12 Tips for Your Professional Amazon Author Page

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Once your book goes live on Amazon you are eligible for an Amazon Author Central Account – and your very own web page on Amazon! Best of all: There is no advertising on your site, up to seven images (of you, your book(s), an “about the author” article and your book’s description. 

Use your Author Central page to provide more information for your readers: upcoming events, a complete listing of your books, more images, and videos, your book trailer and even excerpts from your blog.
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Not only get your Amazon website a very high page rank, Author Central tools are very effective in marketing your books and promoting yourself as an author.

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How to Set Up Your Amazon Author Central Account
Amazon explains: once published, expect to receive an email from Kindle Direct Publishing announcing the news that your book is available for purchase.  They are inviting you to create your Amazon Author Central Account.  Note your book’s ASIN enclosed in the email.  You will need this number to locate your book later and associate it with you as the author.  Follow the instructions to set up your page:

Be the “Face” of Your Book:

1. Add a professional author photo & biography
2. Add all your books
3. Add videos (e.g. trailers for your books)
4. Add up to seven additional photos, e.g. you writing your books or scenes from your book
5. Add images or graphics from your book’s content
6. Add a biography – make sure to update it frequently
7. List events, such as book readings or book launches
8. Add your Twitter address so people can see your latest Tweet and easily follow you
9. Set up the “Search Inside/Look Inside” feature – if it is not already set up
10. Add an RSS feed, linking to your blog – a great way to get your blog in front of new people and encourage them to follow you
11. View and edit the list of books you have written – the Amazon system doesn’t always get it right. If you have written more than one book, it will link your titles together, and allow your readers to find all of your work.
12. Edit your product description and “about the author” section, add any professional reviews/editorial reviews you have had.
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More Features
Track Your Sales – Find out where your sales are happening using the geographic location function and find out your Amazon ranking.
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One of the biggest advantages of an Amazon Kindle published Author is your own web page, complete with a URL, on a powerful Amazon website just for you! Use these links for advertising your books or for blog articles.  If you shorten them, using bit.ly for example, you can double the number of links for your posts.

You need separate accounts, for the UK, CA and US versions of Amazon; You have to do the site for each country separately – however, it is just a matter of copy and paste.  Try to create your foreign country pages in their language.  Either via Google translation or even better, ask a native speaker of the language for which you need the short text.
Use the Amazon Central account for each country.  For example:
Amazon Author Central UK: http://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk
Amazon Author Central US: http://authorcentral.amazon.com
Amazon Author Central Canada: http://authorcentral.amazon.ca
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts on this blog (there are more than 1,200 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it.
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How Important is a Great Author Photo?

Look Great in Your Author Photo: Key element to design your author photo: Quality
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If you’re not seen as a professional,  you will be seen as an amateur.  Professional authors have professionally taken profile photos. This is immensely important for any author – no matter what genre you write. You can’t use a Facebook photo, not even a high quality wedding image that you might have cropped to show only your head.  Or a snapshot with a cluttered background, out of focus image, and an unflattering and uninteresting picture.  Even worse:  Party or holiday photos with several persons, or with your dog or toddler. To top it: some authors show instead of a portrait or head shot an image of their dog, cat or their car.  I cringe every time I see these images
used on Twitter or Google+.  Don’t forget:  Literary Agents and Publishers are on these Social Media sites too.  And you never get a second chance for a first good impression!
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Every Author Needs a Professional Head Shot.
If you promote yourself and your book, you will need one and a photo can do wonders in terms of giving you credibility or establishing trust. The prices for these photos are varying a lot, it depends on the location, on the experience of the photographer, on his or her popularity etc.  The honorary can vary from less than $100 to thousands.
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An Author Photo is an Important Piece of Your Brand.
If you have a photo you like, you can use it for years – and use it everywhere, not only on your books, but also in articles, promo material or your avatar for Social Media. When people see it, they will think of you and of your writing.  Have a look at the famous photos of people like JK Rowling or Stephen King and how they convey so much at a glance. Pick your photographer by looking at the photographer’s web site and if possible meeting him or her before you decide having him/her as your portraitist.
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A Book’s Back Cover Will Often Include the Author’s Photo.
On a hard cover, the photo and bio are often placed on the back flap, while the books back cover is used for blurbs and reviewer comments. Paperbacks typically have the sales copy, an author photo and brief bio all on the back cover.  Get both: a black and white glossy print and a full color cover. It’s important to realize that your author picture is for a different purpose than any photo you have ever had taken.  Its main objective is to sell you as the expert.
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Have it Done by a Professional!
This part of your “brand” will present you to the world via social media, book jackets, etc. If you have a photographer friend who will do it for free or at a discount, all the better.  Ask the photographer to give you both versions digitally: in TIFF for print and in jpeg for the web, and also preferably in several sizes, if you are not an expert in Photoshop or other image programs.
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Make Sure the Photo Reflects YOUR Personality.
Have your expression match your personality. For instance, if you are considered a pretty upbeat person and you are usually smiling, a pout would look ridiculous. The author photo needs to give the viewer a good sense of the persona of the author and, most of all, be close up enough that the face is almost format-filling. It should also be a well-composed and an effective photograph of high-resolution quality.
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In this cyber-over-exposed world, your photo may stay with you for a very, very long time.  Ask yourself how you want to be seen by the world…

