5 best website builders for authors and tips on how to build one
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Writers and authors need a strong online presence to showcase their work and grow their audience. Choosing the right website builder plays a huge role in how their portfolio looks and how easily they can connect with readers. With so many platforms out there, it’s important to pick one that’s easy to use, flexible, and geared toward literary content.
While building a website from scratch can feel overwhelming, the right builder makes the process simple without sacrificing style or quality.
In this article, I share my list of the best website builders for authors that help your work shine. Additionally, I give you an overview of how to build a website, so you can easily do it yourself.
Best website builders for authors by Cybernews
- Wix – best website builder for authors overall, from $10.50/month
- Hostinger Website Builder – cheap website builder for authors, from $2.69/month
- Squarespace – premium author website builder, from $16.00/month
- SITE123 – beginner-friendly website builder for authors, from $12.80/month
- WordPress – a powerful customizable platform for authors, from $0.00/month
Best web builders for authors: detailed list
Looking for the best website builder for writers can be time-consuming and tricky. To make this decision easier, I compiled a list of the 5 best web builders for writers.
1. Wix – the best author website builder in 2025
| Starting price: | $10.50/month |
| Templates: | 900+ |
| Free plan: | Yes |
| Current deal: | Get Wix with 50% OFF |
In my opinion, Wix is the best website builder for authors. Thanks to its design flexibility, over 900 pre-designed templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, and an AI website builder, it’s suitable for both beginner users and seasoned website-building professionals. Additionally, it offers a free version, and its pricing starts at just $10.50/month.
Here’s what you can expect from Wix:
- A full-featured blogging platform. The builder comes with a very functional built-in blogging platform. When I tested it, I was pleased with how easily and quickly I could create a simple blog post. Plus, the platform includes SEO tools and various design elements.
- AI website builder and drag-and-drop editor. Wix comes with 2 different editors. Depending on your level of experience, you can either choose to have your site automatically generated by Wix’s AI or create one yourself by using a template and the builder’s flexible drag-and-drop editor.
- Extensive app store. While Wix has a pretty impressive amount of advanced features, the provider also offers a large third-party app store, where you’ll be able to find plenty of useful extensions for your marketing campaigns.
Building a website for authors with Wix
What is amazing about Wix is that you can choose either a quick and easy website-building process or a more challenging but rewarding one. All you have to do is decide how you’d like to build your site. You can choose between building your site with AI or using a template. I found that Wix offers one of the best AI website builders, but the template option is great if you want more control.
If you go with the AI web builder, you have to answer a few questions, and the AI builder will quickly generate a website. However, with the traditional approach, you can choose from over 900 modern and responsive all-purpose templates. With a choice as wide as that, you’ll definitely find plenty of options suitable for a beautiful author site.
Once you choose a template, you’ll be redirected to a flexible drag-and-drop editor, which we analyzed in our Wix review. Here, you can add anything you wish: links to social media accounts, contact forms, reader reviews, book listings, or a blog. Wix also offers a blogging platform with plenty of built-in analytics and SEO tools for better site performance.
Wix pricing
Wix offers a free plan for building a basic website and 4 paid plans. I recommend the Light plan ($17.00/month) for your author’s blog. It’s fairly affordable, includes 2GB of storage, and allows you to invite collaborators. However, if you’d like to include an online store, the Core plan will be a better choice. All 4 plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, a free domain for a year, an ad-free experience, and 24/7 customer support.
2. Hostinger Website Builder – affordable builder for beginners
| Starting price: | $2.69/month |
| Templates: | 150 |
| Free plan: | No |
| Current deal: | Get Hostinger Website Builder, 78% OFF + free months |
Hostinger Website Builder is the second-best option for authors on my list. It’s one of the cheapest website builders that provides a highly functional and modern builder for any author with any vision. It has one of the best drag-and-drop builders, excellent AI tools, and marketing features for as low as $2.69/month.
This is what you can expect:
- Beginner-friendly blogging tools. These are already built into Hostinger Website Builder's editor, meaning that you can easily edit, design, and publish your blog posts without any coding needed. Hostinger also offers WordPress plans if that’s your preferred content management system. Plus, the Kodee AI assistant is very helpful and can guide you through it all. SEO tools are also available to improve your search content.
