Amazon Guidelines for Authors

Author Pages

Creating and optimizing your biography is one of the most important tasks you can do as an author. It is a simple and effective method you can use to positively impact sales on Amazon.

With the significant consumer shift to online shopping, Amazon is increasingly becoming the preferred retailer for customers to find and purchase books. Ensuring your Amazon author page is set up with a photo, biography, book listing (including new and old editions) and any additional media raises your profile as an author and draws traffic to your book. More traffic results in increased sales, and sales stimulate ratings and reviews. Amazon’s algorithm will prioritize products that are attracting customers and being engaged with your Amazon author page will maximize the discoverability of your book with browsing customers.

Amazon data tells us that people rely on credibility and completeness of information to make purchasing decisions and something as simple as a missing author image could mean that a competitor's book is the one that goes home with the customer.

Click on the links below to create your Amazon Author page (please note you can create a single account for multiple territories):

• Amazon Author Central (US): https://author.amazon.com/?locale=en_US
• Amazon Author Central (UK): https://author.amazon.co.uk/?locale=en_GB

It can be difficult to know exactly where to start or what Amazon customers are looking for, so we have put together some tips to help you get the most out of your book on Amazon:

• Brevity is key - an overly long biography that reads like a CV isn't engaging for a customer and can result in a lower conversion. Being brief but impactful is the best way to ensure you get the most from your biography.
• Have an image of yourself - this can be similar to your LinkedIn headshot, but we'd recommend having a think about how you would like to be perceived by your book-buying audience and use an image that best reflects this. Keep in mind, they may be a different target audience to your professional network.
• Add additional media - adding videos and other content is a great way to show you are engaged with the platform. Amazon claims that conversion can increase by up to 3% just from having an author image and additional media in the 'about the author' section.
• Be human - today's online consumers welcome authenticity and irreverence in the appropriate circumstances, and showing a different side to yourself in the biography can help to humanize you. This can also allow you to appeal to a broader audience - including people outside your subject area. It’s worth asking yourself what quirky or interesting things you have done that could demonstrate value to the customer and how it relates to the topics in the book. Don’t forget to add your social media handles so they know where to find you if they would like more information.
• Good examples: Matthew Syed, Adam Kay, Nikesh Shukla, Joanna Penn, Chidera Eggerue

If you have any issues with your author page, please contact the support team via Amazon Author Central (unfortunately, we are unable to edit or update your author page on Amazon for you).