Hi Wendy, I don’t have an agent at the moment, but have had in the past, and I do have a trad publishing deal. In my experience a website is not something an agent will particularly be looking for but might be a nice bonus, especially if it has original content related to what you’re writing about. Maybe have a look at published authors in your age group and genre and see what their sites look like?

Hi Wendy, I think if you want one, there’s no harm in it. But it’s not a ‘should’ – don’t feel you have to have one if it’s not in your comfort zone. Same as being on SM – it’s not essential.

I am agented but unpublished, and I don’t have a website yet.

I’m unagented and unpublished. I haven’t created my own website, because I think unless it’s really good and you keep it up to date with awesome content it could be worse than having none at all. That’s just my personal opinion though!

Hi Wendy! I only set up my website once I had a book deal – and even then only set it to go live the day my book was announced! I would definitely second others here: if you are excited about creating one, then go for it, but it is by no way essential AT ALL and agents are in no way going to expect you to have one.

I feel like there are certain parts of the writing and reading community that are quite a bit more “online” than others (YA fantasy and romantasy writers and readers for example!), and it seems to be more common in these spaces for querying writers to create pretty extensive online presences as they write and then query their books to try and build interest and engagement from both readers and the industry – but this feels to me more like a symptom of the online discourse that swirls around certain genres (thanks to things like Booktok etc) – rather than something that is seen as necessary by the vast majority of agents or editors!

Hi @Daydreamerdavis was good to meet up in Manchester recently. Sorry, am a bit late to this but repeating what others have said. I have website for my theatre work which includes a section on freelance writing but doesn’t link to my agent and isn’t a proper author website. Totally depends how much you enjoy interacting with tech…because I agree with others – it’s best kept up to date although mine certainly isn’t . x

I’m unagented but do have a website. This was partly a vanity website, which pulls together a selection of published pieces but more importantly I wanted to keep my IT skills up-to-date when I left my previous employment. It’s a free site, nothing too fancy and I’ve noticed that when subbing flash fiction or short stories magazine will often ask for a website and socials. I do check in periodically to ensure the links work and refresh with new pieces. In terms of agents imho you probably only need a website when your novel is just about to be published and it may be something you could talk to the marketing section about. If you wanted to pay a professional take a look at Stuart Grant on Reedsy, which may give you a steer and he’s done a webinar on how to make your author website work for you, which may be helpful.