- Advanced AI tools. Hostinger Website Builder offers an AI Heatmap that shows you suggestions on where to place important information, like a CTA button or an announcement on your site. More so, an AI Writer can generate some content.
- Flexible editor. Hostinger Website Builder comes with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that enables you to create a functional site by adding numerous pre-designed elements. Additionally, its premade grid system helps to navigate the element placement more easily.
Building a website for authors with the Hostinger Website Builder
When creating an author website, you can start with a template, build completely from scratch, or use the AI website creator. Our Hostinger Website Builder review showed that the drag-and-drop editor is very beginner-friendly and allows you to add, delete, or rearrange pre-designed elements. Plus, you could enhance existing functionalities with features like a contact form, a subscription form, and book reviews.
However, if you wish to build a site yourself, Hostinger Website Builder has over 150 premium themes to choose from. While there are no author-specific templates, all themes are responsive, well-structured, and professional-looking.
As for Hostinger Website Builder's blogging platform, it’s very easy to navigate. Additionally, the builder lets you drag and drop various design elements on your blog posts without any coding.
Hostinger Website Builder pricing
Hostinger Website Builder offers two plans with a starting price of $2.69/month. Both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee to test the editor fully before committing.
3. Squarespace – premium, minimalistic author site builder
| Starting price: | $16.00/month |
| Templates: | 180+ |
| Free plan: | 14-day free trial |
| Current deal: | Get up to 36% OFF Squarespace |
Squarespace is a good website builder for any author looking to build a visually captivating website. Although the builder’s pricing is more premium, starting at $16.00/month, the templates are visually appealing and unique.
Let’s take a closer look at what Squarespace offers:
- Built-in blogging platform. Squarespace comes with a very functional and easily customizable blogging platform that you can use to engage with your audiences and drive more traffic to your site. Additionally, you can adjust SEO settings for each blog post individually.
- Excellent site-wide SEO and marketing settings. For better website optimization, Squarespace offers extensive site-wide SEO tools. The builder also includes marketing features like mailing lists, promotional pop-ups, and profiles.
- Social media integration. You can integrate links to your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms on your site.
- Good eCommerce tools. The Business plan gives you access to eCommerce tools so you can easily sell products. These tools offer great flexibility, making Squarespace one of the top web builders for small businesses.
- Rich app store. Squarespace offers a vast app store, which allows you to add any functionality to your website.
Squarespace makes author website building very easy. Once you log in, all you have to do is name your site, pick a template, and start editing it to your liking.
Building a website for authors with Squarespace
For starters, Squarespace has over 180 sleek-looking all-purpose templates to choose from. Although there are no writer-oriented options, you should have no trouble finding the perfect background and layout for your bestseller.
Once you find the one you like, you’ll be redirected to the builder’s section-based editor, which we explored in our Squarespace review. The editor allows you to add, delete, and move the sections and blocks within your chosen template. Squarespace has many pre-designed blocks like contact forms, social media links, and event calendars to make your site one of a kind.
As for blogging, Squarespace comes with a comprehensive blogging platform. The tool is pretty straightforward. You can create content, add buttons, and manage each post’s SEO setting to make the most out of it.
Squarespace pricing
Squarespace has 4 plans, with prices ranging from $16.00/month to $99.00/month. If you simply wish to test the builder’s functionalities, Squarespace offers a free 14-day trial. All plans come with a free custom domain, an SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth and storage, SEO features, and basic website metrics.
4. SITE123 – easy-to-use builder for author site
| Starting price: | $12.80/month |
| Templates: | 80 |
| Free plan: | Yes |
| Current deal: | SITE123 from $12.80/month |
SITE123 is another great candidate for authors looking to create a simple yet functional website. The builder offers quick and simple website creation with basic features at $12.80/month. With it, you can get a dynamic author’s website up and running in minutes.
Here are some of SITE123’s main appeals for authors:
- Functional, built-in blogging platform. SITE123 offers a very functional blogging platform where you can easily post and manage your content. Additionally, the blogging platform also comes with its own analytics, so you can track and improve all your posts’ performance individually.
