs
• We present a full, pre-set purchase price for each design upfront
• When you select a design, it’s exclusively yours ~ no-one else will have one like it
• We construct your site to suit your specific online goals
• We guide you in developing your own individual site content
• We work together to grow your online presence and creative profile
• You have full control over adding and editing any of the content

Meet our template family

We give each design in our collection a name, a personality, and a story. If you’re a children’s author, we show you why the design would suit you.