Why Authors Must Use Amazon Author Central
By now I hope most writers know that Amazon provides a valuable “home page” for authors of books they sell. And you also know that Amazon probably now has in excess of 50 million customers (not all of whom are shopping for books of course) and by now sells something more than 25% of all books sold in America. And a significant percentage of Amazon’s customers want to know about the writers whose books they shop for.
Amazon’s Author Central provides authors with a great opportunity to let writers to connect with readers through the resources Amazon enables you to post there. Just like any other marketing opportunity for books and authors, it will take some of your time and effort to set up and maintain your Author Central presence, but the effort is well worthwhile. The hardest part really is that you must visualize what Amazon shoppers are looking for, and then make sure you give them the kinds of information they will find compelling, engaging and useful – and which will draw them to buy your books.
For example, if you are a nonfiction writer, assume that many Amazon customers are looking for books and authors for business, hobbies and personal development. So make sure your profile demonstrates how much you know about your subject. Make sure it’s clear that you are an expert in your field. A great Author Central page might even gain you more than book sales – we’ve heard of writers getting offers for speaking engagements and writing assignments through Author Central – which makes sense – what better source to find an expert for an event or conference than Amazon, with thousands of author experts available just by clicking!
Fiction writers have a chance to provide background about your work and the kinds of personal details that readers love to learn about their favorite writers. You can post all kinds of information that will engage and involve readers who already know your work and attract readers who have not yet read one of your books.
It’s a no brainer to assume that book shoppers on Amazon are looking for a reason to buy a book, so why not make it easier to choose yours? Author Central gives you a chance to show why they should pick your book, right now. And for authors with multiple books, it’s the perfect showcase for a reader who has read one of your books to find out why she should want to buy and read more of them.
There are some really powerful practical benefits for authors to use Author Central as well as personal marketing. For example, your Amazon book search results are enhanced by content that appears on your author page. More content, more key words, all create more opportunity for readers to find you. And when you have an Author Central account, if there are problems with your book listings, you can reach out to Amazon directly. That can be very valuable when a customer reviewer gives you a low ranking for an unfair reason. Or when your print book and ebook versions are not linked as they should be.
The best benefit that authors get from Author Central might well be access to sales data. Publishers pay Nielsen Bookscan a tidy sum every year for reporting of retailer sales data for their books. Authors and agents are always desperate to know how well their books are selling. When you know your current sales data, you can have a much better understanding of how effective your marketing is (or isn’t), and you can also see where in the country your books are selling. Author Central also gives authors access to their Amazon sales data, including ebooks, which is very useful indeed.
Having access to this information ought to be reason enough to sign up for Author Central right now.
So in short, if you are not already using Amazon Author Central, go here now and sign up. Since Author Central is really more part of the “setup” process of self-publishing rather than the promotional process, we have moved the actual “What to put on an author central page” material over to the Self Publishing Checklist. Go on over there and check it out!
Go have some fun building connections with readers!