Current Posts |  RSS Feed

The Best Series Tip No. 6: Publish a Blog on Amazon

March 02, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 6: Publish a Blog on Amazon

  • Amazon has few restrictions on author blogs
  • Keep it professional and well written
  • Make it interesting
  • Add relevant links

Amazon isn't just a place to put a picture of your book and then have people buy it. The savvy author will also realize that it is a place to interact with your readers. One of the things that Amazon offers (and doesn't put a lot of restrictions on) is a free blog on the book page.

Part of your job as an author marketing a book is to be creating a concrete author platform. Your author platform is like a club that talks about you, your books, and also buys your books. It would stand up to reason then that the bigger your club, the bigger a success you will be as an author.

A blog on your Amazon page is an entry point into the club. It keeps people on the page longer, giving them more time to decide to buy, and also it allows you a way to get your message onto the sell page. Bad review? Address it in your blog post! Working on a new book? Start your marketing early by talking about it in a blog post on your already published book!

A few tips on writing an Amazon blog:
Keep it professional and well written.

This is your chance to show people what you and your work are all about. This is not the place to start introducing poor grammar, typos, and it is for sure not the place to rant on using obscene language about how no one is buying your book.

Your blog posts should reflect your skill as a writer (you know, 'cause, like, you're trying to sell your book which is, like, totally your culmination of skill as a writer, duh). If your entries are well written and include delightful wit and insight, you are more likely to persuade someone to put your book in their cart because they'll want to read more of it!

Make it interesting

Your Amazon page blog is not the place to discuss what you had for breakfast (unless you've written a cook book) or where to discuss how your dog just destroyed your couch (particularly bad if your book is about dog training).
So what should you write about? You should write about you the writer and also about your book.
Here are some suggestions of topics:

  • How you came up with the idea for you book.
  • The most trouble you had writing your book was blank
  • Your favorite thing you've heard from a reader
  • Ideas you're working on for your next book

Relevant links
Amazon is not too restrictive about blog content like they are about other pieces of your page. In your blog you can (and should) include external links to your website, other websites that talk about positively review your book, your external blogs, and even to your book trailer on YouTube.

Blogging on Amazon is a great way to keep your potential buyer on the page and to help reinforce their decision to buy your book. By blogging, you have an active way to talk to your buyers and help bring them into your author platform. As more and more options become available to buyers, it is the personal connection that will put your ahead of the rest. Your blog is a great way to establish that feeling of familiarity and to help sell those books!

Next in the Best series: Tip No. 7: Review Amazon Products



Tags: marketing, amazon, author platform, blogging, best series
Filed Under: Marketing,




Comments



Post Your Comment


Name:

Email:

Website: (optional)

Remember my personal information
Email me when someone responds

Please enter the word you see in the image below: