Amazon Author Central

[Donna]

I did research that stated, "your book must be available for purchase on Amazon in order to setup an Author Central Amazon Account." I'm not quite sure what that means. Does it mean you need to upload it to Createbook/Ingram Spark before you can create an author account on Amazon? Would appreciate any insight. I'm trying to offer my book and ebook for sale on Amazon.

[R.S.]

Hey Donna, it just means you need to publish your book on Amazon and have an account on Amazon to set it up. Until it's published and available for sale you won't be able to create one is my understanding.

[Donna]

I guess that means I should upload on CreateSpace and KU before trying to create an author page on Amazon. Thanks!

[Lori-Ann]

You essentially need to have one book out before you can have an author page. It's one thing you can't complete in advance of launching the first book. You have to have hit publish in KDP to have an author page. The first thing you're asked is for a book's ISBN/ASIN to create the author page.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

In a way it makes sense. You can upload the book and set later date as for publication (and make edits on the way) - when it's uploaded, you could try again setting up an author page. It also gives the possibility for pre-orders while you make some last minute adjustments (metadata or setting up x-ray feature, for example)

That's how I understand it, no experience yet.

[Noor]

I've had my books up on kdp for a while, but never bothered with Author Central. Are there any benefits to it? (other than the obvious benefit of having a page you can link to with all your books on it, that is). Would those who have one recommend setting one up?

[Donna]

Lori-Ann wrote: "You essentially need to have one book out before you can have an author page. It's one thing you can't complete in advance of launching the first book. You have to have hit publish in KDP to have a..."

I really appreciate the advice. I now know what I need to do.

[Donna]

Tomas wrote: "In a way it makes sense. You can upload the book and set later date as for publication (and make edits on the way) - when it's uploaded, you could try again setting up an author page. It also gives..."

I guess it makes sense. I sure didn't understand that what I needed to do before creating an author page on Amazon. You guys are great. You saved me from wasting a lot more time.

[Lori-Ann]

Lots of blogs about self-publishing recommend setting/claiming your Amazon author page (and goodreads author page too). But on Amazon, I as a reader rarely go to an author's page.

It allows you to add reviews that would normally be removed where your book is listed, you can list all your books in one place, you can update the book description from there as well - it seems a friendlier tool for book description than KDP.

I'm not completely convinced there is a huge benefit to having an Amazon author page. Readers can follow you from that page and Amazon will notify them if you publish a new book. You can link your blog to it (not all blogs work though). Again, that will work only if readers follow you. I find it hard to get to an author's page, harder to find the list of authors I'm actually following (only 2) so it's not exactly user friendly from the reader's perspective.

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Well, if it's "set and forget", then there's no harm to it, right?

[Donna]

India wrote: "I think the benefit comes from a professional space. It helps to balance the awesome fun that writing/publishing is and the serious work it involves. Social media is about making connections and ha..."

Thanks for info. I was helpful.

[Noor]

Thanks for the insights, guys. It is very useful to know what is involved and what potential benefits (or lack thereof) there have been for others as I try to decide whether to set one up. :)

[L.K.]

Author central is useful for quickly checking if your books have any new customer reviews, and tracking changes in your bestseller ranking. Especially if you have more than one book, you can quickly check how they are doing. You can of course also do this by going to your books product page on Amazon, but I find author central quite handy to see this information quickly. It's also nice to add your bio in author central so that it appears on your books product page on Amazon.

[M.L.]

Author Central's author page is like a dashboard. If you go to on Amazon, it shows 'customers also bought books by' which is different from the individual 'bought by' for each book.' You can also see the difference between locations. For example my UK page shows different 'bought by' from my US page. It's a professional approach and easy to set up.

[Wanjiru]

M.L. wrote: "Author Central's author page is like a dashboard. If you go to on Amazon, it shows 'customers also bought books by' which is different from the individual 'bought by' for each book.' You can also s..."

M.L. Do you generate sales in the UK or other foreign markets? If so, is there anything special you've done besides the author pages? For some reason, I haven't had any "luck."

[M.L.]

Luck helps but the #SIAFBB events help more! :)

[Wanjiru]

M.L. wrote: "Luck helps but the #SIAFBB events help more! :)"

What are #SIAFBB events?

[Wanjiru]

Wanjiru wrote: "M.L. wrote: "Luck helps but the #SIAFBB events help more! :)"

What are #SIAFBB events?"

Never mind. Just snooped around and got my answer.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

They are events this group used to have about three times a year or so, often centering around a holiday. People would have their books at 99c or free and everyone involved would (in theory) market the hell out of the event, drawing in lots of traffic. Some people saw some really great numbers in their downloads.

Not sure if we're going to do those anymore. Two of the members who were extremely helpful aren't very active here now and we had one mod who pretty much kept the whole thing in focus. She's still fairly active as a member of the group, but doesn't seem to be around nearly as much as she used to be.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Wanjiru wrote: "Never mind. Just snooped around and got my answer. "

Oh. Well - *ahem* I'll keep my post up in case any other newer members are curious.

[Wanjiru]

Dwayne wrote: "Wanjiru wrote: "Never mind. Just snooped around and got my answer. "

Oh. Well - *ahem* I'll keep my post up in case any other newer members are curious."

Thanks, all the same. Yes, your reply will help a stranded author.

[Kaylee]

I love the Author Central for Amazon. I'm a competitive person and I love acquiring data so it really helps me to be able to track my books.

I like being able to track them individually to see how each is doing in the market. If I've hit any trends in my genre. It also helps to be able to see any jumps in the ranking, especially after an event or book signing. It's kind of like having instant 24 hour data to be able to see if you've sold books before your report comes in. With Westbow Press, it can take up to 8 weeks for me to be able to see any sales data. So having the ranking charts for my individual books help me.

Also, it helps when you do something like the Kindle Unlimited. Because Kindle Unlimited is a free program and doesn't necessarily contribute to "sales". So having that data right there where you can see it is helpful.

I say play around with their system. Do you like to track your author rank? See if your genre tags are working on getting you noticed? See if your new release is getting the attention you crave?

Just like any tool, it depends on how you use it on how useful it is.

[Kaylee]

Also, it will show all the reviews on your books in one handy location. So, when you feel down about your work you can reread them. Always makes me smile on the days I want to give up because I'm not a "successful" writer.