- AI features. SITE123 offers a Text AI tool, which makes it easy to generate descriptions for various elements on your site.
- SEO Adviser app. This tool is great for both beginners and experienced users. It analyzes your website and suggests changes to boost your site’s search engine ranking, which helps in attracting more visitors.
- Multi-language support. If you choose the Premium plan or higher, SITE123 allows you to add extra languages to your website. By offering content in different languages, you can broaden your audience.
Building a website for authors with SITE123
As the name itself suggests, SITE123 lets you create a website in just three steps: log in, choose the type of website you want to build, and edit the generated site. Alternatively, you can pick a template and customize it. Regardless of your approach, you'll work with a beginner-friendly, section-based editor.
SITE123 has over 80 pre-designed templates. All templates are pretty, functional, and responsive. While there are no writer-specific ones, any template can be altered to fit your design needs. You can mix and match elements from different templates, giving your site a personal touch without starting from scratch.
In the SITE123 review, I found that the drag-and-drop editor is pretty simplistic in terms of design flexibility. However, you can easily add elements like contact forms, portfolios, images, and posts. You can even mix different templates to create a truly unique site.
What really stood out to me was the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing experience. As you tweak your content or update your layout, you immediately see the results – no switching between backend and preview mode. This real-time view makes it much easier to fine-tune your pages, especially if you're someone who likes to visually build and edit on the fly.
Of course, no author’s website is complete without a blog. SITE123’s blog manager is intuitive and straightforward, with SEO and analytics already built in to ensure that your posts reach the right people.
SITE123 pricing
SITE123 has a free plan and 5 paid options, ranging from $12.80/month to $45.00/month. I recommend the Advanced plan ($21.33/month), which offers email marketing features. However, if you plan to sell books, the Professional plan ($40.00/month) might be better, as it includes eCommerce features.
Every plan includes integrated hosting and domain management, which means you won’t need to juggle separate services or providers. For beginners, that’s a huge win – you can register a domain, set up your site, and publish it all in one place.
5. WordPress.org – advanced blog platform for authors
| Starting price: | Free |
| Templates: | 13,000+ |
| Free plan: | Free software that requires hosting |
| Current deal: | Get up to 43% OFF Wordpress! |
WordPress.org is a free content management system (CMS) and the original blogging platform that enables you to create any website you wish. However, while WordPress itself is free, you’ll need to pay for hosting to make your website live. You can customize every aspect and own everything on your site.
Let’s see what you can expect from WordPress itself:
- WordPress is the original blogging tool. Started as a content platform, it’s easy to use, customizable, and can be heavily optimized for search engines.
- Full control over the website. You can either self-host your WordPress site or opt for a hosting service provider, though hosting plans do come with a cost. In either case, you own all the content and rights to your website.
- Can be paired with a website builder plugin. WordPress comes with lots of templates that you can slightly modify. However, to further extend the customization options, you can install a website builder plugin of your choice.
Building a website for authors with WordPress plus a website builder
Building an author's website is just as easy as with any other website builder. First, WordPress comes with a wide selection of themes that can be further customized. For even more design freedom, it can be paired up with a website builder. As for blogging, WordPress is the most well-known blogging platform.
Let’s talk about the templates. There are 13,000 free and paid WordPress themes to choose from. You can find anything from simple site templates to designer-made and writer-oriented ones. We examined the template selection in our WordPress review.
For more design freedom, pair your WordPress with a compatible builder like Wix or Hostinger Website Builder. The builder extension enables you to create a personalized site in minutes.
WordPress is the ultimate blogging platform. All tools, features, and available extensions are meant to help you create a highly optimized blogging site. The interface is very intuitive and comes with everything you need to write your blog. Plus, since it’s the most popular platform, there are a lot of tutorials and information out there on how to use it.
WordPress plus hosting pricing
WordPress itself is free, but you do need to pay for hosting. The price of hosting depends on what kind of solution and plan you need. For most author websites, the cost can be kept below $10.00/month. Two very popular hosting solutions include Hostinger (from $2.69/month) and IONOS (from $1.00/month). Both providers put extra emphasis on WordPress hosting and even come with website builder extensions that are WordPress compatible.
