Maximize Your Amazon Page
You've written your first book, loaded it on Amazon, launched an effective marketing plan, and now sit back and dutifully wait for the sales to roll in. Only they're not. Or at least they're not coming in as much as you had hoped. It could be the consumer isn't having a positive experience with your Amazon page because of that old cliche, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him buy a book. Or something like that. Convincing a customer to check out your book on Amazon is hard. Convincing them to buy a copy once they get there is just as hard, so authors need to maximize their book's page to complete the sale. Here are six things every author should do to strengthen their Amazon page and complete the sale.
1. Write a killer summary. Take your time on this and treat it as a piece of creative writing in itself. Your summary is the first thing readers usually look at so it has to be snappy, intriguing, and hook a reader. It shouldn't be too long or too short or give away too much while convincing someone to spend money on you. That's not an easy thing to do, so take your time to craft a killer summary that makes it impossible for readers to walk away.
2. Your author biography should mirror what you're selling. When I wrote Title Shot, Into the Shark Tank of Mixed Martial Arts, I wrote a biography that highlighted my writing accomplishments in MMA so I sounded like a guy who had been there and done that and was qualified to write a book about getting punched in the face. But when I wrote a completely different book called Curmudgeonism, A Surly Man's Guide to Midlife, I rewrote my biography to one simple line: "Kelly Crigger is an angry troll who lives under a bridge, eats goats that wander past, and throws their bones into the canyon of despair." This simple bio made it perfectly clear who I was and why I was the right guy to write a book about surly curmudgeons.
3. Have reviewers lined up and ready on release day. No one will buy a book with no reviews. No one. Before release day, send the manuscript out to as many friends as possible and have them post a review as soon as they can. Is this loading the deck? Yes, but the alternative is to wait for customers to post reviews months after the book is released while your sales ranking tanks. Having reviewers lined up and ready on release day (and not all of them 5-star) is just good marketing.
4. Add editorial reviews as soon as they come out. Amazon is very good about posting editorial reviews on your book if you forward it to them. No matter how big or small the outlet is from the new York Times to the Prairie Gazette, if someone writes "this is the greatest book ever" send that to Amazon and have them add it to the page. Peer reviews are a big selling point.
5. Respond to negative reviews. Someone once loaded a 1-star review of a book I wrote but their comments weren't directed at the book itself, but my co-author. It was a personal attack on Zak Bagans, so I took umbrage with the person and fired back. After a few back-and-forth comments I actually turned to person to my side and they became an apologetic follower. Now I'll be the first to admit there is a fine line when it comes to this. There's a razor thin difference between engaging negative people and feeding insolent trolls. Pick your battles wisely.
6. Don't let Amazon pigeonhole your book into uber-competitive categories. It's better to be #1 in a small, obscure category like Dead Languages Written by Assholes than #200 in Popular Fiction. Being at the top of any list is good, so make sure Amazon is putting your book into categories it can do well in.
Besides your book's page, make sure your author page is up to speed as well. Make sure Amazon is crediting you with the right books, you have a good photo loaded, a good bio written, and updated social media like twitter scrolling across your page.
Loading your book on Amazon is a must if you ever want to make a sale, but too many authors don't spend the time to maximize their Amazon experience. Remember, the Amazon page is the last step toward making a sale. It's your shop window. Don't bring the customer to your doorstep only to have them leave underwhelmed without buying anything.
1. Write a killer summary. Take your time on this and treat it as a piece of creative writing in itself. Your summary is the first thing readers usually look at so it has to be snappy, intriguing, and hook a reader. It shouldn't be too long or too short or give away too much while convincing someone to spend money on you. That's not an easy thing to do, so take your time to craft a killer summary that makes it impossible for readers to walk away.
2. Your author biography should mirror what you're selling. When I wrote Title Shot, Into the Shark Tank of Mixed Martial Arts, I wrote a biography that highlighted my writing accomplishments in MMA so I sounded like a guy who had been there and done that and was qualified to write a book about getting punched in the face. But when I wrote a completely different book called Curmudgeonism, A Surly Man's Guide to Midlife, I rewrote my biography to one simple line: "Kelly Crigger is an angry troll who lives under a bridge, eats goats that wander past, and throws their bones into the canyon of despair." This simple bio made it perfectly clear who I was and why I was the right guy to write a book about surly curmudgeons.
3. Have reviewers lined up and ready on release day. No one will buy a book with no reviews. No one. Before release day, send the manuscript out to as many friends as possible and have them post a review as soon as they can. Is this loading the deck? Yes, but the alternative is to wait for customers to post reviews months after the book is released while your sales ranking tanks. Having reviewers lined up and ready on release day (and not all of them 5-star) is just good marketing.
4. Add editorial reviews as soon as they come out. Amazon is very good about posting editorial reviews on your book if you forward it to them. No matter how big or small the outlet is from the new York Times to the Prairie Gazette, if someone writes "this is the greatest book ever" send that to Amazon and have them add it to the page. Peer reviews are a big selling point.
5. Respond to negative reviews. Someone once loaded a 1-star review of a book I wrote but their comments weren't directed at the book itself, but my co-author. It was a personal attack on Zak Bagans, so I took umbrage with the person and fired back. After a few back-and-forth comments I actually turned to person to my side and they became an apologetic follower. Now I'll be the first to admit there is a fine line when it comes to this. There's a razor thin difference between engaging negative people and feeding insolent trolls. Pick your battles wisely.
6. Don't let Amazon pigeonhole your book into uber-competitive categories. It's better to be #1 in a small, obscure category like Dead Languages Written by Assholes than #200 in Popular Fiction. Being at the top of any list is good, so make sure Amazon is putting your book into categories it can do well in.
Besides your book's page, make sure your author page is up to speed as well. Make sure Amazon is crediting you with the right books, you have a good photo loaded, a good bio written, and updated social media like twitter scrolling across your page.
Loading your book on Amazon is a must if you ever want to make a sale, but too many authors don't spend the time to maximize their Amazon experience. Remember, the Amazon page is the last step toward making a sale. It's your shop window. Don't bring the customer to your doorstep only to have them leave underwhelmed without buying anything.
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