What Are the 8 Best WordPress Themes for Authors?

Setting up a website for your books shouldn't be harder than writing them.

If you're searching for the best WordPress themes for authors, you know there are hundreds of options out there - but which ones are actually worth your time?

After reviewing dozens of themes, I've found the eight that truly deliver what writers need.

Whether you're a first-time novelist or have a shelf full of published works, these themes make it easy to showcase your books and connect with readers.

No coding required, no fancy tech skills needed - just straightforward solutions for creating your author website.

Selection Process: How I Chose These 8 Best WordPress Themes for Authors

When evaluating WordPress themes for authors, I focused on four key factors that make a theme genuinely useful for writers building their online presence:

• Ease of use and setup: A theme should be easy to install and configure, with clear documentation and helpful demo content. While some learning curve is expected, authors shouldn't need extensive technical knowledge to get their sites running.
• Design flexibility: The best themes give you enough customization options to create a unique site that matches your brand, without overwhelming you with choices. I looked for intuitive page builders, multiple layout options, and good typography controls.
• Integrations: A solid author theme should work smoothly with essential tools like WooCommerce for selling books, email marketing services, and contact forms. The ability to link to major bookstores like Amazon and Apple Books also factored into my choices.
• Pricing and value: While budget-friendly options matter, I focused on themes offering a good balance of features and support. I considered what comes included - like plugins and regular updates - and whether the theme needs extra purchases for basic functionality.

So, What Are the Best Author Themes on WordPress?

I've reviewed all 8 of these WordPress author themes and provided key insights you should consider before making a purchase. 

1. Bookwise by Thrive Themes

Bookwise by Thrive Themes is a clean, classic theme that’s perfect for authors and writers in any niche.

Ease of Use/Setup

Setting up Bookwise Author Theme is super simple and you'll have Thrive Theme Builder to thank for that. With its setup wizard, you can have every part of your website set up in less than 30 minutes. You just click through each step of the process and by the end of it, you'll have a fresh, custom theme ready to be built on. 

Customization

You get a remarkable level of customization with Bookwise. When setting it up in Thrive Theme Builder, you have the freedom to choose a main brand color, which will automatically set up your color scheme. You can also customize your site's typography and even fine-tune the page templates (homepage, blog page, etc.) to your exact liking. This may take a bit of time, but it's worth it.

Thrive Tip: If you're using Thrive Architect to customize your website pages, you get an even deeper level of customization. This landing page plugin provides a variety of templates and design elements you can easily drag and drop to your pages to create a clean, custom look.

Integrations 

Bookwise and Thrive Theme Builder shines when it comes to integrations. 

You can connect your email marketing, CRM, and other marketing tools to your site. Bookwise also works well with a variety of eCommerce tools like WooCommerce, ThriveCart, and more.

Thrive Theme Builder also works well with a variety of growth tools, including All in One SEO for search engine optimization, MonsterInsights for Google Analytics, SmashBalloon for adding social media feeds to your site, and more.

Thrive Tip: If you want to turn your site into a thriving online business that consistently brings in conversions — then you must try Thrive Suite, Thrive Themes’ suite of WordPress plugins that are focused on one thing: bringing you more sales and sign-ups.

2. Merle Taylor by SeedProd

SeedProd has a variety of book-related themes available, but my top pick out of them all had to be Merle Taylor.

Ease of Use/Setup

SeedProd’s setup process is quick and straightforward — simply install the plugin after purchase, enter your license code, and select Merle Taylor as your theme of choice.

You get a simple setup wizard that guides you through the initial configuration with clear instructions and options. This makes getting started extremely easy.

This website building tool also provides you with a simple drag-and-drop editor to create and customize your webpages and make them your own.

There’s little to no learning curve, even for non-technical users. The builder's controls and customization options are straightforward.

Design Flexibility/Customization Options

SeedProd’s drag-and-drop page builder provides a real-time preview of changes, so you can easily see your design progress.

In addition to the pre-made template kits, SeedProd also provides a set of content blocks and design elements to spruce up your page layouts and give them a more personal touch.

Some of these include:

• Text Blocks: Add and customize text with various font options, sizes, colors, and styles.
• Image Blocks: Insert images and customize their size, alignment, and borders.
• Buttons: Create call-to-action buttons with customizable text, colors, and styles.
• Forms: Add opt-in forms, contact forms, and other types of forms with integration to popular email marketing services.
• …and so much more

Integrations

If you want to add extra functionality to your website, you can easily achieve this with SeedProd’s large selection of integrations.

SeedProd integrates with popular email marketing apps like ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, and more. You can also connect it to a variety of growth tools like OptinMonster, TrustPulse, WooCommerce, and more.

And if you’d like to use this plugin and the WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg) or a different theme — you can go right ahead and do that — no hassle.

3. Author by Divi

Author by Divi is a neat theme for authors and writers.

Ease of Use/Setup

I found Divi's interface to be a bit complicated at the beginning. Because of its robust nature, Divi has a lot of features in the backend -- which makes it difficult to figure out how to get started.

So, if you're a WordPress newbie, I recommend having Divi's knowledge base open in another tab to find your way through.

Design Flexibility/Customization Options

However, what Divi lacks in ease of use, it makes up for in customization. First, you get a wide selection of page layouts to pick from -- and they cover a wide variety of niches. Each page layout pack comes with a set of templates you can use to build your site's individual pages.

