Copy Examples

Call to action examples for authors

Most calls to action fail because they ask for more commitment than the visitor is ready to give. These vary the ask, not just the verb.

Ten of them follow, written for authors rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about.

Plain button

**Read the books**

Use this as the default. Say the action, not "submit".

Button with the objection handled

**Read the books** Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it. No obligation, and no one will chase you.

Use this where people hover but do not click.

For the urgent visitor

**Call [phone number]** — I answer between [hours]

Use this for the person who has already decided.

For the one still deciding

Not ready to book? Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it — ask anything you like, and if I am not the right fit I will say so.

Use this as a second, softer CTA further down the page.

With the price anxiety answered

**Read the books** I name the books and who published them. You will know the number before you commit to anything.

Use this where cost is the thing stopping the click.

With proof next to it

A published author. I keep the bio in three lengths, because every form wants a different one. **Read the books**

Use this at the bottom of a long page, where the reader needs one last reason.

Scarcity, honestly

I take [number] books at a time so the standard holds. **Read the books**

Use this only if it is true. If you invent it, it reads as a trick.

Form intro line

Tell me what you need and I will come back to you [within X hours]. Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it.

Use this as the sentence directly above a contact form.

After the services list

Not sure which of those you need? That is normal. Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it. **Read the books**

Use this where the CTA follows a list and should not repeat it.

The quiet one

When you are ready, tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it. There is no rush, and there is no pressure from me.

Use this where a hard sell would be wrong — sensitive or considered purchases.

Writing for authors: what actually matters

What should an author’s website say that a generic one does not?

Three things, in this order. That you are published. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for authors is giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about. And what happens next: tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.

What does a reader, an editor, a festival programmer or someone writing an introduction for you check first?

The credential, then the proof. For authors it sounds like this. I name the books and who published them. I keep the bio in three lengths, because every form wants a different one. I say what I am working on now. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.

What is the most common mistake on an author’s website?

Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "Tell me which book you have read and what you want to ask about it" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.

How long should the copy be?

Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining giving a book hours they will not get back, for a writer they are not sure about — there, specifics earn their length.

Everything else for authors

Call to action for other trades

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