If you have a traditionally published book available for purchase on Amazon, or are curious about self-publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), it’s worth familiarizing yourself with Amazon Author Central. This is your author profile for prospective readers. It’s more than a bio, it’s an invitation for readers to step a little closer to the person behind the words. Properly managed, this page can help readers find all your books in one place and give you a more cohesive presence on the Amazon marketplace.
In this article, I’ll give a brief introduction to KDP and explore the basic functions of Amazon Author Central. Lastly, I will offer you a Story Weapon on how to curate your profile to match your identity and brand.
Amazon Author Central is a vital hub that consolidates your bibliography and biography into a professional storefront, helping you build a cohesive author brand within the world’s largest bookstore. By leveraging tools like the Book Recommendation feature and Amazon Ads, you can transform a simple profile into a powerful megaphone that amplifies your unique voice and connects you with your target audience.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon’s publishing platform, which allows users to upload their books for purchase as either e-books or physical copies.
KDP is especially useful for writers interested in self-publishing. It offers a larger share of royalties than traditional publishing routes, with payment transferred directly into your chosen bank account whenever someone buys your book. It can be a powerful tool for writers who want to bypass industry gatekeepers and build their careers and readerships independently.
KDP is designed to be easy to use, and it allows you to upload your book and design your own cover. It is important to include a solid description of your book, and to research the best keywords and categories to aid its chances of being discovered.
Once a book has been uploaded to the platform, anyone can search for the title and either download or order a copy.
If you have one or more books available on Amazon, it is important to carefully craft your author profile and begin building your presence on the platform.
Amazon Author Central
Amazon Author Central is the interface you can use to create the author profile readers will see when searching for you on Amazon. Especially for those of you who do not have personal author websites set up, this is a convenient way to create a linked page where you can direct readers on social media or other platforms, as well as any agents who may be interested in seeing more of your work.
To begin, visit the Marketing page of Kindle Direct Publishing and select your preferred marketplace from the Author Central dropdown menu. This will present a list of regional marketplaces where Amazon sells books. Once you have selected the market, you will be directed to a page where you can sign in under the same account you used to publish your work. From there, select the books you want displayed on your consolidated page.
Crafting your page
The basic way to create your profile is to add a headshot, a short biography, and claim any books you have published. At this point, you’ll already have a functioning hub where interested readers can select from your titles.
If you have a personal website or blog, you can add a custom URL here to make it easier for readers to move between your site and the page where they can actually purchase your work. Readers can also follow your Amazon Author Central page to keep up with your latest releases.
You can further customize your page with various features, such as Amazon’s Book Recommendation tool. This helps you connect with readers by sharing recommendations — both from your own work, and the works of other authors. It can be a good way to network with other writers, as well as to demonstrate your personal reading tastes.
To take your page even further, Amazon’s built-in marketing tools will jumpstart your efforts to reach a broader audience.
Marketing
Spending time creating your Author Central profile makes it easier for Amazon to recommend your work through its internal algorithms. If you take advantage of Amazon’s built-in marketing tools, they can help you promote your work in a convenient and easy-to-use format.
One option is enrolling in Kindle Unlimited, which is available in the “Reports + Marketing” tab of your author page. This will make your books available through Amazon’s subscription service. Payment for this option is not the same as from a regular purchase, but is based on the number of pages read by a subscriber. It is also very important to note that if you choose this route, you will not be able to post your book on other e-book platforms like Barnes & Noble or Apple Books.
Amazon Ads is another important tool to familiarize yourself with if you are interested in marketing your work through Amazon itself. Depending on which route you choose, this can be a cost-effective way of reaching new readers. Using this system, you only pay for clicks and not just views.
You can decide how much you are willing to pay for each click, and then choose from a few ad types:
- Sponsored products –– This ad type will present your book in search results, and on pages for similar titles. Your title will appear as a sponsored link among the listings in the search results. This ad type is useful for advertising an individual book.
- Lockscreen ads –– These advertisements appear on the lock screen of Kindle e-readers when the device is in sleep mode. They can be a good way of targeting people who are already likely to buy a new book, and can be combined with Kindle Unlimited as a way of lowering the barrier to engaging with your work.
- Sponsored brands: These ads allow you to present multiple books at once for searches targeting similar titles, or specific keywords. They place your brand at the top of the page, rather than embedding it among individual titles. This format generally requires at least three books linked to your Amazon Author Central page.
Note: These ads rely heavily on your cover and title, so having a strong visual design can significantly affect their performance.
Your story weapon: Curating your brand
First, let me just say that I used to balk at the term “brand.” It seemed objectifying — and a strange word to attribute to a person creating art. But the word has become so ubiquitous that I’ve finally surrendered. I suppose brand is really just a way of codifying who you are and the medium in which you work. And if the goal is to help people find and discover your work, then this cannot be a bad thing.
One rule to keep in mind is that advertisements only bring traffic. You will still have to do the actual selling through your book covers, blurbs, and reviews. Think carefully about your brand before spending money to advertise it.
There is no universal process for creating your brand, but short of hiring a professional consultant, you can take the following considerations into account:
- Visual identity: While it is advised not to judge a book by its cover, most readers do so anyway! Make sure your chosen artwork makes the right first impression and matches your genre. Having consistent cover art across your titles, and investing in real artists to create them, can go a long way toward drawing readers into your story.
- Presentation: Having a professional author headshot or logo on display can help make your page feel cohesive, even if there is not much other information on it. Each piece of the profile you’re crafting should represent your identity as a writer.
- Meta-story: Think not just about the individual narratives you are telling, but about the larger picture created by your body of work. What kind of experiences, perspectives, and emotions do you want to convey when a reader opens one of your books?
- Points of difference: These days, there is no shortage of content competing for our attention. With that in mind, ask yourself why your work, specifically, deserves a reader over another book in your genre.
It may feel like you are straying too far into marketing, rather than the joy of writing here. Remember these questions are still valuable to the creative process, especially if they motivate you to identify your strengths and unique perspectives. You can dig even deeper into these qualities when you return to the blank page for your next project.
Beyond marketing and advertising, it is ultimately the quality of your writing, and understanding of your audience, that will determine your success.
Amazon began as an online bookstore, and today it is the world’s largest marketplace for books. That can feel daunting, especially for emerging writers, and it’s easy to feel like you’re shouting into the void.
But with proper research and preparation, Amazon Author Central and its marketing tools can act as a powerful megaphone — one which amplifies in direct proportion to your persistence, sense of purpose, and the clarity of your voice.
Your job as a writer is to build a body of work worth branding. Learn how to sharpen your writing techniques, trust your instincts, and more in one of my next workshops: The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, Story Day.
