This is the Do’s, Don’ts, and the How-to hit list for creating a fabulous authors contact page as part of building your author platform.
Contact pages are changing by allowing you to make them into whatever you want. As authors, we don’t need the bulk that many contact page gurus out there insist upon, all we need are the bare bones to show off our fabulous author finesse.
So why not be one of the cool kids on your bookshop’s street corner, with these do’s, don’t’s, and how-to hit list to help you nail this page on your author website.
THE BORING DEFINITION OF AN AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE:
There are two.
Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
There is the contact page, also known as the ‘About the Author page’ is found inside your book! This nifty section contains your author bio, showing off your street-cred (awards and certificates) and where readers can find you, like your author website.
And then you have the Author Contact Page on your website.
Drumroll, please…
The author contact page is specifically created to allow people to contact you via an online form or links to where they can find you because they want to contact you! Easy, right.
THE DON’T DO-IT LIST FOR YOUR AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE:
Based on the actual use of owning a contact page as a bestselling fictional author, plus the results based on interviewing other bestselling authors, publishers, agents etc, that’s how this list came to be…
DON’T HIDE IT
Don’t hide it in the back channels of some swamp country where your guests will have to slap at mozzies, trying to ignore their personal Eu-de-cologne of living in the heat. Oh, wait, welcome to my world.
Look don’t hide your contact’s page because it’s important as I explain here while talking about aliens. And it’s not what you think.
DON’T GET CUTE WITH THE TITLE
Don’t call it anything except CONTACT—because everyone knows what it means.
To prove my point, you need to keep it simple for people to understand what you are saying in less than 0.0004 of a second.
The contact page is purely created for your visitors. It’s for your readers, the potential publishers, and promo people who want to book you on the morning breakfast show. So make it easy for them to find it by labelling it as ‘CONTACT’.
DON’T FORGET YOUR AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE
Forgetting about your author contact page is like that loose change that falls in-between the cracks of your couch, that you’ll search for when in need of coins for the delivery guy bringing you those well earned late-night snacks.
So when a book agent searches to contact you and you forgot to update the details, how is that going to look?
DON’T SAY, “I DON’T NEED THIS PAGE!”
Please, do not think that you don’t need an author’s contact page… unless you don’t want to be contacted.
But what if some world-famous publisher wants to talk to you? Or Oprah’s team is trying to slot you in for her summer book club session, but you decided to forget all about a contact page? Remember people don’t have the time to hunt for it, so…
Cue the scary music as you hang your head low, discovering you’ve lost your options for the next round of Netflix mini-series negotiations, radio, and podcast interviews.
WHY CAN’T I JUST USE MY SOCIAL MEDIA AS MY CONTACT PAGE?
Excuse me while I put on my cranky pants and drag up the soapbox on this section.
It’s becoming a trend among authors to not bother with a contacts page and to just use their social media links.
Now the soapbox drama starts here…
*Clears throat, raises megaphone*
You don’t own social media!
Read that again. Go on, I dare ya.
In case you skipped it, I’ll say it again. YOU. DON’T. OWN. SOCIAL. MEDIA.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and the other 200+ social media networks out there, are not part of your personal property.
You are a guest on social media, which means you are subject to their terms and conditions. If (&when) they change the rules that could lock you out, or they switch their algorithms that block you from contacting any of your followers (which they’ve done in the past), what are you left with?
Nothing but a big bag of cyberspace dust.
You can advertise your social media links, but do you really want to respond to nine different channels of requests—when you can funnel them all to the one place?
It’s just something to think about.
DO–DO–DO THE DANCE WITH YOUR CONTACT’S PAGE:
Sorry to scare you with the above, but you need a contact page for your author’s website.
You do want to be treated like a professional, don’t you?
Well, that means having a simple way for people to contact you.
Now…
Breathe
And think big.
Channel all of that inner author fabulousness where the world deserves to know how to contact you simply by sharing the link to your contact page.
WHERE TO SHARE THE LINKS FOR YOUR AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE:
So you have created a contact page worth sharing, so do share it here:
- Make it visible on the header of your website
- Create a link in the footer of your author’s website
- Add it to the bio that you use for social media
- Include the link in your author newsletters.
Can you think of any other great places to help people contact you?
CALL ME CRAZY, BUT LET’S TEST THE PROCESSES OF THIS MADNESS!
Do test it to ensure that it works! I’m serious.
Send yourself a random message for the future, giving you that ‘Oi, retest this page…’ reminder.
Add it to your calendar as something to do twice a year.
Why?
Because the links fail. It’s just one of those unexplainable mysteries of the data superhighway, like where do socks disappear to only leave you with one from a pair.
To make life easier, join our email list and we’ll remind you, as well as share many amazing things to help you master your author platform because we’re authors helping authors like you.
HOW TO CREATE AN AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE
Most website themes come with an inbuilt contact page that you can tweak to make your own.
Or it’s as easy as creating a new page and labelling the permalink as: Contact or Contact2
Then add the following to the page with the obvious goal of keeping your visitor’s perspective in mind.
TITLE:
Your author name.
I know this may seem silly, but having your name helps those visitors write to you with the simplicity of knowing how to spell your name correctly.
WHO YOU ARE:
You can give a quick spiel to let them know who they are contacting, like the bestselling author of nonfiction and motivational speaker, etc.
Why?
Well, your visitors are going through their own stuff when they land on your page like an office worker who has to answer a phone with their boss breathing down their neck on those reports. Or that busy mum with a toddler at her feet who needs that nappy changed. People get distracted, so having your name, and what the page is for, is a gentle reminder to help them. Remember, it’s all about them, not you.
IT’S ALL IN THE FORM:
These are the inbuilt forms that prompt the visitor to fill in the details like:
- Name
- Subject
- Message
If you are on WordPress, you can try the popular Contact Form 7 (like the image below). It’s what I used to use in the past as they’re supposed to minimalise the malicious spam.
Using the inline form does have its advantages. Yet it can also be a complicated set-up, ensuring you have the right email addresses. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials to help you through this as it will depend on the website and theme you are using.
But you can skip the form altogether and make it completely your own.
AUTHOR’S RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:
Some authors slip in their own rules in hope that emails are kept brief, while other contact pages go that one step further by helping their visitors by answering questions in advance.
Here are some examples you could use for your own contact page:
- Book for a speech or a public event
- After a press release or publicity inquiry, share a link to your media kit
- A link to the FAQs that should answer their most common questions
- Privacy Policy link
- How to join your newsletter
- Agent and/ or Publisher’s details
- Social Media links
- Response time (Optional)
AUTHOR CONTACT PAGE EXAMPLE:
Here is an example of an author contact page using all of the elements mentioned above, without using a bulky contact form and our weird sense of humour, thus making it our own. Actually, we made this for YOU!
Mm, maybe I should update our own contact page after this.
Just so you know, you can contact any of our party crew here.
Oh, if you’re looking for more inspiration check out:
Why Hiding your Author Contact list is bad (we do mention Aliens)
20 examples of an author contact page.
No whatever you do, make it your own, but most of all have fun with this most forgotten page on an author’s website. Your visitors will be grateful for it.