The Divi page builder features a point-and-click system, where you need to select a specific element to edit it. I'm not a big fan of this method, as it does become time-consuming if you're trying to edit the entire page. I would have preferred if there was a dedicated sidebar that lists out all the available design elements instead

Integrations 10/10

Divi integrates with a large variety of plugins, marketing tools, and other apps. From email marketing to scheduling, automation, and payment gateways – you can connect your Divi built website to almost anything. 

4. Bookstore by Astra

Astra is a popular multipurpose WordPress theme that can be used for almost any industry – including beauty and wellness.

And they have a specific template for authors, Bookstore.

From my experience, Astra is pretty easy to set up on WordPress. You can install it right from your dashboard. But if you want to access the pro version of this theme, which comes with more advanced features, you’ll need to install a separate plugin.

Bookstore website template is available in the free version of Astra – which is a plus for anyone who wants to check out this theme before fully committing. 

In terms of customization, you have two options:

• Use the WordPress Customizer which offers a limited set of customization options that include changing your templates fonts, color scheme, and icons.
• Install a WordPress design plugin like Elementor or Beaver Builder to access more complex design options.

In terms of integrations, Astra gives you a lot to work with. This theme is compatible with most well-known WordPress design editors like Elementor and Beaver Builder. You can also connect Astra to WooCommerce, LearnDash, and LifterLMS to expand its functionality and sell digital products like online courses, paid webinars, quizzes, etc.

5. Auteur

Auteur features a clean, modern design, with your books taking center stage. It comes with a good variety of layout options - four homepage styles, ten blog layouts, and three shop designs. The retina sliders help showcase book covers effectively, and the overall look is professional without being flashy.

Setting up the theme is quite simple if you've used WordPress before. The demo import works smoothly, though new WordPress users might need some time to get familiar with all the customization settings.

The customization options are quite in-depth. There's an advanced theme options panel, and the theme works well with common page builders like WPBakery, Gutenberg, and Elementor. You can style individual pages differently and adjust everything from typography to headers and footers.

The integrations are practical - WooCommerce for selling books, ConvertKit for newsletters, and Contact Form 7 for contact pages. The inclusion of FontAwesome 5 Pro and Slider Revolution adds some useful design tools that would typically cost extra.

6. eBook by Ultra

The first thing you'll notice about eBook by Ultra is the design - it has a literary feel with subtle floral elements and flowing strokes in the background. They've gone with a one-page layout where visitors can smoothly scroll between sections, which keeps things simple and focused.

For book promotion, they've covered the essentials. You can easily link to your books on the major platforms like Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and Google Play. There's also a newsletter signup section, which is handy for building your reader base and sharing updates about new releases.

The customization side is pretty solid. It uses Themify's drag-and-drop builder, so you can adjust your landing pages without diving into code. You get plenty of control over colors, fonts, and layouts - though you'll want to spend some time getting familiar with all the options.

While the theme doesn't make a big deal about e-commerce, it does work with WooCommerce if you want to sell books directly from your site.

7. Chapter One

With Chapter One, the design options are practical - you get multiple shop layouts to choose from, and you can adjust colors and typography to match your brand. What's particularly useful is the blog functionality, which lets you keep readers updated about new releases, book tours, and events.

On the technical side, ChapterOne works well with WooCommerce, so setting up your online bookstore is straightforward. You can sell physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks without much hassle. The theme comes with 60 building blocks for customizing your pages, which gives you decent flexibility without being overwhelming. 

ChapterOne is a solid choice if you're looking for a straightforward bookstore theme. It's not packed with bells and whistles, but it handles the basics well: showcasing books, running a store, and maintaining a blog.  Just be prepared to add some plugins if you need additional functionality.

8. Odrin

The design is clean and modern, with four homepage layouts and various page templates to choose from. I love the color scheme it has going on. The colors are bold and whimsical, which is perfect for fiction writers. 

For customization, you're working with the Unyson page builder - it's a straightforward drag-and-drop system that lets you adjust layouts without coding. But it also has its limitations.

The practical features are well thought out. The WooCommerce integration handles book sales smoothly, whether you're selling directly or linking to external retailers like Amazon. There's also a built-in events system for managing book launches and signings, which is a useful addition that saves you from installing extra plugins.

The theme works well for both individual authors and multi-author websites, though you'll want to set aside some time to explore all the features if you're new to WordPress.

Final Choice: What is My #1 WordPress Theme for Authors?

My top pick for best WordPress Author theme is Bookwise by Thrive Themes.

This theme offers the most versatility, allowing a variety of indie authors and writers to adopt it and turn it into their own unique website.

The ease of use and customization options Thrive Theme Builder offers are unmatched — and you’ll find them all in the plugin. No need to install several different plugins to access sliders, pricing tables, and more.

The best part? You can get Thrive Theme Builder and Thrive Architect for less than $200 per year.

That means for this price, you get everything you need to build a stunning website with just two plugins.

These tools are also straightforward to use. You don’t need to know how to code, you don’t need to watch 1000 different tutorials to find your way, and you can build a professional website all by yourself.

With all that considered, it’s a no brainer. If you want to build a website for your author business — and you want to stand out — this is the theme for you.

Best WordPress Themes for Authors: Wrapping Up

And there you go! Now you have all the information you need to choose the right WordPress theme for your author website.

Remember, your website is more than just a place to list your books - it's an extension of your writing journey. Take time to explore the features that matter most to you, whether that's a clean layout for your book pages, an engaging blog section, or a smooth shopping experience for your readers.

Most importantly, create a website that represents you as an author - one that showcases your books effectively and helps you connect with your audience.

And if you think Bookwise is the perfect fit for your needs, you know what to do:

Start building your author website today and grow your readership.