diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_author.py b/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_author.py
index 03c027fae..75c7433fe 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_author.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_author.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """ test for app action functionality """
 from unittest.mock import patch
-from django.contrib.auth.models import Group, Permission
+
+from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser, Group, Permission
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
 from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
@@ -44,6 +45,8 @@ class AuthorViews(TestCase):
             parent_work=self.work,
         )
 
+        self.anonymous_user = AnonymousUser
+        self.anonymous_user.is_authenticated = False
         models.SiteSettings.objects.create()
 
     def test_author_page(self):
@@ -51,6 +54,7 @@ class AuthorViews(TestCase):
         view = views.Author.as_view()
         author = models.Author.objects.create(name="Jessica")
         request = self.factory.get("")
+        request.user = self.local_user
         with patch("bookwyrm.views.author.is_api_request") as is_api:
             is_api.return_value = False
             result = view(request, author.id)
@@ -59,7 +63,26 @@ class AuthorViews(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
 
+    def test_author_page_logged_out(self):
+        """there are so many views, this just makes sure it LOADS"""
+        view = views.Author.as_view()
+        author = models.Author.objects.create(name="Jessica")
         request = self.factory.get("")
+        request.user = self.anonymous_user
+        with patch("bookwyrm.views.author.is_api_request") as is_api:
+            is_api.return_value = False
+            result = view(request, author.id)
+        self.assertIsInstance(result, TemplateResponse)
+        validate_html(result.render())
+        self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
+
+    def test_author_page_api_response(self):
+        """there are so many views, this just makes sure it LOADS"""
+        view = views.Author.as_view()
+        author = models.Author.objects.create(name="Jessica")
+        request = self.factory.get("")
+        request.user = self.local_user
         with patch("bookwyrm.views.author.is_api_request") as is_api:
             is_api.return_value = True
             result = view(request, author.id)
@@ -126,5 +149,5 @@ class AuthorViews(TestCase):
         resp = view(request, author.id)
         author.refresh_from_db()
         self.assertEqual(author.name, "Test Author")
-        resp.render()
+        validate_html(resp.render())
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 200)
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/author.py b/bookwyrm/views/author.py
index 4cb7ac2b5..6c3ee36ff 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/author.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/author.py
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ class Author(View):
             .filter(Q(authors=author) | Q(parent_work__authors=author))
             .annotate(default_id=Subquery(default_editions.values("id")[:1]))
             .filter(default_id=F("id"))
-        ).prefetch_related("authors")
+            .order_by("-first_published_date", "-published_date", "-created_date")
+            .prefetch_related("authors")
+        )
 
         paginated = Paginator(books, PAGE_LENGTH)
         page = paginated.get_page(request.GET.get("page"))