10 Squarespace Features That Authors Love — Pauline Wiles Website Design

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Want some ideas for taking your Squarespace author website to the next level?

For your first author website, or the site you create while you’re still an unpublished writer, I’m a big believer in keeping things simple. A brand new website can be a big project, and it’s easy to get so overwhelmed that you never publish your site at all!

However, once you’ve established your writer platform and you’re ready to up your game, Squarespace offers many built-in features that will surprise and delight you.

This especially applies if you’ve been grappling with WordPress for your author web pages. Perhaps you’ve felt constrained by your theme, or you’re struggling to understand and maintain different plugins. You’ll be relieved to find that the features I’m highlighting here are standard on Squarespace. Once you’re familiar with some basic principles, they’re easy to use, and fully supported by the 24 x 7 Help team.

Templates are a thing of the past on Squarespace

Another important point: unlike WordPress, Squarespace no longer makes you start from a theme or template, so you’re not constrained by any of your initial choices or assumptions about how your website should look. As your writing business grows, or your website needs evolve, you’re not limited by an “author template” that doesn’t serve you.

The 10 best Squarespace features for authors to know

1) Integrate With Your Mailing List

Integrated Mailchimp sign up, for author newsletter

Squarespace offers its own mailing list tool but my preferred provider is ConvertKit, and many of my author clients use Mailchimp. Whatever you pick, Squarespace allows easy form integration so that readers can sign up for your email list, right there on your web page. No need to send them off to a separate landing page or Book Funnel page.

Here’s an example of an email sign up form, combined with a lead magnet. It’s elegantly placed in the Squarespace footer for my client, author Hank Ellis.

Squarespace makes it easy to offer a promotional popup for your lead magnet, too.

2) Your Own Online Store

Want to sell signed copies of your book(s)? How about a few pieces of merchandise? Squarespace gets you started with a simple, elegant online store, and it’s an integral part of your website. That means a smooth experience for your visitors, and you don’t have to learn another tool.

For an example of an online store I built for a client, take a look at Zakiya Fatin’s shop.

3) Easy Announcement Bar

On the Squarespace Business plan, you can display an announcement bar at the top of your website. This is incredibly easy to update, guides the visitor to your latest piece of news, and encourages them to click through to the page that you want to emphasize.

For example, as well as her books, author Zakiya Fatin sells a Love & Light Kit to help those who are going through grief. As her newest release, she features this in her announcement bar:

Announcement bar for your Squarespace author website

Attractive & versatile book layout for author website — Use Squarespace auto layouts to show book covers

4) List Layouts (and Auto Layouts)

This is a relatively new Squarespace feature, so if you haven’t discovered lists yet, be sure to check them out. They’re part of the auto layout offering that lets you arrange and rearrange your content so it looks stunning, without lots of work (or any coding) on your part.

Use the list feature to organize your books easily with a cover, title, teaser, and buy button for each one. You then choose some layout preferences, and Squarespace takes care of making everything look great on your web page. Best of all, you can reorder your books, without having to start over completely with the page layout.

This is perfect if you’ll be adding books to your catalog, later, or want to change emphasis on a seasonal basis.

Carousels and banner slideshows are also on offer as auto layouts, giving even more design options.

5) Wide Choice of Image Placements

Some of the many image options available on Squarespace

Squarespace offers a number of attractive, interesting ways to display your book covers. Too many author sites show small, apologetic covers, often crammed alongside too much text.

Instead, I want your book cover to claim a starring role on your website. Squarespace not only facilitates that, but its responsive design means your book will also look great when your website shows on a mobile phone.

Among your many image display options on Squarespace, you can:

show your book or books easily in a grid layout
highlight one book and place accompanying text beside it
use a pattern or texture from your book cover as a harmonizing background
spotlight a detail from your book cover in a circle or other shape
… and more!

There are several excellent gallery options on Squarespace too, so if you’d like to show illustrations from inside your book, or snapshots of media coverage, or photos of you at book signings, these are easily available.

Update: in July 2022, Squarespace released a new drag and drop page editor called Fluid Engine, giving you even more options for attractive, creative layouts.

6) Seamless Links to Social Media

Easy social media links for authors in Squarespace — *Link easily to all your social media accounts*

You don’t have to be everywhere on social media to market your books successfully, but you probably have at least one account that you’d like readers to know about. Squarespace makes it easy to link from your website to your social media: enter your profile links, and then choose where on your website you’d like the set to display.

If something changes, you only need to update it in one place, not all of them. For styling purposes, Squarespace offers a range of choices for how your icons will display.

7) Versatile Blogging

Versatile author blog on Squarespace — The Squarespace blog feature is extremely versatile for authors and writers.

It’s no surprise that Squarespace offers a modern blogging feature, complete with categories, comments, and the ability to schedule posts in advance. However, I love the Squarespace blog options because it’s especially versatile. You’re not boxed in according to a theme you initially choose, and if your writing life changes, your blog can accommodate you. For example, you can:

Change the layout of your main blog page with just a click. Show your posts in a grid layout, side by side, masonry style, and more.
Hide the dates from your blog. This is ideal if you’re not blogging frequently, or have evergreen content from months or years ago.
Incorporate more than one blog on your website. For example, if you have both a blog and a podcast, they can both use the underlying blog feature, but show up in completely different ways.
Call your blog something else, like Resources. This is excellent if you only have, and only intend to have, a few high value, evergreen pieces. See how we did this on Carol A. Peña’s website here.

Related: How to use Squarespace forms to embed a simple poll.

8) Show Off Your Writing Portfolio

As well as the impressive blogging options, Squarespace allows you to create a portfolio to showcase your best pieces of writing, or articles that have been published. Like the blog, you have beautiful choices for how to display your portfolio. It’s also easy to add new pieces, or rearrange what you already have.

This article looks in-depth at creating your writing portfolio using Squarespace.

And here’s a taste of just 2 writer portfolio examples for published pieces by Hally Wells, and essays/articles by Pamela McCorduck:

Writer portfolio examples: Hally Wells

Writer portfolio examples: Pamela McCorduck

9) Easy Author Event Calendar

If you’re a speaker, give podcast interviews, visit book clubs, or make the occasional bookstore appearance, you should consider adding an events calendar to your website. Squarespace makes it straightforward to create your calendar, style it, and choose whether to show or hide past events:

10) Other Strengths of Squarespace

This article wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the other strengths of Squarespace, which apply to everyone, not just authors.

As an all-in-one website platform, Squarespace gives you:

Clean, modern design, so you’ll look professional and current
Full mobile responsiveness, meaning your site looks great and works well, whether viewed on a desktop, tablet, or phone
Strong SEO features, helping your work get found by search engines
Related: Best SEO tools for beginners
Easy to update and edit yourself, with 24x7 help included, if you need it
Security updates done for you, giving you hassle-free peace of mind

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Would you like me to design and build your Squarespace author website?

As a professional specializing in author website design, I’m an expert in using all the above features to create a stunning and effective home for your work. If you’d like technical expertise, book marketing advice, and all of the implementation taken care of, consider hiring me.

After careful preparation together, I’ll design, build and launch your site in just 2 weeks. Learn more, and then schedule our free and friendly chat.

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