An Author’s Guide to Amazon: 7 Tools To Help Increase Book and Author “Discoverability”

When it comes to gaining exposure for your book, Amazon’s the place to be. As a published author, there’s a good chance that your book is already available on Amazon, and perhaps you’ve even created an author profile. If so, you’re off to a great start… but here are more tools offered by Amazon that are often overlooked by authors:

1. Author Central

Think of Author Central as your “main hub” in the wide world that is Amazon. Beyond creating
an author page, which will educate customers about you and your book and display essential
information about your biography, blog posts, etc., you can also use Kindle Direct Publishing
(KDP) to set up your book for the Kindle if you own electronic rights. Also through Author
Central, you can track book sales numbers across the U.S .for the past four weeks to identify
sales trends, utilize the CreateSpace platform to publish your next book, and explore Kindle
Direct Publishing Select, which will allow you to earn higher royalties.

2. Amazon Forums

Amazon offers a variety of discussion forums for authors, which can help you to network with
other authors and expose your book to a new audience interested in your genre. You can also

learn just by reading other posters’ questions, advice, answers, tips and tools. Feel free to reach
out to other authors (who are often avid readers themselves) to ask for feedback on your book, to
position yourself as an expert in your field, and to just have fun!

3. Amazon Keyword Tags

By using the tagging feature, you can make your book more searchable almost immediately, if
done correctly. Check out tags on other books (especially top selling titles!) in your book’s genre
and make your own tags accordingly. The more keywords you have tagged, the better readers
will be able to find your book within a slew of other books. Fun tip – think like a reader: what
keywords would you use to search your book? Also, changing tags each week or every few
weeks gets your book in front of new audiences.

4. Amazon’s Listmania!

Listmania! is another tool that authors can utilize to read potential book buyers. Listmania
positions your book among other books in your genre by adding your book to book lists, but
word to the wise: for best results, make sure to be very selective and true to your book’s genre
when choosing your lists .

5. Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book”

Just as book excerpts draw readers in, Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book” feature allows
readers to flip through some of your book, with the goal of making them want to read more. This
feature also works to prevent negative comments because by previewing the book, the reader has
a better understanding of your book’s content. Be sure to have your personal Amazon page set
up before you move forward with this tool, as it can take time to be approved by Amazon.

6. Amazon Marketplace

Amazon Marketplace serves as a third-party online storefront where you can sell your book
alongside the array of other Amazon goods. While it’s a great tool and can offer you more
freedom as an author (you can choose to give autographed copies of the book, for instance),
authors must be willing to carry a book inventory and must have this inventory already on hand
to be set up in the Marketplace. It also requires plenty of time and patience for authors to manage
their own online book sales, though many authors enjoy the control that they have over the price
of their book and fulfillment of book orders.

7. Amazon “So you’d like to…” Guide

With the Amazon “So you’d like to…” guide, you can actually build a guide around your book
topic, genre, or specialty, which will position you as the expert of your book or field. This free
tool allows you to think outside the box when it comes to book promotion. and gives you the

option to include your book with other Amazon products, essentially creating a “bundle” of
items relating to the “So you’d like to…” Guide topic. Authors can choose to write content about
the subject and, within the content, mention that the book is for sale on Amazon.

For more information on using these tools, visit Amazon. For help with Amazon Optimization
services, contact Smith Publicity: vasb@FzvguChoyvpvgl.pbz or 856-489-8654 x306