Update Your Amazon Book Pages and Author Page

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

There are plenty of promo-related tasks that writers must stay on top of regularly. Because of that, it’s easy to let other tasks slide. Sprucing up our Amazon book and author pages can fall by the wayside while we work on updating our Facebook page or sending out newsletters.

But updating our Amazon pages is both free and easy. And a professional-looking book page can make a big difference when readers stop by.

Here are a few places to consider tweaks:

Your Book Description.  You can make your Amazon book descriptions look better with a little formatting. Use bold face, italics, and different font sizes to catch readers’ eyes. One easy way to do this is by using a free tool from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.

Editorial Reviews. Do you have a few good reviews you can highlight? Go to Amazon Author Central and add those to the editorial review section (you can format your reviews with the same tool from Dave Chesson).

Your Author Profile. Have you visited your author page on Amazon recently? Check to see if your posted bio is still current. You can also add photos, videos, your blog feed, and a translated bio for international markets on Amazon Author Central.

The books under your profile. Occasionally, I’ll notice that a newer release isn’t listed under my profile. This is a quick fix by logging into your Amazon Author Central and linking to it there.

Extra content: consider creating A+ Content for your Amazon book pages. A+ content offers you an enhanced product description section and more space on the page to convince readers to try your book. You can use photos and text and bits of reviews. For more information and guidelines, go to Amazon’s A+ Content page. I recommend using Canva to create the content—a free tool for designing promo-related images.

Keywords and metadata. Do a wellness check on your keywords and metadata in your KDP bookshelf. If you write in a series, is your series name consistent for all your books (vital for helping readers find your books)?  When was the last time you updated your keywords? Are there new categories on Amazon that your books might be a good fit for?  

Even for those of us who “go wide” with our books, Amazon is still key to a book’s success. By putting our best foot forward on the site, we can leave potential readers with a good impression.

Have you checked in on your Amazon pages recently? Are there any other types of passive promo you need to update?

 

Elizabeth is the bestselling cozy mystery author of the Southern Quilting mysteries, the Myrtle Clover Cozy Mysteries, the Village Library Mysteries, and Memphis Barbeque mysteries for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently.  Follow her on Twitter where she shares writing links @elizabethscraig or at her blog where she offers tips for writers: http://elizabethspanncraig.com/blog/ .  She lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and is the mother of two.