Getting your book noticed on Amazon is an ongoing project for most authors and publishers. But how do you know if your Amazon book page is attracting new readers or turning them away?

One quick way to determine this is if you’re running ads – whether it’s Amazon ads or Facebook ads and let’s say that you’re sending tons of traffic to your book page but very few of them convert into a sale. This is a red flag that something is wrong with your Amazon retail page and should be fixed, before you continue to spend money on ads that aren’t selling books.

Also, Amazon’s number #1 goal is to sell the consumer something – and they don’t care if that’s your book or someone else’s. They just want to make a sale. So the idea here is not just to polish your retail page, but to take back more of the real estate on the Amazon website.

Let’s dig into how to polish your page as well as how to add some new and exciting content!

Your Book Description Matters

Let’s start here, because beyond having an outstanding cover (more on that in a minute), you should have a book description that doesn’t look like a whole bunch of text crammed into a small space in order to get your book noticed on Amazon. You have room to spread out, and I encourage you do to that.

A book description should ‘breathe’ and by that I mean, have some white space with short paragraphs. If you’ve written a nonfiction book, add in a bulleted list of features. I also love using bold and italics whenever I can – to really help certain words or phrases stand out.

And don’t forget to lead with a stand-out review – and it doesn’t have to be an editorial review, it can be an excerpt from an Amazon review.

Just remember that consumers don’t read, they scan – so the more scanable your book descritpion is, the more enticing it’ll be to a future reader. Nix the long-winded sentences and long paragraphs and instead keep it short, enticing, and above all, make sure it addresses the things that matter to your reader.

Maximizing Author Central Matters

Back in late 2022 Amazon made some drastic changes to their Author Central pages, getting rid of the ability to add your blog feed, videos, and images – and while I found these changes discouraging, there’s still a lot you can do with this portal.

First off, it’s important to note that Author Central pages get upwards of 2 million visits a year – so don’t underestimate these free amazon tool.

If you’ve never accessed your Author Central page, you can do so by going here: author.amazon.com and log in using your Amazon credentials. This will take you to the backend of your Author Central where you can start making changes, adding content, and adding all your books under one author name.

Pay close attention to your author bio, which is now front and center with the revised pages – you also have the ability to highlight books for readers to check out, and yes I mean your own books.

The Amazon Video Shorts Feature Matters

I love this feature – and it’s not just for readers to add their video review of your book, it’s a great tool for authors to use to add enhanced content to their page. You can add a short unboxing video, or an excerpt from a talk you did, or a portion of a book trailer. The video limits are a bit iffy, I’ve known folks to upload full 3 minute videos and Amazon let’s them go live, but I’d recommend keeping your video to 50 seconds. Several studies show that consumers start to lose interest once they pass the 50 second mark.

But again, video shorts can be used for just about anything. From just a quick “thank you for visiting my Amazon book page”, to digging deep and giving readers a sense of where the story came from, why you wrote it, and so on.

They’ll help you get your book noticed on Amazon because they’re unique to your brand.

Your Author Bio Matters

I mentioned this in the Author Central section – but your author bio is important – as is your picture on Amazon. Don’t be a grey box!

Surprisingly, authors often overlook their bio or leave it for last. But your bio is an important connection with your reader. For one it can actually sell more of them is the personal connection readers have with the author. Your author bio is one way to get personal with your readers and, your bio should reflect the tone of your book.

Did you write a humor book? Make your bio a bit funny, or a lot funny, depending on the nature of your book.

Did you write a book about cooking? Then it’s probably a good idea to tell readers why you loved creating these recipes or maybe where your love for cooking came from.

If you’ve written romance, for example, maybe start by telling your readers if you’re a hopeless romantic, and why? Or why you love writing about strong female characters.

You get the idea. The thing is: every piece of content on your Amazon book page sells your book – your about the author is no different.

Amazon’s A+ Content

This feature is a really fantastic addition to the free stuff that Amazon will let you do. Whether you work with a publisher, or are self-publishing your book. Make sure to add some A+ content to your retail page.

Why does it matter? Well for one, it helps keep readers on the page longer, which helps to convert a consumer into a buyer. It also helps to make the sale.

Remember that our minds are image processors, not word processors so having imagry on the page can really enhance the reader’s experience.

So what can you do with your A+ content? Well, all kinds of things. You can use it to elaborate on the content of your book, highlight editorial reviews, share (short) excerpts from your book – the options are endless. Here are a few examples of A+ content for you to consider!

If you’re a KDP author, A+ content can be accessed by clicking the marketing button on the backend of the KDP website. If you have a publisher, you’ll have to ask them to do this for you!

Your Book Cover Matters

Is your book cover really right for your market? Are you sure? Because if you’re not, or the sales have been sluggish or non-existent, it could be your book cover.

If you aren’t sure if the cover is exactly right for your market, have a look at other/similar books in your genre. A good book cover should match the genre it’s in – there’s always a particular “look” that each genre has, and while subsets of genres vary in terms of layout, imagery, etc. there’s always a general theme that readers come to expect.

If you’ve gotten some less-than-stellar feedback on your book cover, maybe now is a good time to consider a revamp of it? Because all of this book promotion you’re doing won’t mean a single thing to get your book noticed on Amazon (or help you sell more books) if your book cover isn’t appealing to the reader market you’re serving. 

Your Book Title Matters

As crazy as it sounds, a lot of authors get this wrong. Picking a title is as important as naming a child – though unlike your child’s name – you can probably change a title, or rename your book, if you feel it’s not working for you anymore.

A good book title shouldn’t be hard to pronounce, or be lacking in clear benefits. Readers don’t want to have to guess what your book is about – your book title should be sufficiently angsty if you’ve written a thriller, or sexy of you’ve written romance.

Or clear and punchy if you’ve written non-fiction. Take a look at some of these covers, which are a mix of fiction and non-fiction.

You can see that the romance title is fun and flirty, while the others evoke some strong emotion (along with a cover that really adds a punch to the title). These books are all best sellers, and from the cover alone, you can see why.

Your Subtitle Matters

I love subtitles, regardless of whether your book is fiction or non-fiction. And while the books above don’t have them on their covers, that doesn’t mean they can’t still utilize this feature on their Amazon page!

That’s the beauty of it, it’s not static, you can test different approaches as a way to get your book noticed on Amazon by your different buyer markets – and if you’re unsure of who those people are, download our free reader profile brainstorm in the resources section!

A good subtitle is one that helps pull the reader in more, or future defines the core of the book:

A fast-paced international thriller

A sweet, sexy billionaire romance

Quick ways to get healthy, without a lot of effort

These are just examples, but you get the idea. The subtitle doesn’t have to appear on the actual book cover, you can add it after the fact when you upload your book onto Amazon, and if your book is already live, you can still add it after the fact.

There are a lot of free ways to enhance your Amazon book page with great content, touches of your personality, and enhancements that readers will love. Before you take another step down your book marketing path, make sure your Amazon book page is working with you, not against you. Good luck!

Resources and Free Downloads

Master Amazon Video Series

Get your FREE Reader Profile Brainstorm

Anatomy of a Bestselling Amazon Book Promotion

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