The instant I heard about Amazon’s new Author Stores, I just had to have one.
I’ve got a new book to plug and bills to pay. Plus, I’m supposedly an online book publicity guru. How would it look if Mr. Book Marketing was the last guy with an Amazon Author Store?
Pretty lame, that’s how it would look.
Being a self-published author, I’m always keen on looking “legit.” And wouldn’t you know, Stephen King and Stephenie Meyer had their Amazon stores open for business on day one, back in January. And I guarantee you, neither of them has the foggiest idea what an Amazon Author Store is!
Where was my Store? My biography, my banner picture, my discussion boards, my tempting spinoff products? Anyone can have a friggin’ blog, I wanted my Author Store!
Well now I’ve got one, and I’m going to tell you exactly how I did it. I signed up for the Author Store beta test by entering my e-mail address and waiting patiently.
After a week, I hadn’t heard back from Amazon. So, instead of waiting for the engraved invitation, I signed up again. Nothing. The next week, I signed up again. Nuthin. You get the picture.
After about 12 weeks, I still hadn’t heard back from Amazon, and I’m getting used to that. But guess what? They opened my Author Store anyway. Yahoooo!
Unlike Stephen King, I don’t have a fancy banner, a supersized portrait, or promotional video. I’m not even in the Store Directory and might never be. In fact, the only reason I know about my store is from searching Amazon.com for my name. That’s when I found the little logo for Amazon’s Steve Weber Store. Aha!
Apparently your Store biography is automatically populated with the text from your Amazon Profile bio. So, if you haven’t entered anything there, do it now. I changed mine a few days ago, but my Store still has the old text. Believe it or not, when I updated it, Amazon said the changes would take effect in about 12 weeks. Well thanks, Ammy, but my bio will be different by then! Hey, have you guys heard about the Internet?
Now, here’s an interesting point: At least two other authors are named Steve Weber, and neither has an Amazon Store yet. Will Steve Weber #2 get an Author Store too? I have no idea. Will his Author Store say “Steve Weber #2″?
How does Amazon decide who is first? Is it Amazon Sales Rank? Or is it just the beta?
And what about the other Steve Weber? Will he be Thing 2 or Thing 3?
Will my Author Store really sell any more books? Who cares, I’m just relieved to have one, so I can Twitter about it. Anyway, my favorite experience with my Author Store so far was informing my wife that she now had a brand new way to “share her thoughts with my other fans.” Priceless!
http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fbookcycling-20%2F8010%2F45946263-1e40-4d1f-a1e7-effb690070fb&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate
—————
If you like my articles, click the orange button to subscribe:
Related posts:
7 Comments
Thanks for the great tip, Steve! I hadn't gotten around to investigating the author stores and discovered that I have one (that is in dire need of updating). Really appreciate the tips!
-Stephanie Chandler
http://StephanieChandler.com
You can also have a store on LULU.com
My first two books can be downloaded or purchased. I am a student at Uarts getting my MFA in Bookarts and Printmaking. Many books to come.
There is a link in the Contact page of my website.
http://www.emilypfahl.com
i think you can pay lulu to put your book on amazon…
Thanks, Emily. Beautiful Web site you have!
Yes, I have a Lulu store, too, and recommend it to everyone. If you're an author, every bit of exposure helps. As a practical matter, though, Amazon has considerably more customer traffic than all of the other bookselling sites combined. Take a look at the graph I linked to, and you'll see the competing sites barely get off the ground compared to Amazon.
So, while I am always glad to see Amazon getting some competition, if you're going to sell many books, their site must be a priority.
And you're correct, if you pay Lulu to distribute your book, it will appear for sale on Amazon.
Steve
Steve –
Thanks for this info. I also applied months ago for a store through the beta link. And I've just checked and I still have nada.
So I'll just have to check every so often.
Phyllis
http://www.MrsLieutenant.com
P.S. Stephanie — I mentioned you and one of your books in a recent post at http://budurl.com/internetbusiness
Steve –
Yesterday I posted 2cents reviews for your books on getglue.com. If you want more info on getglue.com, see the tweetchat transcript at http://budurl.com/gluetranscript
Phyllis
http://www.CalltoActionWebsites.com
Hey Steve, just wanted to say thanks for the copy. I won the advanced reader of Plug Your Book on QueryTracker.net plus I also mentioned you on my blog. Have a great day.
Thank you so much for this information. I have also applied for the beta test of the free Amazon Author Store. I like the idea!