Your Book’s Amazon Page

Your Book’s Amazon Page

Now before we get into the details of how to get your book picked up by Amazon’s computers and the steps you need to take to help with promotion, we need to discuss your Book’s Amazon Page.

Your book will automatically have a basic destination page created once your publisher (or you, if self published) submits your book’s data through Amazon’s online information channels. Typically your book will be uploaded by Amazon in 2 stages (Note: Amazon controls how long it takes to upload your book’s data once submitted, you can not rush the process). First your book’s basic page will be created which displays Editorial Reviews and Product Details, such as ISBN numbers, page length, publisher, etc. Then once this is done the cover is uploaded in stage 2 which can take up to 8-10 weeks. I personally have never seen it take this long but it is possible.  Every book on Amazon has a generic listing, what you need to focus on is enhancing this listing.

For the remainder of this blog I will refer to your book’s placement on Amazon as your “Book’s Amazon Page”. 

This is the basic URL that directs viewers to your book on Amazon.

An example can be viewed here: See Example 1

The above link is for Sherrill S. Cannon, author of “Peter and the Whimper Whineys”. This is an author I have worked with to help increase her exposure on Amazon.  Take a moment to browse through her book’s Amazon Page. Notice how much activity is displayed here, also take note of the features being showcased, such as Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought.

Now follow the link for our second sample case: See Example 2  

Hopefully when comparing the two links you can see a notable difference. These examples are to illustrate to you, how added features, can be uploaded onto your book’s Amazon Page. These features can only be added directly by Amazon and will only be done once your book achieves certain activity levels or receives notable recognition on the site.  

Note: if another author’s book appears on your book’s Amazon page your book in return is likely being displayed on their book’s Amazon Page.  

Below is a list of the major features that Amazon can upload to any given Amazon page. 

Ideally you would want for all to be displayed, however this takes time and a tremendous amount of work. After 3-4 months of working with Amazon you should expect to have at least 2-3 added features, after a year perhaps 5-6. If your book becomes a bestseller this will pretty much guarantee you all.  Remember each feature added to your book’s Amazon page means you hit a recommendation list. 

Enhanced Amazon "Added Features" to Target: 

•      Special Offers and Product Promotions
•      Frequently Bought Together
•      What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
•      Search Inside
•      Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
•      Customers who viewed this also viewed
•      Looking for " " Products?
•      Other customers suggested these items
•      Tags
•      Reviews
•      Sales Rank
•      Formats
•      Listmania
•      So You'd Like To Guides
•      More About the Author

The above “added features” greatly enhance your book’s presence on Amazon. If your book’s Amazon Page displays these you know you have moved to the next level. By constantly monitoring Amazon and participating on the site, not just as an author, but as a user you can get these features appearing on your book’s Amazon page.

In my next post we will be discussing your Author’s Page via Author Central. This feature will appear directly on your book’s Amazon Page and is one of the most beneficial tools Amazon gives its authors.  

Good luck! 

- Kait Neese
@KaitNeese 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitneese

  

Author Central- Part 1

Author Central

Author Central needs to become a tool you familiarize yourself with thoroughly. This is one of the most important features Amazon offers to its authors. 

Your Author’s Page (which you create via Author Central) doubles as a tool for you to monitor your book’s success on the site as well as provide additional information to your target audience.  

Creating this Author’s Page is crucial for two reasons. 

1. First it adds trust to your book’s Amazon Page because only the actual author of the book can create this. So it signals to Amazon Users that the author is active on the site and has claimed his/her book. 
2. Second, your Author’s Page can be picked up by the Major Search Engines (Google, Yahoo & Bing). 

So if one of your reader’s searches your name on Google it is very likely your Author’s Page will show up on one of the search result pages. You never know where you next big break will come from so you want to cover any and all of your bases.

How to Get Started:

If you are a published author and your book is listed on Amazon you can claim your Author’s Page without the assistance of your publisher.

1.       Visit www.authorcentral.com to create an account and “claim” your book.

This is a free service Amazon offer’s it’s authors. Login with the same email address you use when making a purchase on Amazon.  Amazon will direct you on how to claim your book, follow the steps Amazon provides you with. This is very simple. If your book does not automatically appear refine your search and type in your books title followed by your author name. 

2.       Confirm Verification Email sent by Amazon.  

Once you make your claim, Amazon will send you a verification email to authenticate you are the author of the selected book. Confirm this as soon as possible . Once Amazon receives your verification they will begin to create your Author’s Page. Note this can take up to 7 days after verification complete. 


- Kait Neese
@KaitNeese
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitneese