How To Create Your Amazon Author Page

A backgrounder

Books printed and distributed through Ingram automatically get listed on book retailers’ sites, e.g., Amazon, B&N, Powell, and many others. Ingram is the largest book distributor, distributing to 40,000+ retailers and local independent bookstores, libraries, schools, and universities. With its global distribution partners, this allows worldwide distribution of books.

If you hire a book service provider or sign a contract with a Hybrid publisher, Ingram will most likely be your book’s distributor.

Now that your book is listed on Amazon.com, you can sign up for an Amazon Author Central account. Any author with a book on Amazon can create an account.

Why should I create an Amazon Central Account?

Amazon sells more books than any other retailer. According to Amazon’s report, thousands of self-published authors are now earning more than $50,000 from sales of their books on Amazon, with more than a thousand passing the six-figure mark from their book sales last year.  Having an Amazon Author Central account is one of the best ways to promote your book in the world’s largest bookstore. 

If you’re an indie author, you should be leveraging your Amazon Author Central account. Your Amazon Author Central account is not automatically activated, so you need to do it yourself because your publisher won’t; lucky if it is not your case.

However, it is your job to check the correctness of your book’s information, build visibility and create your Amazon Profile Page. 

What is an Amazon Author Page?

Amazon Author Central allows you to create your Author Page where you can share the most up-to-date information about yourself and your books with millions of readers. Amazon Author Page is a place where a potential reader can learn more about who you are as an author and see all your books, blogs, videos, and other fun extras all in one place.

You can think of Amazon Author Page as an extension of your author platform. It increases your book’s visibility, helps readers find your book easily, and will help you sell more books. Authors with an Amazon Author Page enjoyed an increase in their book’s visibility than without, and properly setting up your author page can make a difference in book sales.

In marketing workshops we organized for writers, authors would often be surprised how they overlooked the importance of Amazon Author Central and creating their Amazon Author Pages.

It’s free to create an account. Might you wonder, is it worth your time and effort?

Being listed is not the same as being actively sold. If you’re not familiar with the Amazon Author Page, head to Amazon.com and randomly search for any book. On the product page, you’ll see the author’s name below the book’s title, that’s a hyperlink, a clickable link.

Now imagine if readers discover your book on Amazon, and yes, they are interested and want to learn more about you before purchasing your book. If you don’t have an Amazon Author Page, Amazon has ‘ no way of knowing ‘ who you are. So when a potential reader clicks on your name, Amazon’s search results would come back with books written by other authors.

That’s a missed opportunity!  You need to retain your readers’ attention, make them read a few lines of your book, give them ideas about who you are, and give them the chance to read your book.  

It is quite a surprise that only a few authors are aware of the importance of Amazon Central, and those who adopted early benefited the most.

Do I need to create An Amazon Author Page?

Amazon Author pages are not just for indie authors; even traditionally published authors have their Amazon author pages. The only difference is they have a marketing team, and as an independently published author, you have to set up and manage your Amazon author page yourself.

Yes, that’s Neil Gaiman. 

Properly setting up an Amazon Author Page may sound technically intimidating with all the steps involved. But, you’re an author; if you have conquered the pen, err keyboard, you can conquer Amazon Author Page too! As they say, if you can move and click a mouse, you can do it.

So, let’s take a look and try to create your Author Profile Page.

How To Create An Amazon Author Central Account

First, you need to sign up for Amazon Author Central account. If you already have an Amazon Author Central account jump to Step 2— Setting Up Your Author Page.

1. Go to https://author.amazon.com/ and ‘ click join for free.’

2. Sign in with your KDP account or regular Amazon account. If you don’t have an existing account, click ‘create a new account.’  If you are creating a new account, there are several security protocols e.g., verifying your email, phone number—just bear with it, it’s for your protection.

3. Enter your book title, ISBN, or author name into the search field. 

4. Now, claim any one of your books ( you can add more of your books later.) If your book don’t show up in the search results, you need to contact Amazon directly. Please note: Your book should be available on Amazon.com. You can not activate your Author Central Account until you have claimed a book. 

5. Amazon will send you a confirmation email. Please note: Amazon may contact your publisher or the book services company to verify your identity. Please be advised your customer information, such as product reviews or purchase history, remains private.

While waiting for approval, let’s begin to set up your Author Page. Please subscribe to our newsletter for marketing TIPS & MORE. 

For video tutorial, please watch the five minute clip.