The Ins and Outs of Amazon Author Central (and why you should have one)

(Posted on Thursday, October 29, 2020)

Many authors right now are wondering how on earth they can connect with their readers when they can barely leave the house.

Without in-person signings, launches, and promotional events, it’s a lot harder to create and build relationships with readers during the pandemic. That said, there is no better time for you, as an author, to take advantage of all the online resources available, such as *ahem* Amazon Author Central.

Amazon Author Central is a free and user-friendly online profile that can enhance your author brand. It can also be your answer to selling more books. We will take you through all the ins and outs of an Amazon Author Page in this post, so get ready!

Where can I find someone’s Amazon Author Central Page?

If you search for a book and click on the author’s name below their book title, you’ll see their author page. This is where you can showcase additional information about you and your book.

Get a feel for author pages by browsing the following Amplify author pages:

George Kroustalis
P.V. Kannan
Howard M. Shore
Jason Khalipa

What can Amazon Author Central do for you?

Creating this page can…

• Increase your Amazon and Google search rankings
• Track your sales performance by country
• Increase traffic to all your book listings, including your websites and social media channels
• Allow readers a more personal glimpse at who you are
• Make it easy to manage and respond to book reviews and consumer discussions on Amazon customer forums
• Build your credibility by providing readers with more information

What are the elements of the profile and how should I use them?

There are six elements of the profile that you’ll want to get started on:

BIOGRAPHY

Any biographical information should be clean and concise. With that in mind, your biography should include your biggest achievements, whether that’s being a bestseller, being featured in a noteworthy publication, winning or being nominated for a prestigious award, or being a first or fifth-time author. You can also include a nod to your profession, experience, or interest that influenced and informed your writing. Tell your readers the common themes of your book and why you stand out from other authors. Providing information on how to connect with you or learn more is important, so be sure to list your website, social media handles, and contact information.

To insert your biography,

1. Find Personal Biography in the profile tab
2. Select Edit Biography
3. Paste or write your biography (it must be at least 100 characters)
4. Click Preview biography to review your work
5. Click Save biography

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Everyone wants to put a face to the name. Add a profile picture and other photos on your page that readers can connect with. On Author Central, you can upload up to eight photos. Think about your author message and try to encapsulate that in your photos. If you have any photos from author events, go for it! However, they don’t all have to be professional. You can post anything that relates back to your book’s themes or subject matter, but ultimately, you want to show readers who you are.

You can get even more creative with a video than a photo. Like photos, you can only have up to eight videos that can’t exceed ten minutes. Upload greeting videos, book trailers, public readings, promos for your next book, or footage introducing yourself.

If you want to add photos,

1. Find Photos in the profile tab
2. Select Add photo
3. Click Browse and select your photo
4. Confirm you have rights to the photo by checking the box
5. Click on Upload photo

You can edit the order of photos by selecting Manage next to Add photo and dragging your photos into the order you would like.

For videos, follow the same instructions but under the Videos tab. Amazon will notify you when your video is done uploading, in which you will need to review your video and select Approve video to complete the process.

BLOG FEEDS (also known as RSS Feeds)

Through your author page, you can link your blog (if you have one) and display previews of your recent posts. Sharing blogs on the writing process and inspiration is a great way to provide additional, behind-the-scenes background to the reading experience. Once that is completed, any new posts will upload to your Amazon author page but any old posts published prior will have to be reposted.

To upload your blog,

1. Find Blogs on the profile tab
2. Click on Add Blog
3. Enter the RSS address for your blog (not the URL). You must go to your blog, right-click and select “View page source,” command+F and search for RSS.
4. Select Add

EVENTS

If you have book signings, readings, or other events, you can let your readers know by posting the information of the times and places. Events aren’t happening too much right now, but this is an option to keep in mind for the future.

To post events,

1. Find the Profile tab
2. Select Speaking or other events
3. Click the Add or Edit link next to the section

BOOKS

And of course, you’ll want to have your books listed on your site so your readers can see all that you’ve written. Make sure you update your book descriptions as you publish additional books. Usually, Amazon will automatically list your books when they’ve verified your account, but sometimes you will have to request to link them.

To add books,

1. Find the Books in the profile tab
2. Click on Add More Books
3. Search for your book by title, ISBN, or author
4. Select This is my book

URL

To complete your author page, customize your URL. Author Central allows you to enter your own URL and will tell you if that handle is available. It’ll look better (and feel better) to have all the scrambled numbers and letters deleted.

To do this,

1. Find Author Page URL in the profile tab
2. Select Add link
3. Enter your own URL (there will be an auto-generated one but you can change it). The guidelines are: at least 1 character (no more than 30 characters), no spaces, no special characters other than dashes, periods, and underscores, and no profanity.
4. Amazon will tell you if that URL is available
5. Click Save

Feeling confident about building your page? Go get started here. Let us know if you have questions by contacting us on:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn

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