rodhewitt.com, cinematic author website. Styled like a shooting script, opened by a moving portrait, with the trailer where a trailer belongs.
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Why most author websites look the same
Most author websites come from the same template: a headshot beside a third-person bio, a grid of cover thumbnails, a buy button. For years we watched our clients’ trailers land on sites like that, tucked into a small embed halfway down the page, if they made the page at all. Authors told us the same story about how those sites got made: a big invoice, six months of waiting, long silences, then another wait for every change. Our answer is a site designed around the book, built without the wait, and looked after.What every author website needs
The design comes from the book. We read it first. Setting, era, weather, and the first page decide the colors, type, and mood. A thriller on a desert highway doesn’t get the same treatment as a memoir in a hospital corridor. Neither gets a template. Video opens the site. A book trailer or teaser, if you have one, becomes the first thing a visitor sees: full width, moving, sound on tap. No trailer? Your cover and your own words carry the opening. The excerpt is the centerpiece. Every site gets a real passage, set carefully, that stops before the reader is ready. Books appear as objects, not tiny thumbnails. Praise is set large and attributed. Buy links give every format its own clear path. The mailing list connects to your own account, so every reader who joins stays yours. It’s built for phones first and loads fast. Google’s Core Web Vitals measure page experience, and a hand-built site with no plugin bloat passes them cleanly. Titles, descriptions, share images, and a sitemap are in place before launch so your name leads to your site.Four author website examples
Rod Hewitt
Author-led. Four decades writing and directing for the screen, one first novel. The site opens on him and borrows its language from the film set: The Dailies, The Call Sheet, Chapter One.
Deb Henry
Writer and producer between Ireland and New York. One site holds The Whipping Club, its trailer, and the films she has in production. One place, one voice.
Fine Cut Press
A publisher. The site opens on the lead title, Benjamin Franklin Serial Killer, with the trailer front and center and the full list behind it.
How much does an author website cost
The Book Site
$1,500
One book, one custom-designed page. Trailer or cover as the opening, synopsis, praise, bio, buy links for every format, newsletter signup, and a contact form. Right for a debut or a launch.
The Author Site
$2,500
Up to five pages: home, books, about, news, contact. A section for every book you’ve written, an excerpt reader, and a press kit. Right for a growing shelf.
The Full Site
$3,500
How an author website gets built
You fill in a short written brief and send your book, cover, photos, praise, and store links. No meetings. We read the book, settle the look, and build the real site, not a flat mockup. You click through it on your phone and laptop and tell us what to change. We connect your domain and go live when you’re happy with it. Facing a release date? We can launch seven days after we have your materials.Where the site fits
Your website is the one place online you control. Posts fade, ads end, and launch week passes, but the site keeps working, turning visitors into readers and readers into a mailing list. Monthly social sends it a steady stream of visitors long after launch (we wrote about this in why your book trailer should not retire after launch). For authors already planning a launch, it sits naturally beside the Book Launch Kit.
A website as good as your book
Designed from the story. Built for readers. From $1,500.
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