AuthorLoft — Multi-Tenant Author Website SaaS

A complete SaaS platform for authors to build and manage professional websites with book catalogs, digital sales, newsletter capture, and flip book previews.

Quick Start

npm install
cp .env.example .env.local   # fill in your values
npx prisma migrate dev --name init
npm run dev

URL	What you see
http://localhost:3000	AuthorLoft marketing page
http://apbedford.localhost:3000	Demo author site (A.P. Bedford)
http://localhost:3000/admin/dashboard	Admin panel
http://localhost:3000/login	Login

Architecture

Layer	Technology
Framework	Next.js 15, App Router, TypeScript
Styling	Tailwind CSS
Database	PostgreSQL + Prisma ORM
Auth	NextAuth.js (email + Google OAuth)
Payments	Stripe (subscriptions + book purchases)
Storage	AWS S3
Multi-tenancy	Subdomain middleware routing

Project Structure

src/
├── app/
│   ├── (marketing)/           # AuthorLoft landing page + pricing
│   ├── (auth)/                # Login, register
│   ├── (author-site)/[domain] # Public author site (home, books, about, contact)
│   ├── (admin)/admin/         # Author admin panel
│   ├── (superadmin)/          # Platform super-admin
│   └── api/                   # Auth, newsletter, Stripe webhook, downloads
├── components/
│   ├── ui/                    # Button, Input, Badge
│   ├── author-site/           # Nav, Footer, BookCard, NewsletterForm
│   └── admin/                 # AdminSidebar
├── lib/                       # auth, db, stripe, s3, utils, placeholder-data
├── middleware.ts               # Subdomain routing
prisma/schema.prisma            # Full data model

Plans

Feature	Free	Standard ($12/mo)	Premium ($29/mo)
Books	5 max	Unlimited	Unlimited
Custom domain	No	Yes	Yes
Digital sales	No	Yes	Yes
Flip books	No	Yes	Yes
Analytics	No	Basic	Advanced

Deployment

1. Deploy to Vercel
2. Database: Neon or Supabase (PostgreSQL)
3. DNS: Cloudflare wildcard *.authorloft.com → Vercel
4. Stripe webhook: https://authorloft.com/api/stripe/webhook
5. Storage: AWS S3 bucket

Roadmap

• Author registration flow
• Book detail page
• Series detail page
• Flip book viewer (StPageFlip)
• Specials/promotions page
• Sales analytics charts
• Double opt-in newsletter emails
• Reader accounts