Add a Book Extract Section to Your Author Website

Introduction

Author’s don’t just want readers. Authors want FANS! 

A reader is someone who picks up a book they may or may not like. A fan is someone who reads your book right away, leaves glowing reviews and tells friends in real life and online how good it is. That’s the difference between a reader and fan.

One way to get more fans from new visitors is to put your writing on display on your website.

That’s what your book extract is for.

So far your website visitor has seen the cover, the title, the blurb, and the description. If we’ve done our job well we’ve hooked our genre lover into finding out more and that;s where the book extract comes into play.

Lets see if they connect with your writing.

Fair warning.

Your conversion rates for subscriber sign ups and click throughs to retailers may drop.

But that’s ok.

The people NOT signing up to your newsletter or clicking through to amazon are the ones who were more likely to leave your list after getting the freebie, forget about you entirely, mark your emails as spam or leave you a 3 star or less review.

The visitors who sign up and / or click through to your online retailers after reading your extract are more likely to stay on your list, buy your books, leave positive reviews and recommend your books to others. In other words. Fans.

In advertising we call this qualifying the lead.

In this lesson we are going to set up a new BOOK EXTRACT group type field and populate it with 4 sub fields

1. Book Extract Title
2. Book Extract Body
3. Book Extract Button Text
4. Book Extract Button URL

Add Book Extract Group Field

We’ll start by adding a new field to the Books Field Group.

• The field type is a GROUP
• The field label is Book Extract
• Accept the field name
• Add a sub field

Book Extract Title Subfield

• The field type is TEXT
• The field label is Book Extract Title
• Accept the default field name
• Close and add field

Book Extract Body Subfield

• The field type is WYSIWYG 
• The field label is Book Extract Body
• Accept the default field name
• Close and add field

Book Extract Button Text Subfield

• The field type is TEXT
• The field label is Book Extract Button Text
• Accept the default field name
• Close and add field

Book Extract Button URL Subfield

• The field type is URL
• The field label is Book Extract Button URL
• Accept the default field name
• Save changes

Update the Book

That’s the last of the custom fields we need for our Book Post Type. I’ll go back and add the extra information to the Adventure Danger book post.

Summary

This lesson covered how to set up a book extract section using a custom Group field in ACF. With subfields for title, body, button text, and button URL, you can display a polished, inviting book excerpt on your site. This feature qualifies potential readers, turning casual visitors into dedicated fans who are more likely to buy, review, and promote your books. By adding this final custom field, your book post type is now fully equipped to showcase your work and drive meaningful connections with your audience.