Far too often, authors neglect one of the essential elements of book marketing – their Amazon page. Since the majority of book sales occur on Amazon, authors must spend time making their book promotion content as robust, strategic, and impactful as possible.

Here are three quick tips:

1. Author Bios Need to be Thorough

When it comes to how to promote your book on Amazon, a well-written bio is vital. An author’s bio should be written in the third person and not too long or short. It is your chance to show your personality and why people should care about what you’ve written. Be creative and be real—it helps people connect with you. If education or work credentials are essential to your target audience, list them. Your bio also should provide insights about your personality and writing style.

Feel free to include awards, travel (if relevant to your book), and humor if it suits your book and personality. Adding writing-related awards also adds credibility. For guidance, check the bios of your favorite authors of all genres. If you are stuck, perhaps have an author friend write one for you (and you for them). If you’re working with one early on, an author publicist also can help craft a solid bio.

2. Your Author Central Page Should be Complete

The Author Page on Amazon gives readers an easy place to learn about you in one place. In a book promotion campaign or ebook marketing push, media often review your Author Central Page, and of course, savvy book buyers will too. You are in control of what you want people to know about you, your background, other books, events, as well as links to your website, social media channels, blogs, photos, videos (especially if you are a speaker!), etc.

Tips on where and how to start: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help

Here are examples of authors with robust Author Central pages.

Health author Robb Wolf:

https://www.amazon.com/Robb-Wolf/e/B003Z4MQVY/

Literary author Neil Gaiman:

https://www.amazon.com/Neil-Gaiman/e/B000AQ01G2/

Women’s Fiction author Christina Baker Kline:

https://www.amazon.com/Christina-Baker-Kline/e/B001I9VW40/

Romance author Colleen Hoover:

https://www.amazon.com/Colleen-Hoover/e/B006SKAK42/

Middle-Grade author Dav Pikley:

https://www.amazon.com/Dav-Pilkey/e/B000APCYV8/

Business Book author Simon Sinek:

https://www.amazon.com/Simon-Sinek/e/B002CB2SDC/

3. Book Descriptions Must Draw Attention and Have Keywords

Start with one or two sentences in bold to quickly summarize your book, followed by a paragraph break (a line of white space) and additional text not in bold.  Example: here is the beginning of the description for The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown:

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of storytelling phenomenon The Moth, 45 unforgettable true stories about risk, courage, and facing the unknown, drawn from the best ever told on their stages …

Treat the first sentences as if they are the only description readers will see. After a short amount of space, Amazon uses a “Read More” link to show the rest of the text, so use the space wisely.
Use spaces between paragraphs, rather than indentations, as it makes them easier to read.
Incorporate bolded words or phrases to call out valuable ideas. But don’t overuse bolding.
You have 4,000 characters, so use as many words as you can fit in — and add keywords.
Differentiate your book —yet use wording similar or familiar to what your target  audience is expecting. Search and read how books popular in your genre or the books you’d expect to be next to yours on a bookstore or library self are presented to readers.

However, you’re marketing your book, with an author promotion plan or strategic advertising, your Amazon page is vitally important to support your ultimate goal of selling books!