5 Mistakes That Make Author Websites Look Unprofessional (And How to Fix Them)

You know that sinking feeling when an agent asks for your website URL and your stomach drops?

You mumble the address, hoping they won't visit it. Or worse—you watch their face as they pull it up on their phone during a conference pitch meeting.

As both a web designer and author, I've lived this cringe-worthy moment from both sides. I've seen how polished author websites can open doors, and I've witnessed the DIY disasters that make industry professionals close their browser tabs.

The good news? Most website mistakes are fixable—and once you know what to look for, you'll never make the same mistakes again.

Mistake #1:  Building your entire website around your current book instead of YOU as an author.

I see this all the time. Authors create a beautiful site for their debut novel, with themed colors and graphics that match their book cover. Then their second book comes out in a different genre or with a different color palette, and suddenly everything clashes. 

I once worked with a picture book author whose website was all ocean blues and sea creature graphics for her underwater adventure book. It looked great until her second book, which was about dinosaurs, released. Her mermaid-themed website made it impossible to add her second book without it looking out of place. There was simply no room for dinosaurs in the ocean brand she had created. 

👉 How to fix it: Build your brand around your author essence, not individual books.

Ask yourself: What themes run through ALL your work? What's your unique perspective as a storyteller? Create a flexible visual identity that can grow with your career, whether you're writing about friendship today and courage tomorrow.

Let's say you have one book about a brave little mermaid and another about a shy dinosaur who finds confidence. On the surface, these seem completely different—ocean vs. land, fantasy vs. prehistoric. 

But dig deeper: What if both stories are really about characters who feel different and learn to embrace what makes them special? Suddenly, your brand isn't "mermaid books" or "dinosaur books"—it's "empowering stories for kids who feel different."

Discovering your own brand essence takes some digging, but it's one of the most important investments you can make in your author career. If you're struggling to identify what ties your work together, I've created a free guide that walks you through this exact discovery process: Discover Your Professional Author Brand. It's designed to help you find the heart of what you bring to children's literature, not just the characters or settings you write about.

Mistake #2:  Using a generic, unmodified template that screams, “I spent 20 minutes on this.”

Publishers, agents, and readers can spot a website template from a mile away. When your site looks identical to thousands of others (just with your name swapped in), it suggests you're not serious about your author career.

The dead giveaways? Stock photos of typewriters, generic "About the Author" headers, and that same serif font that comes with every writing template. 

👉 How to fix it: Customize your template or hire a professional.

At minimum, change the fonts and add your own photos, so your personality can shine. Your website is often the first impression industry professionals have of you—make it count.

Mistake #3:  An author bio that reads like a resume, instead of telling YOUR story.

"Jane Smith is an author who loves writing, reading, and spending time with her family."

Yawn. This tells me nothing about what makes Jane unique as a storyteller or why I should care about her books.

The worst part? These generic bios waste prime real estate. Your bio section is where agents, publishers, and readers decide if they want to work with you or read your books.

👉 How to fix it: Tell your story, don't list your facts.

What's your unique path to authorship? What themes fascinate you? What's the unexpected detail that makes people remember you? Instead of "loves writing," try "became obsessed with plotting mysteries after getting locked in her high school library overnight." Give people a reason to be curious about you.

Don't have publishing credits yet? No problem! Every author starts somewhere, and your "before" story is often more relatable than your "after" achievements. Maybe you're a parent who started writing because bedtime stories from the library just weren't cutting it for your picky three-year-old. Or the teacher struggling to find books an anxious child could relate to? She's exactly who parents with anxious kids want to hear from.

Your day job, your kids, your hobbies, even your failures—they're all part of what makes you uniquely qualified to write the stories you want to tell. Focus on what drove you to pick up the pen in the first place, not what you've accomplished since.

Mistake #4:  Making it nearly impossible for industry professionals to reach you…or worse, not responding when they do.

I can't count how many author websites I've visited where the contact form is buried three pages deep, doesn't work, or goes to an email address the author never checks.

One author told me she missed a publishing opportunity because her contact form was sending messages to her spam folder for six months. By the time she realized what was happening, the editor had given up and moved on to other authors.

👉 How to fix it: Make your contact information easy to find and test it often.

Use a professional email address (not your AOL account from 2003). Set up email notifications so you can respond quickly — ideally within 2-3 business days. If a school’s email gets buried in your inbox and they don’t hear from you, they'll find a different author for their school visit.

Mistake #5:  Waiting for your website to be “perfect” before launching it.

Here's the thing: You want your website to look professional and avoid all the mistakes we just covered. But I also see authors spend months tweaking fonts and agonizing over whether their bio is exactly right, while their current site (or lack thereof) is hurting their professional image.

Your website doesn't need to be perfect—it needs to exist and function well. There's a difference between "professional and effective" (which you should absolutely aim for!) and "pixel-perfect with the ideal shade of blue" (which can keep you stuck forever). You can always improve your website later, but you can't get back the opportunities you miss while perfectionism keeps you paralyzed.

👉 How to fix it: Launch with "good enough" and improve over time.

Focus on getting the basics right: clear navigation, professional appearance, working contact form, and compelling bio. Set a deadline and stick to it—even if you're only 80% happy with it.

Feeling overwhelmed?

Start with just three pages: About, Books, and Contact.

That's it. You can add more later. Or consider working with a professional who can handle the technical details while you focus on writing your next book. Sometimes the best investment is hiring someone who specializes in author websites so you can get back to what you do best. Curious what working with a professional is like? Hop over to my site.

Remember: Perfect is the enemy of published!

Your Author Website Should Open Doors, Not Raise Eyebrows

These five mistakes might seem overwhelming when you read them all at once, but here's what I want you to remember: every single one is fixable. You don't need a huge budget or years of design experience. You just need to start somewhere and make steady improvements.

Pick the mistake that resonates most and tackle that first. Maybe it's finally writing that compelling bio, or testing your contact form, or setting a launch deadline and sticking to it.

Whatever it is, your future self (and your author career) will thank you for taking action today.

Because here's the truth: your stories deserve a website that represents them well. And when that industry professional asks for your URL next time, you'll hand over that business card with confidence.

Meet Lynn

Lynn Krueger is a web designer who understands the unique struggles authors face online—because she's navigating them herself. As a seasoned brand strategist with a decade in marketing and publishing AND a debut novelist with literary representation, she helps authors go from cringing at their URL to confidently sharing it with agents and readers. When she's not building websites, she's probably writing her next novel or traveling to a new country. 

If you'd like to hire Lynn to design your author website, or if you just want to learn more from her, check out her website!