When it comes to your nonfiction author Book page, you’re selling yourself as much as you are your book. Your book is your business card, so you’re selling your brand and your expertise along with it. We all know fiction authors are expected to tell a good story and entertain their audience. Their proof is in the writing itself. But as a nonfiction author, you need to prove your book holds valuable and trustworthy information. YOU need to be trusted.
Below are five things nonfiction authors need to include on their website’s book page to position yourself as a trusted expert on your topic, and sell more books.
A High Quality Image of Your Book
As you may expect, the Book page of your nonfiction author website needs to include an image of your book. It would be odd if it didn’t, right?
But these images need to be high-quality, professional renderings of your cover. They can be flat images or 3D. We tend to love the 3D versions. They just stand out and seem as if the reader could reach out and hold your book in their hands. It’s very eye-catching.
We’d like to note that your book cover needs to be professional-looking too. You want to send the right message after all.
Your Nonfiction Author Book Page Needs to Prove Your Book’s Value
As with all author websites, your book page is where you highlight all the best things about your book and speak directly to your audience. Your goal is to convince readers they can’t pass this book up. How do you do this, besides with excellent marketing copy? Endorsements!
On your nonfiction author Book page, proving that your book holds value, beyond entertainment is a huge bonus!
Readers trust reviewers. Even one’s they don’t know very well. This is called social proof, and it’s powerful. So if you have endorsements, reviews or quotes about your book, do not hesitate to use them. If you don’t have endorsements yet, that’s okay. Stellar marketing copy can make up for it. Or like some nonfiction authors choose to do, for aesthetic and other reasons, you can add these to your press page. Especially if those reviews are in longform.
Attention grabbing Marketing Copy
The second biggest driver of assessing a book’s worth next to the cover itself, is the marketing copy. You can use your back cover copy on your website, or you can expand on it and include more elaborate marketing copy since there’s room for it on your nonfiction author book page. We generally recommend this.
It should be noted that unlike with fiction marketing copy, nonfiction marketing copy needs to be direct. You can’t just entice the reader, you need to tell them exactly what they’ll get out of your book. What are the benefits of reading your book?
Buy-Now Buttons are a Must-Have on Your Nonfiction Author Book Page
As with any Book page, your buy-now buttons are your call to action on your nonfiction author book page. You can’t talk your book up and show off the cover just to leave your readers hanging. They’re going to want a clear and easy way to buy your book. These buttons make it obvious. They show them where to buy and how in a simple click or two.
We like to include options for these buttons, so that readers have a choice. Linking to your favorite local bookstore, or even Barnes and Noble gives them options. Of course, you can link directly to Amazon, if that’s your preference. Just have the buy-now buttons there.
Yes, You’ll Need to Prove Yourself Too, As a Nonfiction Author
Because you’re a non-fiction author, you need to establish yourself as an expert on your topic. And you’ll need to prove it. This is the place to brag. You’ll want to show off how your experience informs your expertise. You can do this by including your professional bio, listing your accomplishments and accolades, and getting endorsements from those you’ve helped.
These can come in the form of past client testimonials to adding those icons you often see on other nonfiction author Book pages. You know the ones. They’re the logos of the companies you’ve worked with or had relationships with; the trusted companies that have clout, whether they are publications or industry leaders.
Note: Make sure you have permission to use these logos, or you could be in trouble. They are viewed as a direct endorsement and not just bragging rights.
Some Bonus Items You Can Add to Your Nonfiction Author Book Page
It’s ideal to have all five of these items on your nonfiction author Book page, but sometimes, for aesthetic reasons, authors choose to add some of these elsewhere. It depends on how many pages are available on your website and its general design. You don’t want it looking too crowded and overwhelming.
You may also not have the means just yet to have all of these items on your Book page. So here are some bonus items you can include if you have space, or if you want to amp up the impact of your Book page as a less-established nonfiction author.
You can add:
A Giveaway
These are also called reader magnets. You can offer a free preview of your book, or give away a whole chapter or supplemental workbook. Maybe you’ll want to offer a free strategy session, or consultation with purchase. Find out more about reader magnets here.
An Author Headshot
Any type of author needs a good, professional-quality headshot. Even fiction authors include them on their websites and back book covers. There’s a reason for this. Readers want to know the person behind the book. As a nonfiction author, adding a headshot to your Book page is a great introduction.
Other Social Proof
You can add further social proof to your nonfiction author book page by including links to your other work, media coverage you’ve received, or adding awards stickers. If you have any of these available, go ahead and add them directly or via links to the sources or your other webpages.
Your Author and/or Speaker One Sheet
Because so many nonfiction authors published their books in order to grow their brands and advance their careers, landing media interviews and/or speaking engagements are part of the goal. So make your speaker one sheet or author one sheet available, or link to them, on your Book page. This is important because to visitors it shows your expertise and professionalism, and to those seeking to interview you or invite you to speak, it makes them easy to access.
We hope this helps give you a clear understanding of what to include on your nonfiction author Book page and why. If you’re curious about how this all looks, we’ve included three examples.
If you’re a nonfiction author who needs help building a professional website, reach out and see what we can do for you. You can also check out our portfolio, here.
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