Amazon 101 For Authors

 

 

Intro

We know Amazon owns the publishing world and that no publisher or author can have any type of meaningful success without selling a truckload of books through Amazon. Below are some things that you should know when it comes to Amazon:

 

Amazon Ad Stats

According to www.adbadgert.com, the average cost-per-click to advertise on Amazon was 91 cents in 2023. The average conversion rate was 9.39%. This means it would take about 11 clicks at a cost of $10 to sell a book on Amazon. That is unaffordable for almost any author of a book that retails for $20 or less, especially when you factor in printing costs, discounts, the price of shipping, and related fees. 

 

Amazon Author Central 

All authors can and should have an account at www.AuthorCentral.Amazon.com. It’s free to join. This is different than the page on Amazon that lists and sells a specific book of yours. Here, you can promote your brand by posting a biography of yourself. You can add a photo as well. If have your own blog, you can add that feed to this page. You can also add video. You can list all of your books here. Don’t forget to post pages on international sites, as well, such as at www.authorcentral.Amazon.uk

 

Amazon Stats

According to a 2019 article in Writers Digest, Amazon sells close to 50% of all print books in America, sells over 70% of all e-books in the nation, and is the largest account for almost every publisher in the country. 

 

Amazon Optimization Best Practices

 

Your Amazon book page should have:

 

·         A great description of your book that is short enough to keep the reader’s attention and span long enough to highlight its true appeal and selling points. 

 

·         An author biography that’s written not just to be a resume, but rather to state what’s relevant or interesting about your professional or personal life, hobbies, schooling, or connections that relate to your book.

 

·         Selected three genre categories that accurately reflect your book’s subject matter Use terms that people would tend to search for. 

 

·         Include a cover image and a photo of yourself.

 

·         Post testimonials and endorsements from recognizable names or people in positional authority. 

 

·         Quote from professional book reviews that your book received organically or were paid for.

 

·         Offer the “look inside” feature to reveal sample book pages.

 

·         Sprinkle relevant key words and phrases across your Amazon page. Use synonyms and do not repeat to death the same words. 

 

·         Use an attention-getting tagline at the top to clearly state your proposition (why your book is unique or interesting).

 

Obviously, an attractive cover, a catchy title, a clever subtitle, a book priced right, a popular genre, and a book that has great praise will look attractive. It’s your job to make your listing look appealing. The clincher will be for you to have dozens of customer reviews giving a high rating. 

 

Most Amazon book descriptions fail because they:

 

·         Don’t use bullet points to summarize cool features or bottom-line benefits that are gained from reading the book.

 

·         Fail to highlight all that’s interesting and unique.

 

·         Come up short in giving people a reason to buy. 

 

·         Are written by authors who know what’s in their book but fail to show the reader what they need to know. 

 

·         Lack a singular hook that makes people feel they are missing out if they don’t get a copy.

 

·         Simply don’t address the need or desire that a reader must feel compelled by. 

 

·         Don’t mistake the case for how the book does one or none of these things: informs, enlightens, inspires, or entertains. 

 

·         Lack emotion, intellectual depth, curiosity, or touch upon the real movers: relationships, power, money or beauty/sex, politics, religion, or hit the stages of life: youth, adult, mid-life, and senior years (school-career-retirement). 

 

Conclusion

Do not underestimate what needs to be done to get your Amazon book page looking its best. Go back and tweak yours and expect to see better results. 

 

Words For Writers & Readers

·         Do you suffer from being a sesquipedalianist? This means you are a writer who has a tendency to use long words. 

 

·         Perhaps you are scripturient? This is someone who has a passionate urge to write.

·         Are your senses connected to books? A bibliosmia is one who enjoys the smell of a good book.

·         Though it doesn’t seem possible, there are people who overindulge in reading. They are bibliobibulics. 

·         Even though there are millions of books circulating out there, with over 7,000 new titles a day, some have a fear of running out of reading material. Such a person suffers from abibliophobia. 

·         Do you like to read in bed? You are one such librocubicularist.

·         Is old age setting in? Those who experience not being able to remember the right word is one who has lethologica,

 

 

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 4.4 million pageviews. With 5,300+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum