If you’ve never heard of ‘Author Central’ then you may well be wondering what it is. It is a free page on Amazon for any author who has an ISBN – we’ve talked about that before – and sells their books on Amazon. It doesn’t matter whether you are self-published, traditionally published or a hybrid, there is a spot for you to have an Author Central page on Amazon. 

Imagine having everything about you in one place where your audience/readers can learn about you personally, see your bio and order books! Wouldn’t that be a great benefit and a timesaving one as well. Welcome to Author Central. This page – Author Central – acts as a one-stop-shop for your readers who always want to know more about you. Plus, you have control of what your readers need to know as well as keeping them informed of new releases, book signings and events that you are doing. On top of that, Author Central improves the searching feature on Amazon when someone is looking for you and your work. 

Let’s assume your books are for sale on Amazon – and they should be – then that is where you would find a spot called Author Central, that provides the background story about you which really can be easily accessed by your readers. Consider it a ‘gift’ from Amazon – a place where you, as the author, can present your story in a setting that is very much like having a website but is situated right there on Amazon. If you want to see what it looks like, chose your favorite author and click on their name next to a book he/she has written. That should take you right to their Author Central page and give you an example of what is available for you, as a budding author.

You might be asking what Author Central includes. First of all, you need to have a photo and a bio – a good one. I know, as authors it is sometimes much harder to write about ourselves than to write a full novel, but you can do it. Your photo needs to be clear and clean, not a lot of background interference. 

All of your books should be linked in on your Author Central page. You might even write a synopsis of your book(s) to make it easier for the reader to choose what to order. You can connect your blog, your social media links and any videos you might have. 

If you have been blessed with editorial reviews (up to five), reviews by readers, or any other positive comments about you and your work, there is a place to post that as well. Additionally, there is a ‘look inside’ feature where you can spotlight a page or two of your book to interest the potential reader – of course, you need to make sure you own the copyright for your book and its contents. 

There is a lot to Author Central that you need to be utilizing, if you haven’t already. Promoting your books can be more difficult that actually having written it but Author Central is a good place to start. And you can go in and update your page as often as you like; but remember to keep your “events” section current. If you owned a store, you wouldn’t be selling summer clothes in the dead of winter so don’t leave your readers looking at dead and passe` events when it takes only a minute to update your page.

We look forward to seeing you on Author Central. 

Remember, we are here to help you and we make publishing easy!