Amazon discontinuing Author Central blogs!

[Guido]

I am feeding Amazon the RSS feed from my official website and it works without any problems.

[Maria]

That's interesting. I got no such email, but I have done both--used the RSS feed and manually created posts. What I don't like about the RSS feed is that I can never edit the post. Being an obsessive/compulsive writer, I almost always edit my posts at least a little after I make them. I either think of something I want to add or see a typo I want to fix. If I edit on the original blog, the change does not flow through, so I prefer adding the posts manually, so I can fix them.

I think it's lame-o that they're taking that ability away.

[Maria]

Okay, I'm going to answer my own comment. I logged into my Auth Central account, and though I never got the email, it does indeed say that the ability to write fresh posts will disappear on 8/15/10.

I double-checked my existing posts, though, and saw that edits I had made to posts on my personal blog and uploaded to Amazon via RSS were eventually updated on Amazon as well, so what I said earlier today was incorrect. There is just a lag time of a day or two (like with everything else on Amazon) before changes to blog posts show up.

I still wish they would leave the ability to manually create blog posts on AuthCentral, but I guess they feel like they are re-inventing the wheel by doing so.

--Maria

[Kait Neese]

Hey everyone! This is Kait the creator of this group discussion. I am so glad to see everyone's continued use of this forum as I truly wanted to help provide authors with a "go to" community where they can discuss their book(s) and all things Amazon freely. I have often found that the Amazon Discussion Boards can be a not so friendly place and unfortunately many authors fall victim to "cyber-bulling". None of that here!

For the last few weeks I was attending the Taipei International Book Fair in Taiwan and let me tell you the desire to distribute foreign books into the U.S (as well as bring American "English" books into their region) is HUGE! It is all very exciting. One thing I noted which I felt everyone should know is that Amazon is the go to site for Foreign Rights buyers! Yup you heard me. Basically foreign publishing companies are realizing the value of Amazon and how it can essentially be used as a search engine when looking for new titles for rights purchasing. Having an amazon presence is more crucial now than ever as the site will only grow in the proceeding month/years in popularity.

That being said I wanted to let you all know I have created a blog to which I will be making 2 new posts a week all relating to Amazon. This blog will cover marketing tips, facts, and general information about Amazon. My aim is to help educate authors on using Amazon as this site should be treated by an author just as you would Facebook or Twitter. Social Media baby! ITS HERE TO STAY! Below is the link to my new blog! Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to leave comments!

How to Use Amazon to Promote Your Published Book
http://amazonauthors.blogspot.com/


Kait