The Catholic Writers Guild

Amazon is a company that was established in 2005. Yes, hard as it is to believe Amazon was established just ten years ago. As an author you may have mixed feelings about Amazon. The giant has devastated small brick and mortar bookstores around the country by offering discounts and speed of delivery. They have gobbled up small starter companies quicker than Cookie Monster devours cookies.  Recently, a number of authors got into a dispute over book prices and ended up settling out of court.

As an author I realize that Amazon is the elephant in the room. No beginning author can ignore them. It could even be harmful to sales not to have a presence on the massive company. The future is here and as much as I love the musty smell of a shelve-lined bookstore and the feel of a hard covered classic, I know time marches on. In July 2010, Amazon announced that the sale of e-books surpassed the sale of print books.  It broke my heart but on the up side I have to concede that most of humanity can now read books that were never available to them. With a laptop or reader, children who have never seen a bookstore or library can ride the waves with Moby Dick or share the barnyard with Charlotte’s Web.

Rather then longing for the past, I chose to find the good in progress. Reaching new audiences in remote parts of the world is just one of them. While there may be some problems, it is exciting to be an author and writer in these times. We can publish ourselves quite professionally and are no longer slaves to the whims of stuffy publishing houses. We can find our audience anywhere in the world with the use of the internet. There is a freedom to being a writer now that never existed before. We can publish on paper or on any of the popular websites dedicated to the ‘unique’ voice.

However, if you want to be heard you have to sell. If you want to sell, you have to have an electronic presence. That is not as hard as you may think. Let’s start with Amazon. The first thing you should check and insist on, is that your publisher create an electronic book that is posted and for sale (along with your print version) on amazon.com.  Don’t wait to make your book an e-book. Amazon is the biggest book seller in the United States. Why wouldn’t you be there? I have learned that waiting to post your e-book in hope of selling more print books is a mistake.  I have discovered that people who purchase the e-book and like it will order the print book. It amazed me!  Keep your ebook cheap. You are trying to build a readership and establish a fan base. Young adults don’t have much money. If your book is offered at a lower price you will grab a younger base. Those teenagers and young adults grow up, buy houses, build bookcases and guess what? They buy books for both themselves and their children.

Okay, so now you’re on Amazon, along with about a zillion other authors. What can you do to rise above the crowd? Amazon uses key words that readers punch in to find books in the genres that interest them. Pay attention! Make your book stand out without being deceiving to searchers.  Is your book a religious thriller, a Christian vampire mystery? Find a unique category to grab readers. Just saying you are a Christian novel puts you in a category with thousands of others. Wouldn’t you like to advertise that you are #1 in your category? Create an “Author Page.”  Write a unique and interesting bio. You are a writer after all. Get a studio picture to post on your page. You are a professional writer after all. Post the events you are going to. Connect your Author page to your twitter account, blog, and website. Paste your trailer on your page.

What? You don’t have these things? Don’t worry we will talk about them in future posts. Amazon is connected to Create Space. Create Space gives reports on how many books you sold. You can see what promotions work by following it. Create Space also allows you to change the prices of your books for a weekend or longer to promote them. You can check your Author page by going to amazon.com, and putting your own name in the ‘books’ category.  Click on the “Amazon’s (your name) page to update or just review it. After you create your Amazon author page scroll down to the bottom – where it says ‘visit author central’ and click. What a visit it will be. You can click on ‘reports’ and find out what your author rating is, what part of the country your books sold in last week, and what royalties you can expect. Even better, you can create contests and promotions to create a buzz.  Next time, let’s learn how to use press releases for publicity.

Karen Boyce

Karen Kelly Boyce lives on a farm in N.J. with her retired husband. She is a mother and grandmother. She is the author of “The Sisters of the Last Straw” series published by Tan Books. You can see her work and learn more about her on her website: www,kkboyce.com