Real talk: most authors don’t need an author website, because it will be useless if they don’t have a blogging strategy or a book that converts. Once you have a book that sells (cover, blurb, reviews) THEN book marketing is simply a matter of free (content marketing) or paid (advertising) promotion.
Paid promotion of course works better IF you can get it to work – most authors can’t, which is why nearly everyone loses money publishing; blogging or posting free content is slow, doesn’t convert as well, but once you build it up, it’s nice to have: my blogs get thousands of visitors a day, which will lead to a few optins (if I have a nice offer).
I have tons of resources on my site about how to actually use an author website, but start with this list of best wordpress themes and poke around for stuff on what to post, how to structure your author website, what to offer to build your email list, and how to use all of that to sell more books.
99 Best WordPress themes for authors and writers:
99 WordPress themes for indie author websites that will actually sell books
You can also grab my free Indie Author Survival Guide:
