Books, Blogs, Authors and More discussion
Archive blog stuff
>
Amazon: Are You A Needle in Their Haystack?
date
newest »
newest »
Thank you so very much for this information!!!
Chameleon, I'm a journalist first and we are trained to put the story first and foremost. I understand the message that comes out of every social media/ marketing website - to be on a thousand of them, tweet, sell, blog, shout from the rooftops kind of strategy. Maybe I'm not that big to think differently but promotion should be about the book and genre-specific. We already live in an incredibly voyeuristic society, and two-dimensional genre books out there (young-adult / world war 2 / cookery/ new age mental health), so people want to see the 'face' before buying a book - I don't agree with that. The focus must be on the book. And I agree with you that Amazon's Author Profile is important - that's the 1st thing anyone should do after downloading the book and all (but it should be about the book though videos etc. are a bit overboard, maybe it depends on the genre and personal taste).
Yes, there are a million books on Amazon and heavy competition on every imaginable genre, but it's only a needle in a haystack if your book doesn't sell - I think Amazon promotes books with buzz and those which get a number of KOLL/ Prime/ sales per month. My e-novel The Governess was launched in August of this year, and so far so good.
For paperbacks, I believe one needs to go local and contact local cafes, book stores to keep pamphlets and displays and even free-gifts to promote.
I'm not saying this isn't true but there's only so much an author can do with their Amazon profile. I'm pretty sure bio, sync to blog, books and Twitter feed are not only obvious but the only things you can put on there. Its not utilizing or telling anything people shouldn't already know. The better question is after an author does all they can do to their Amazon page what then? Do they leave it at that or do they promote it as they would their book?I agree Gingers page is loaded and a perfect example of an author fully utilizing the Amazon page to its full potential. I myself have similar content and structure to mine but I don't promote my Amazon page, should I? I think that is a question worth knowing the answer to. Its best to take advantage of all Amazon offers to authors which lets all be honest is quite limited aside from making an author page and being able to enlist one's book on KDP and other similar programs, basically you can only get So much out of an author page and if made and done correctly the idea in the long run is to drive people to it so you can sell some books.
Brian wrote: "Thank you so very much for this information!!!"You're welcome, Brian, hope it helps :)
Noorilhuda wrote: "Chameleon, I'm a journalist first and we are trained to put the story first and foremost. I understand the message that comes out of every social media/ marketing website - to be on a thousand of t..."Noorilhuda, thanks for your comments and perspective :) As a person who interacts with many authors daily, I've had a really good opportunity to see the books that are languishing, and books that are selling well. And the differences between the two are obvious. With good writing, covers, blurbs, and availability being equal, hands down the person that had their "marketing life" in order were the ones selling.
Their marketing life, if you will, consisted of numerous plans, of course, but their Amazon author page was certainly one of the things they took advantage of, and kept up to date and orderly. Was it the sole reason they sold well? No, of course not. If you wanted to make a list of what every successful author should do for promoting themselves, I have no doubt having an Amazon author page would be on that list. Maybe not at the top, or even in the middle, but it would be on that list. :)
Justin wrote: "I'm not saying this isn't true but there's only so much an author can do with their Amazon profile. I'm pretty sure bio, sync to blog, books and Twitter feed are not only obvious but the only thing..."Hi Justin :) The Author page is a passive promotion, that's the beauty of it. It costs you nothing but time to set up, and a bit of time to update now and then if you have anything to update. Otherwise, it calmly sits there waiting to show you off to any reader that wants to know more about you and perhaps others works you've done. They can see your twitter feed from there, view your book trailers, and your blog. There is a good deal of interest you can generate for anyone stopping by.
It's not something you have to promote, you should be getting on blog tours at least 3 times a year to do an author/book promo. The whole point of an author page is that readers WILL go look, and if they are on the fence about your book, there is an excellent chance your author page will settle it for them. Joe Blow sitting at home browsing Amazon isn't going to know anything about you, but if your book cover piques his interest, he may be one of those people that likes to connect above and beyond just reading you as an author he's never heard of. You author page would probably tell him all he needs to know to feel good about you as an author.
J.S. wrote: "Nice. How does one import so much?"I don't understand, import so much what? Information to your author page?
If that's what you're asking, Amazon does the importing. When you set up the page just fill in your twitter address and it will import your latest feeds and keep adding to it automatically. Fill in your blog address and it will import your latest blog posts, and keep that updated. enter the ASIN of your books and Amazon will add the covers, though I do think - if I remember right, you might have to enter the description. They might also do that for you. Sorry, it's been a long time since I did mine. Same with videos, just enter the address and it will post them there for you.
http://chameleon-author.blogspot.com/...