Sell More Books with a Kickass Amazon Book Page

by | Jun 22, 2017 | Amazon Updates & Marketing Tips, Book Marketing Basics

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People often ask me what Amazon Optimization entails. And I tell them that when I do it for an author, I look at things like their keywords and their categories. But also, I look at the real estate that Amazon has given each book. Because in 90% of the optimizations I do, their Amazon book page isn’t being used to its full extent.

Optimizing your Amazon book page isn’t just about the things you can’t see, like keywords. But it’s also about the things you can see. An obvious fix might be writing and beefing up your book description. But what about promoting your other books? Or sharing a giveaway you’re doing? Or promoting your social media? All of these things are possible and all of them are within the guidelines of Amazon’s Terms of Service. So let’s take a look at what some creative authors are doing with their book page. And then we can discuss how you might incorporate some of these ideas into your own Amazon real estate!

Author Central Enhancements

You may or may not be aware of all that you can do with your Amazon Author Central page, so let’s take a look at one of the most underused components: Book Details.

Within the Book Details segment, you can add all sorts of great things to your Amazon book page. Notes from the author, About the Author, Inside Flap, From the Back Cover and much more. Here’s what the page looks like, when you access it via your Author Central page:

 Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

So you see, just by clicking on the “Add” button, all of the great things you can include with your book. And now, let’s see how folks are using this section, as well as the book description, to really enhance their Amazon real estate.

Your Top Reviews

 It goes without saying that you want to really push your top reviews, right? So why not add them to the Editorial Review section. But, make sure that you cite who they are from. And you can even bold certain words to call attention to them. Take a look at what one author did with this:

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

As you can see, this author chose to bold only the publications or author names. But you could bold words, or entire sentences, to put more attention on particular aspects of a review. Bolding phrases, instead of the attribution, is often a better idea in cases where the reviewer may not be known, or even well-known. I see this a lot with authors who get a lot of author praise for their books. Unless the author who is blurbing you is a household name, your potential reader may not know who they are so, instead, draw more attention to particular aspects of the review instead.

Creative Ways to Use Your Bio

So, in an article I did a few weeks ago, I talked about creative ways to write a bio for your Amazon book page, but there are also some fun things you can do with the bio space itself, like mentioning your freebie and newsletter sign up!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Here, this author really drove home the point of being part of her fan club. She’s got a link to her website, her social media, and her reader’s group!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Your “From the Author” Section:

This is one section, in particular, that you can have a lot of fun with. First up, you can use it to make an announcement, like a forthcoming audio book!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

You can also use it to promote any freebies, special offers, or your social media!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

But you can and should also use this section to get in more of your keyword strings. Especially if you weren’t able to fit them all into your book description in an organic way. An example of this, could be to list, specifically, who your target audience is, along with some nuances of the book. It allows you make that personal connection that gets potential buyers to say, “That’s me!”:

Example:

My books are meant for all adults interested in psychological suspense. Also people intrigued by social engineering, esoteric history, mind control programs, strategy and corruption in the intelligence profession and government. And those that love twists and turns, eccentric characters, and flipping secret agent fiction on its head.

Editor Blurbs

Here’s something you may not have thought of. Why not get a blurb from your editor and include it in your book details? Look at what this crafty author did with their editor blurb:

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Maximizing Your Book Description

 A lot of indie authors think that the space for their book description should be just that: a book description. And while that’s a good start, there’s so much more you can do with it to make the most of your book marketing. Take a look at what this smart author did, by listing all of her books so the reader knows that there’s much, much more than just the book they are considering!

 Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

So each series she has is listed out, in detail, I really love that!

And in this case, the author listed not just the books, but their URL, too!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Here’s a great non-fiction example of an author who really emphasizes and pushed people to the buy button for his book. You can see he actually treated this book description like a sales page, with a big, bold DOWNLOAD in the center of it, then at the bottom, he reminds folks to scroll back up.

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

In this example, the author started his first sentence with something that will get the reader nodding and thinking: “this is me!” and that’s exactly what you want.

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Here you’ll see how this author actually teased her other book, in the description of her latest release. This is never a bad idea, because if readers love the current book, they’ll likely buy all of your titles! And keep in mind, this works for fiction and non-fiction book promotion, too.

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

If your book has bonus content, you should list that in the book description as well. But one of my favorite ways to enhance your book description is to do some focused reader targeting.

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Tell your reader what they’re getting!

Both of the above examples really give the reader a solid sense of what they’re buying. The worst thing you can do is surprise your reader with a book that isn’t what they expected. It may also become apparent in your reviews, if you aren’t clear what your book is, and isn’t. And while you don’t have to do this with every book, if you can add in one or two sentences to help the reader know if this book is what they’re looking for. Bottom line, it could help your sales and reader engagement tremendously.

Also, readers in genre fiction are looking for specific things. So, HEA (happily ever after) is something pretty specific to romance, obviously, so if you’re writing romance you you’ll need to tell your reader if there is no HEA at the end of your book, the same is true for any genre fiction really. You should know what the reader wants, and then key into those elements in your book description.

Don’t forget book length!

And because readers are often sensitive about length of a book, you could list that as well. This is especially good if you have a lot of books, some of them being novellas and others full-length. And again, book length tends to be pretty genre specific, too. Meaning that readers of genre tend to like novellas, as well as full-length books and some readers will buy both!

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

And finally, it goes without saying that your book description is the single most important piece of your Amazon real estate (other than your outstanding book cover and book title). So make good use of it. Don’t lead your book description off with some meandering sentence that will never sell a book.  Instead use your elevator pitch right up front. What’s an elevator pitch? Well, it’s a short, punchy, smart, enticing blurb that will get your reader to say: I want more! Here are some great examples:

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Amazon Author Central Book Page | AMarketingExpert.com

Where can you find great book descriptions?

I find some of the best examples of this by trolling the bestseller list on Amazon. And, as you no doubt noticed, also the romance fiction market, because these authors tend to be more willing to experiment and play around with their book page. And yes, I used a number of fiction examples but most, if not all, of these will work for any genre, fiction or non-fiction. You just have to get creative and use the real estate that Amazon has given you. And my recommendation is that you use every square inch of it. Once you get the reader onto your page, you must do everything you can to keep them there!

One last cool option, remember to pull in accolades from other sites or platforms. For example, Goodreads has Listopia. And we’ve had clients make it into the top 10 for their category/list on Listopia – which is huge. And since it’s all based on reader and user votes, this is something worth bragging about! Reviews and awards aren’t the only things worth mentioning in your book description. So keep that in mind, and get creative. If you’re unfamiliar with Listopia get a quick intro by reading this post.

Amazon’s Author Central is filled with opportunities for book promotion, and for building a kickass Amazon book page. And, don’t forget about all of Amazon’s international pages – they’re a treasure trove of potential sales you should take advantage of!

If you want some more in-depth, DIY Amazon tips and tricks you must check out our newly updated Master Amazon & Sell More Books video series. You won’t believe all the “secrets” we’ve shared, including step-by-step instructions. It’s a must-have for your self-promotion arsenal. Find out more and snag the limited time discount now!

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