Most Christian author sites we audit are doing too much in some places and too little in others. They have a rotating hero banner with three book covers and no email signup above the fold. They have a contact form but no speaker page. They have an AI chatbot but no sample chapter to read.
Here is the short list of what consistently earns its place, and the few things we usually recommend cutting.
Start with a newsletter signup that has a reason to exist. Not "sign up for updates" — that asks readers to volunteer for more email. A specific offer works better. A free first chapter, a short devotional series, a discussion guide for the book they just finished. The list is the most durable asset an author owns, more durable than any social platform.
A sample chapter, fully readable on the site. Not a PDF download behind an email gate, not a link to the first few pages on Amazon. A real chapter, formatted for the web, easy to read on a phone. Readers decide whether to buy in the first ten minutes of reading, and you want them to spend those minutes on your site.
A speaker page that helps event planners say yes. Topics you speak on, audience size you have spoken to, a short video clip if you have one, the actual logistics of how to book you. Authors who skip this end up replying to vague "are you available?" emails for weeks. A clear page collapses that to a single qualified inquiry.
A books page that treats each book like its own landing page. One paragraph of context, endorsements that name real people, buy links to multiple retailers, and at least one quote from a reader who is not a celebrity. The goal is to make a stranger feel the book is for them.
An about page written for readers, not for publishers. Where you live, what you write about, why you started. The publisher bio belongs on the press page. Readers want to know you, not your CV.
What to skip: the rotating hero carousel that delays the actual message, the AI chatbot that has nothing useful to say, and the social media wall that pulls focus from the work itself.
A site that does these five well outperforms a flashier one most months of the year. The faith in this work shows up in how steady the platform is over time, not in how loud it is on launch day.
If you are sketching out a new author site or rebuilding an old one, reach out through our contact page. We help Christian authors build sites that quietly do the work.