An incredible percentage of books sold in the United States are sold by Amazon. This online retailer accounts for 74 percent of all ebook purchases in the country and in 2016, Amazon sold 42 percent of all print books in the U.S. Since Amazon holds the largest share of the book market in the United States, not only should your book be available for sale on Amazon, you should also be taking advantage of Amazon’s book marketing tools to leverage your book sales. One of the book marketing tools Amazon offers for authors is Amazon Author Central.
1. Upload an Author Photo
Upload a current photograph of yourself to your Amazon author page. Make sure that you use a professional author photo that shows your personality. Having a good author photo increases your recognition factor for readers and helps the reader feel a connection to you.
2. Write Your Author Biography
Your author biography should focus on how you are qualified to write on a certain topic. You can add a few personal tidbits, but no one cares where you went to high school unless it is relevant to a book you penned. Keep your author biography entertaining, and be sure to include the URL for your author website in your biography.
3. Complete Your Bibliography
A bibliography simply lists all the books you’ve written. Make sure that all of your titles are listed on your Amazon author page. Listing all of your titles on your author page helps introduce readers to your other books, potentially leading to additional book sales.
4. Import Your Blog
Amazon allows you to import your blog posts to your author page. All you have to do is plug in the RSS feed from your blog. Much like Goodreads, each blog post that appears on your Amazon author page has a link to take the reader directly to your actual blog page on your author website to read the complete entry.
5. Upload Videos
You can upload videos to your Amazon author page. Be sure to upload any videos featuring author interviews for your potential readers to view. Video in short, digestible chunks is a fantastic way to engage readers, which we’ll discuss in a later chapter of this course.
6. List Your Events
Add events you are hosting or appearing at to your Amazon author page. Listing your events on your author page is an additional free place to advertise your upcoming events and appearances.
Once you secure an Amazon author page, Amazon will give you a unique URL for it so that you can share this URL on your author website, blog, and social media sites to encourage readers to learn more about your books.
This chapter was compiled from the following posts on the IngramSpark blog:
Making the Most Out of Your Amazon Author Page by Sarah Bolme, Director of Christian Small Publishers Association
