Bookwebs
Website design for authors and writers
Information
Writer resources
Click here to access the Bookweb database of resource for writers
Contact Us
If you like the styles of the websites you see on this site, please contact us for a no-obligation discussion of your website needs.
Email: liz@bookwebs.co.uk
Tel: 01903 879362
Sample sites
Here is a selection of our websites for authors. Please click on a site. The live site will open in a new window.
Christine France
A bespoke website for multi-talented food writer Christine France.
Thorn Wood Books
A website for a small publishing house.
Holdsworth Writes
Richard Holdsworth's WWII evacuee memories.
Selling your work online
If you have a book for sale, you can sell it direct from your website. There are five ways of selling online that are suitable for author websites:
1. Link to Amazon
If your book is listed on Amazon, you can include a link to the relevant page where the visitor can buy your book using credit or debit cards.
2. Link to your publisher's website
If your publisher sells your publication on its website, you can include a link to the relevant page.
3. Email method
The simplest way of selling direct from your website is to provide your visitor with the price and postage and packing details and ask him or her to email you for details on how to pay. You can then request payment, either by cash, cheque or postal order. Once your visitor has provided payment, you can dispatch the order.
4. Accepting credit and debit payments via PayPal
Being able to buy items online using credit or debit cards is becoming increasing popular. The simplest way of accepting such payments is to include a PayPal 'Buy' button next to your book. When a user clicks the button, he or she is transferred to the PayPal website where payment can be made using a secure system.
Once payment has been made, PayPal will notify you via email that the payment has been made. You can then post the book to the purchaser.
To accept PayPal payments, you need to set up a PayPal account. This is a quick and simple process.
5. Selling downloadable e-books using PayPal
If your book is in digital format, you can sell your book from your website as a downloadable PDF file. These type of books are some times known as e-books, which is short for 'electronic books'. In order to be able to read a PDF file, your customers must have Adobe Reader installed on their PC. Adobe Reader is free, and available from the Adobe website.
How to pay for a book download using PayPal
Your customer clicks on the 'Buy' button. The customer pays for the book on the PayPal website as normal. After payment the customer is returned to your website's download page. Only customers who have paid have access to this page. Click here if you would like to see a more detailed explanation.
Advantages
The advantage of selling downloadable books from your website is that you don't need to do a thing. You can sell your books while you are asleep. However, if you already have a publisher, you will need to check that you have the rights to sell the digital version of your book.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of selling electronic downloads is that, in rare cases, customers may download your book and then not be able to open it due to problems with their PC. You will need to be prepared for queries and to offer a refund if necessary.
Dealing with postage and packing costs
If selling direct from your website, either via email or PayPal, you need to work out how you are going to handle postage and packing:
- Are you going to charge a flat rate regardless of the number of books purchased?
- Or are you going to a flat rate per book?
You could charge depending on the number of books purchased e.g. £2 for 1-3 books, £3 for 4-6 books and £4 for 7 books and above.
Alternatively, you could charge a postage rate based on a percentage of the total order value.