by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Amazon has made its first updates to their author pages for quite a while. Fortunately, unlike many changes, they don’t mean too much work on our part.
What they’ve gotten rid of:
They’ve tidied up the pages a bit. We no longer have the ability to link to our blog feeds, nor any photos or videos. I don’t think it’s as visually appealing, but it does make our books the most important things on the page.
What they’ve added:
Your most popular book is listed right at the top. This can be handy for new releases.
Book recommendations: yours and other authors. I got into my Author Central account prepared to write, but there was absolutely no writing or reviewing involved. There was a note at the top of the page notifying me about the feature:
You simply click on the link. It opens this screen:
Following that, it gives you the chance to recommend other books (maximum of 3). Again, no reviewing is needed, or even possible. They give you prompts like “if you like my books, you might like,” “a book I couldn’t put down was,” and “a book that left an impression on me was.”
Even better, Amazon says they might email your followers with your picks:
It looks to me like the page is being optimized with the idea that we will try to get as many Amazon followers as possible (by posting our author link on social media, etc.)
What do you think of the changes? Have you updated your Author Central account lately?
Updates to Amazon Author Pages: Share on X
Now I need to go take a look!
Hop on over there!
It's too bad you can't link up your blog posts anymore.
Yes, I agree. It makes the author page look a lot more stark. But I guess it does make the focus our books.
This is good to know, Elizabeth. Your page looks great, and it's nice to know that there isn't too much to do on the author's end. I sometimes think it's a full-time job keeping up with what social media sites are doing!
More than a full-time job, ha!
I wonder if they really do email your followers? I need to go update mine as it's been awhile.
That’s what I was wondering, too. I haven’t gotten notification that they have, but I’m not sure they’d even send one to me.
I haven't looked into this yet – thanks for the overview and tips!
Now to get on that! :)
Hope it goes well, Jemi!
Very helpful stuff! I'll be sure to let my author clients know about these changes. Thank you!
It’s a quick and easy update!
I didn't even know they changed it until I read this. I am really bad at my writing "job".
No, I think it’s just that Amazon doesn’t communicate well to us, ha!
Not super impressed, especially with the deletion of blog feeds. That was a real downer.
I know, right? It’s pretty stark on there now. I’m just hoping they email my readers, ha.
Hi Elizabeth – it's great you keep everyone up-to-date with changes – I'd miss the blog link – but I guess once you're past that mode in your life (ie if you reasonably successful) it's not something you'd need … also presumably your website would have that link if you kept it up. What I like here – is how everyone appreciates each other – as we all learn the ropes. I know i"m not publishing – but am always interested – cheers and thanks for the info – Hilary
We’re all learning together, for sure! And you’re definitely publishing, Hilary–micro fiction and articles. :)