Who should choose WordPress? WordPress is a great CMS choice for those seeking top-tier content optimization and full control over how their writing is presented.
Who should avoid WordPress? If you're new to working with a CMS, WordPress might feel complex at first. For those seeking simpler options, I recommend choosing a website builder with an integrated blogging platform.
Best website builders for authors compared
| Author web builder | Rating | Starting price | Templates | Free plan | Blogging |
| Wix | $10.50/month | 900+ | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | |
| Hostinger Website Builder | $2.69/month | 150+ | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | |
| Squarespace | $16.00/month | 180+ | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | |
| SITE123 | $12.80/month | 80+ | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | |
| WordPress | Free | 13,000+ | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
How we tested web builders for authors
The Cybernews research team and I reviewed 32 providers in total, according to our website builder testing methodology. After this, we chose only the 5 best to make sure that they would be a good fit for author websites. Here’s a short breakdown of the evaluation criteria that I have used:
- Templates (40%). Out of the best website builders, I chose and did an initial ranking of 5 based on whether they include templates dedicated to authors, writers, and blog writing.
- Ease of use (25%). I noted how easy the builder editor is to navigate. I checked whether website builders had a drag-and-drop editor, I could find and integrate design elements easily, and if the blogging and SEO options were good. I also paid attention to whether templates were responsive across devices and if the builder followed the WYSIWYG principle – letting me see changes in real time as I edited.
- General features (20%). I took into account general features that are necessary for a good website builder – amount of storage, SSL certificates, bandwidth, and customer support.
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Pricing (15%). I noted whether the builder offers free plans or introductory discounts, and which features are available with each pricing tier.
Steps I followed to build a comprehensive author website
Creating a website for authors involves more than choosing a platform. It’s about clearly and professionally representing yourself and your work while staying true to your voice. Choosing a website builder is just a first step. To truly stand out, you need to create a site that reflects your personality and guides visitors through your work with ease. Here are a few tips and tricks I recommend for starting a book blog.
Choose a clean, simple design template
Your template is your digital first impression. Stick to simple layouts with strong typography – they’re easier to read and navigate, especially on mobile devices. Responsive templates also ensure your site looks good on any screen.
Add a professional bio and contact page
Your About page should tell your story in a relatable way – who you are, what you write, and what inspires you. Don’t forget a contact form so readers, agents, or event organizers can easily reach you.
Structure your site with engaging content
Create dedicated pages or sections for each book. Start with a short teaser, then follow with a more detailed summary, including personal thoughts. This makes your site feel more authentic and gives readers a reason to explore.
Make navigation effortless
Organize your work by categories like thrillers, romance, or historical fiction. Clear menus and intuitive structure help visitors find what they’re looking for without getting lost in the scroll.
Link your books to where they’re sold
Attach direct links to every retailer that sells your books – Amazon, Bookscouter, or even your personal shop if you have one. Many site builders also support eCommerce tools and payment integrations for selling directly.
Share your work on social media
Connect your website to your social platforms to keep readers in the loop. Most website builders offer built-in social media integrations, so you can easily link your Instagram, X, Facebook, and other accounts.
Best website builder for authors: final recommendations
If you’re an author, having a presence online is crucial for keeping in touch with your audience and publishers. It's also great for spreading the word about your craft. With the right website builder, you can create your blog, store, or landing page in just a couple of hours.
My favorite website builder for authors is Wix – it offers plenty of customization options, beautiful publishing-focused templates, and is easy to navigate. With the starting price of $10.50/month, you can easily build an author website that best represents your writing and brand.
FAQ
How much does it cost to build an author website?
Building a professional author website can cost anywhere from $2.69/month if you use a website builder like Wix or Hostinger. Compared to professional website designer services that can go up to $2000.00, a website builder is a budget-friendly option that also gives you the freedom to create a high-quality and personal site to showcase your work.
What should an author's website look like?
An author's website should display the work of a writer and reflect personal brand in such a way that would be engaging to readers. It should be a central hub that stores all the necessary information about the author, their work, events, and other relevant information.
Should a writer have a website?
Yes, a writer should have a website, as it helps to attract new audiences, communicate with your readers, and sell your work online.
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