I just played around with Tertulia’s author website builder, and it was pretty impressive. First of all, I make websites for authors and if you’re looking for a knowledgeable human being to go through the process with you, please contact me. I build professional sites on WordPress.

That said, if you just want a simple, hassle-free and attractive website, you should take a close look at Tertulia’s Author Website service. Built specifically for writers, it’s an excellent option for anyone who’d rather be crafting stories than wrestling with code and web-design.

Why Tertulia works so well

Tertulia’s site builder walks you through the process step-by-step: you input your book’s ISBN and Instagram username (if you want), and the platform brings it all together with your book covers, buy links and bio automatically. It’s been praised as “the easiest platform I’ve ever used to set up an author website.”

Other reviewers highlight that setup is quick, intuitive, and ideal for debut authors, indie authors or anyone who doesn’t want to spend a weekend wrestling with WordPress themes.

You also get a mailing list optin form that links to Mailchimp and MailerLite, or you can download the signups to CSV and manually import to any other service.

While it doesn’t seem like there are any analytics on the back end (where you could see how many visitors you’re getting, and how, and so on), Tertulia claims their websites are optimized for search engines, so you can rest assured that your site will come up when people look you up on Google or DuckDuckGo.

What is Tertulia?

Tertulia is a New York–based book discovery and retail platform with a mission to help readers find great books through conversation and curation. Behind the scenes, Tertulia’s e-commerce is powered by Ingram, the country’s biggest book warehouser, which handles inventory and fulfillment. Like Bookshop.org, Tertulia represents a new kind of modern, innovative bookstore—one that doesn’t need to maintain physical inventory or run its own fulfillment center. Instead, it focuses on discovery, curation, and content that inspire readers to buy, while Ingram quietly handles the logistics behind the scenes. That means when readers buy through Tertulia or an author’s Tertulia-powered website, the sale is fulfilled by Ingram, while Tertulia earns its revenue through those transactions.

Pricing

Tertulia’s pricing is awesome. The standard plan is $9.99 per month, or $7.99 per month if you pay annually. I hate to say it, but that’s pretty unbeatable. You can’t get hosting for that much. If you obtain your domain name through them, it’s free for the first year and $15/year after that—cheaper than most domain registries.

Questions to consider

Before choosing Tertulia for your author website, it’s worth thinking through a few practical considerations.

• Ownership and portability are limited—your site content lives on Tertulia’s platform, and while it’s quick to set up, it isn’t easily exportable. You can, however, create custom pages beyond the ones they autogenerate for you, and you can even add events.
• Design flexibility is minimal compared to WordPress or Squarespace; you can change your theme and upload a few assets, but you won’t be able to add complex features like custom landing pages, e-commerce, or integrations with your own mailing list or CRM.
• Profitability: Because Tertulia routes book sales through other retailer, you don’t earn that extra margin through direct sales, the way you might on a site you managed.
• Email is limited. Their domain service makes setup simple, but email hosting is limited and DNS management is not customizable—fine for most authors, but restrictive if you plan to professionalize.

Final verdict

For authors who want a fast, professionally designed website without the tech headache, Tertulia offers a strong solution. The pricing is affordable, the setup is streamlined, and it truly is built with authors’ needs in mind. The only caveat is if you’re seeking ultra-custom design, bespoke code or full custom control — then you might consider other options. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!