Get More Tips from a Photographer

http://www.fromthewriteangle.com/2013/02/author-photos-step-by-stepthe.html

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/02/how-to-take-good-author-photo/

http://indiereader.com/2013/02/tips-for-avoiding-awkward-publicity-photos/

http://www.ebookpublishinghq.com/5-tips-for-taking-a-good-author-photo/

http://www.authormedia.com/how-to-take-portraits-for-an-author-website/

http://authorculture.blogspot.ca/2012/02/is-your-author-photo-sending-right.html

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 950 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

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5 Tips to Improve your Amazon Author Page

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One of the greatest benefits of selling your e-book (or paper book) through Amazon is the vast space they provide you to “advertise” your work. If you are a savvy author, take right away advantage of this marvelous opportunity of an author page and insert lots information about your writing and yourself as an author.

Look at it from the standpoint of a reader; which book would you buy: The one that shows just a boring cover, name of the author, and a very short introduction to the book – or the one which has:

• a beautiful, appealing cover
• an all-embracing editorial review
• an interesting authors bio with a portrait
• lots of customer reviews
• a book trailer or interview video

So, what can you do to improve your appearance on Amazon and improve book sales?  A lot!
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Create an appealing book cover
Rule # 1 for your book cover on Amazon is NEVER to use a white background! White on white is barely visible and your book will not stick out, especially when you chose to have the text in black.
Your book cover should be:

• aesthetically appealing
• targeted to the book’s intended audience
• represent the book’s contents
• use a clean, readable font
• use bold or complementary colors
• use light on dark for dramatic effects
• visit a bookstore to research book cover designs
• test the cover in thumbnail size to make sure it looks good even if it is only one inch high/wide and the title should still be readable

An appealing book cover can be done through the use of software, if you are computer-savvy and creative / artsy – if not, better hire a professional, who is experienced in designing book covers and can provide a portfolio with samples from earlier jobs.
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Write a great editorial review
Write as much about your book as possible and use all the space you get from Amazon:

• Editorial Review—350 characters
• From the Author, From the Inside Flap, and From the Back Cover—8000 characters !!!
• About the Author—2000 characters
• See the detailed information on Amazon.
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Set up your Author Page
Helping customers get to know you is an effective way to introduce your books. Information you add on the “Profile” tab in Author Central appears on the Amazon.com Author Page. On the Author Page you can display:

• books you have written
• biography and up to 8 photos!
• up to 8 videos!
• a calendar of events, such as book signings
• Latest Tweets
• Most Recent Blog Posts

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The Author Page is a good chance to tell readers something interesting about yourself, make sure you include any details about your (writers) background, awards, other books you have written and personal details customers might want to know. Your author photo should be a professional, high-resolution image for quality display.

At the Author Central page on Amazon you get lots of free marketing help. Click the “Profile” tab, where you will see all these sections to add – or to change the information later. It can take several days for the Author Page to appear on the Amazon, so start right now adding content to your Author Page. There are lots of features for you to choose from:

• Your Profile and your Biography
• Uploading Photos & Videos
• Managing Your Blog Feeds & Your Events
• Uploading Book Images
• Managing Editorial Reviews
• Customer Reviews

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Get lots of customer reviews
From Amazon’s Tips: “Anyone registered as an Amazon.com customer is entitled to write customer reviews, including fellow authors and journalists. Reader reviews don’t carry across borders, so ask your friends to copy and paste their reviews to all of your Amazon sites (Amazon.uk.co, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr or Amazon.de for example). Make it easy for them and provide all the direct links to your sites.
Customer reviews are in order from newest to oldest with the exception of “Spotlight Reviews” that are based on how well the review was written and how helpful it was deemed by our customers.”
(Hint: ask your friends to click on “helpful” at the best reviews of your book).
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Create a Book Trailer & Videos:
You can share your book trailer, video interviews, book signing videos or the new Google Search Story trailers with readers. Your video should focus on specific features of your book or your experience as an author. Hire a professional video maker to create your book promotion trailer and upload the video to YouTube and other video sites. To get an overview of the video production process and lots of tips and links for free images, free music and web sites where to upload and how to market your video, read: 111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer.

Submit your video or book trailer to your own website, your blog or blogs of your friends, show it often on your Google+, Twitter, or your Goodreads site. Ask all your friends to spread the word and to re-tweet your video link or submit it to their Goodreads friends.
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You might ask why I write here only about Amazon’s author page: Barnes & Noble and Kobo don’t offer author pages! You can click on the authors name, but that brings you only to another sales page, where only the book appears – among a dozen or more books from other authors …

Amazon has more cool features to help an author get found. Use every bit of support you can get from Amazon, join the Kindle Forum to ask questions, get help and support from other authors and on blogs, and your book will be a success!

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 810 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

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