Are You Taking Advantage of Amazon's Author Central?

It's like having you're own personal website on Amazon. If a reader is surfing on Amazon for a particular book, that individual should be able to click on the author's name and not only view a list of other books by that author, but a whole section ABOUT the author. Who wouldn't want to have their own space on a site that averages 100 million people visiting per month and generating billions of dollars? Certainly anyone trying to sell books.

Amazon Author Central requires a separate registration from your regular Amazon account. The image below is what you should see on the login home page.

Once you login, you'll see blue tabs across the top for Books, Profile, Sales Info, Customer Reviews, and Help.

Books Tab
You can upload new books as soon as you have a cover image and the ISBN number. There is a Review section where you can post reviews from professional reviewers such as Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, and RT Book Reviews or other endorsers. You'll also be able to update the book description. An interesting area is a Book Extras tab where you can post information about the individual characters in your novel. The info you place here will be auto-uploaded on Shelfari, an affiliate site that Amazon purchased where individuals post reviews of books. It's similar to Goodreads, and most recently Amazon also purchased Goodreads so upcoming changes will most likely start taking place on that site as well.

Profile Tab
This is where you may update your biography. In this section you may also add your blogs so that the latest blog post will automatically appear. There is an Events section where you can list all your book signings, writer conferences, and speaking engagements. Additionally, you may add author photos, up to eight video book trailers, as well as link your Twitter accounts so that your latest tweet automatically appears.

Sales Info
You can choose to view the sales info of all your books at once your individually across the country and compare states and/or regions. This sales info includes bookstores beyond Amazon, all the ones that report their sales numbers to the BookScan Highlights. If you scroll down below the American map, bar graph of Kindle sales for all books. Below is an image of my Sales info with the numbers blotted out in black.

At this time, this is the best record of sales authors have until they receive their royalty statements from their publishers. Readers will not be able to see this sales info, only what authors post on their profile tab. As you may set your individual brand name for your Facebook page, you may now set a name for your Amazon Author Central page. For example, mine is listed as amazon.com/author/jenniferhudsontaylor.

Below is a screen capture of my Amazon Central Author page viewed by the public. At the top is my photo and bio. Beneath that on the left is a list of all the books I've authored, summaries, and their purchase info. On the right is an RSS feed of my latest tweet on Twitter. Below that is an RSS feed highlighting my latest 3 blog posts. If you scroll down further, on the right are my video book trailers. 

I highly recommend you create your Amazon Author Central page. Do you already have one established? What are your thoughts about it? If you already have one, are you keeping it updated? Have you found it to be helpful?

Buzz Words Breeds Success

Buzz words can be a useful PR tool. Let's face it, buzz words make an otherwise boring topic, interesting. In the media world they create excellent sound bytes and noteworthy headlines. Consider it the spice in the mix.
 

What do you think of when you hear the word Brangelina? 

That's right, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. 

The reason the media uses buzz words, is because they work. 

Which is more likely to get your attention?

1) Early Intervention utilizes entertainment as education

2) Edutainment is the new early intervention

The media has been creating buzz words for ages. Greensboro, North Carolina wasn't always Greensboro. It was incorporated as Greensborough in 1808, but the city's local newspaper, the Greensboro Patriot kept printing the city's name as Greensboro. It saved them ink, print space, and was easier on their old fashioned printing machine. The result? It ended up influencing the name change of the entire city to Greensboro in 1895.

Not only are buzz words helpful to media people, but they can also benefit authors and publicists when used appropriately and creatively. When writing press releases, blogs, and new pitches, authors need to think in terms of a journalist. The market is saturated with editors, reporters and producers receiving thousands of daily pitches. By using a buzz word, phrase, or catchy headline, you'll have a better chance at edging out the competition.

Note: This is for news editors for promotional purposes, not book editors who you are pitching or sending a proposal to in the hope of getting your book published. Standing out to these editors for any other reason beyond a compelling, well-written story could work against you.