Blog to Book Project — Amazon Author Page

| C.E. Flores

After your book is published, there’s a whole new set of things you should be doing to promote it. Even if you are using other self-publishing sites, your presence on Amazon is essential to your future as an author.

Once your book is live on Amazon, you can set up an Author Page. It serves as an index of all your books so that people who enjoyed one book know where to look to find more from you by clicking on your hyperlinked name under the book title.  Now when people see your book, they are given the option to follow you. Followers are good!

All editing done to your Author Page is done via Amazon Author Central. 

You can edit your blog feed, photos, videos, and biography under the Author Page subheading. If you have a blog, you should link it so that updates appear on this page. This adds credibility and might earn you some new blog followers. 

You should include a compelling biography under your photo. Between the two, readers have the option to follow you. When they do, they will receive updates when you release a new book. Neat, huh?

You can add videos, which is something I haven’t done yet, but is as straightforward as the other options. These videos should focus on a specific feature of your books or your personal author experience. Videos should be in avi, wmv, flv, mov, or mpg formats, no more than 10 minutes and smaller than 500 MB. 

You should also edit your Author Page URL and add it to your email signature. Make is something related to your blog, book topics or just your name.

As you write more books, make sure all versions (ebook, paperback, hardcover and audiobook) appear in your book list. You can check the current list under the Books subheading.

You can add more information to your book listings as you go. If you click on one of your books in the listing and choose a version, you have the option to add information under editorial reviews. These categories must be added separately for each version. 

You can add reviews about your book that are published from reputable sources giving credit to the source. Reviews should be 1-2 sentences and less than 600 characters per review. You can add a total of five reviews no more than 3000 characters. 

Your product description should already be in place since you entered it when you listed your book at Amazon but if not, you can add or edit it here.

From the Author is a message from you to your readers about this particular book. You could write about the experience you had writing it and how it relates to your other books. This section can be up to 8000 characters which is about 1600 words. 

If your paperback or hardcover book has something on the back cover or an inside flap, you can choose to include this in you book listing as well. You can not make any changes to this content, but must transcribe it as it appears, and it must be less than 8000 characters. If this is the same as your product description for your book, and it just very well may be, don’t duplicate the information. 

You can include more biographical information in the About the Author section. This section can be up to 2000 characters which is about 400 words. Don’t include phone numbers, addresses or URLs in this sections. You should also not request reviews or helpful votes. 

You can check your sales and author rankings under the Sales Info subheading. At the beginning of your career as an author, I wouldn’t worry too much about these figures except for comparative purposes. Don’t get discouraged if you haven’t reached best seller status the first week after publication. 

More importantly, at least in my opinion, is the customer review page. Here you can see how readers are responding to your book and if there is something you should do to improve their experience. Constructive criticism is extremely helpful in many instances. For example, if a reader points out a gap in the information timeline, get into gear and fill that hole so that the next reader has all the facts. 

Amazon has four international markets where you can create additional Author’s Pages. Go ahead and reach readers worldwide!

Assignment: Create your Amazon Author Page!

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