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Author websites
Yes. Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and ACX all sell your book through their own stores, and none asks for an author website. A free Amazon Author Central page covers the basics for a first book. A website starts earning its keep later: with a second book, an email list, speaking work or direct sales.
Tell us where your book is and what you want it to lead to. A specialist replies within one business day with a plan, including whether a website belongs in it yet.
The short answer
You can publish a book without a website. Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and ACX sell books through their own retail channels and do not require an author site. A free Amazon Author Central profile lists all your books with a biography and photo, and Goodreads and social profiles cover the rest for a debut. An author website becomes worth building when you have more than one book, are building an email list, use the book for speaking or consulting, sell related products, or want to sell copies directly. Columbia Publication builds author websites from $1,500 and includes one in its Authority System package at $4,999.
Prices checked October 27, 2026 · Reviewed by Gia Kahn, Lead Editor · Next review November 2026 · How we check
Is this you?
Building the website first is the most common way debut authors stall a finished book.
Weeks go into choosing templates, writing an “About” page and designing a books page with one book on it, while the manuscript, the cover and the launch wait. When the site goes live, it has almost nothing to show and nobody sending visitors to it.
Flip the order. Publish the book, set up the free profiles readers actually use, and add a website the moment it has a job: capturing an email list, booking talks, or selling the second book to readers of the first.
Do you need one yet?
Match the site to what the book is meant to do.
| Your situation | Website now? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Debut novel, first book | Can wait | Author Central and social profiles cover discovery until book two is coming |
| Series in progress | Yes | Readers who love book one want a place to follow you |
| Speaker or consultant | Yes | Event organizers and speaking bureaus look you up before booking |
| Courses, coaching or membership | Yes | The book sends readers to an offer that needs a home |
| Selling signed or direct copies | Yes | Direct sales earn more per copy than a retailer’s margin allows |
An author website is built from $1,500 as a standalone service, and is included in the Authority System publishing package at $4,999. See author website development.
Free tools
For most debut authors, Author Central plus a social presence is enough footprint to support the first launch.
Where it sells
All of them. On KDP, ebooks priced $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com qualify for the 70% royalty option, and a new ebook’s detail page can take up to 72 hours to appear.
IngramSpark connects books to more than 40,000 libraries, retailers and online stores, including Barnes & Noble, and prints on demand. US authors can take a free IngramSpark ISBN, but the book then carries IngramSpark’s Indy Pub imprint and that ISBN cannot be used elsewhere. Your own ISBN from Bowker costs $125 for one or $295 for ten.
ACX produces and distributes audiobooks to Audible, Amazon and Apple Books: exclusive distribution earns 40% or 50% depending on the royalty model, non-exclusive earns 25% or 30% and lets you sell elsewhere. Ebooks enrolled in KDP Select also earn from Kindle Unlimited pages read.
The right moment
When you have multiple books and want one place for new readers to start; when you are building an email list to sell directly to your audience; when you speak or consult and the book is a credibility tool; when you sell courses, coaching or memberships connected to the book; or when you want to sell copies at a better margin than Amazon allows.
A business author chasing speaking engagements needs one, because organizers look speakers up before booking. A romance novelist on a ten-book series benefits, because readers want to follow an author they love. A debut novelist on book one can usually wait until book two is real.
Speaker, consultant or series author? The site may belong in your launch.
Get My Publishing PlanOrder of operations
Publish the book first. Set up Amazon Author Central immediately. Build social presence alongside. Add a website when you have something to put on it beyond one book, a clear author brand, and enough traffic from other channels that a site would capture and convert it. You can build one yourself on Squarespace, Wix or WordPress.com; the trade-offs are your time, design quality and anything custom.
With or without a site
Two packages publish the book with no website at all; one adds the site because the book is meant to win work.
No site needed
$1,499
Cover, print and ebook interiors, ISBNs and distribution to Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and IngramSpark, with your Amazon listing ready for Author Central.
Live on every major store with nothing extra to build, maintain or pay hosting for.
Typically 4 to 5 weeks
Get My Publishing PlanMost chosen
$2,499
Global Publish plus a proofread of every page, a hardcover and one project manager, still with no website required.
A polished three-format release now, leaving the website decision for when you have more to show.
Typically 7 to 9 weeks
Get My Publishing PlanWebsite included
$4,999
Full Production plus a full copyedit, keyword and category research, a press release and an author website built around the book.
For speakers and consultants: the book and the site that books the work, launched on the same day.
Edit, launch and site
Get My Publishing PlanNo wasted spend, now or later
A standalone author website starts from $1,500 if you add one later. Packages are paid in full upfront after you approve the quote.
What you can count on
How it runs
We’ve started with Publishing & distribution. Add anything else your manuscript needs, and a specialist sends an itemized quote within one business day. Free, confidential, no obligation.
Your quote within one business day. Nothing is charged until you approve it. 100% of your rights stay yours.
Questions
No. KDP does not require an author website. You can publish, distribute worldwide and earn royalties without one, and a free Author Central profile covers basic discoverability.
A free tool that creates your author page on Amazon, gathering all your books with a biography, photo, social links and a blog feed. Set it up as soon as your book is live.
When you have several books, are building an email list, use the book for speaking or consulting, sell related products, or want to sell copies directly. For a debut, it is not needed before the book is live.
Columbia Publication builds author websites from $1,500, depending on features such as book pages, a blog, email capture and direct sales. One is also included in the Authority System package at $4,999.
Yes, on Squarespace, Wix or WordPress.com without coding. The trade-offs are time, design quality and the limits of templates when you need custom features.
It does: the book carries IngramSpark’s Indy Pub imprint and that ISBN cannot be used outside IngramSpark. Every package from $1,499 includes ISBNs from our Bowker block, or uses your own.
Tell us what you want the book to do for you. A specialist replies within one business day with a plan, and an opinion on whether you need a site yet.
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