New Author Central service on Amazon recommending your books

[alhawke]

I just got this tip from AuthorsXP, a promotion service I'm subscribed to (thanks AXP). The idea is to recommend your books and books that are similar to your own. They're going to display this on your author page after you fill it out.

I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing yet? My concern is it will push some books down the list? I'm not sure where it'll show up. But if you have a large catalog like me, it's pretty easy to point to certain books for your readers/followers. I filled it out but it says it takes 24hrs to populate.

If you want to check it out, here is the link to add your books:
https://authorsxp.com/index.php?option=com_acym&ctrl=fronturl&task=click&urlid=2027&userid=849687&mailid=1917

[writeway]

Thanks for sharing. I'll check it out. I am on Authors XP mailing list but honestly, I have been ignoring their emails. They send WAY too many. I get an email a day from them. I don't know if they have the options in settings to change the frequency of emails. I might do that but I haven't opened those emails in at least a few months.

[alhawke]

Thanks for sharing. I'll check it out. I am on Authors XP mailing list but honestly, I have been ignoring their emails. They send WAY too many. I get an email a day from them. I don't know if they have the options in settings to change the frequency of emails. I might do that but I haven't opened those emails in at least a few months.

I think it's worth posting on your Amazon Author page. Probably every author will soon doing it, just like the A+ content. Again, I'm not sure if this will be an advantage or not?

Yes, I agree AXP sends a lot of emails. It's because the owner is a super aggressive marketer. For promoting, that translates well for authors and she's delivered well for me. I hadn't heard about Amazon creating this until I received the info from her email. Anyway, credit where credit is due, AXP made me aware of this. I'm curious whether others heard about this from Amazon? I didn't.

[writeway]

Okay, I'm back. I just went and tried it. I think (if this works well) it could bring a lot of eyes to back list books. Especially for people like me with a huge catalog where people can't go through it at once.

[writeway]

Thanks for sharing. I'll check it out. I am on Authors XP mailing list but honestly, I have been ignoring their emails. They send WAY too many. I get an email a day from them. I don't know if they have the options in settings to change the frequency of emails. I might do that but I haven't opened those emails in at least a few months.

I think it's worth posting on your Amazon Author page. Probably every author will soon doing it, just like the A+ content. Again, I'm not sure if this will be an advantage or not?

Yes, I agree AXP sends a lot of emails. It's because the owner is a super aggressive marketer. For promoting, that translates well for authors and she's delivered well for me. I hadn't heard about Amazon creating this until I received the info from her email. Anyway, credit where credit is due, AXP made me aware of this. I'm curious whether others heard about this from Amazon? I didn't.

I "think" it can be good if it really works because it can bring books visibility.  We shall see. I feel like free visibility on Amazon is always a good thing.

[Vijaya]

Thanks. Will check it out. I do believe that mentioning if you liked A, you'll also like B, is a very good strategy. As a reader, it has worked for me in discovering new-to-me authors.

[alhawke]

Mine's posted now, at least in the US store, so you guys can check it out if you want on my author page. It's basically an additional carousel. It'll show your own books and other authors you're trying to pair your work with. The other author sections might be good for cross-promoting? I just put books up I personally enjoyed that I felt were similar to my own. But I'm sure some writers might just work together and put cross-promoted books up? The recommendations can change whenever you want them to.

AXP mentioned that, maybe, your followers will get notices about this? I'd be curious. Please let me know if any of you start seeing this with your works or authors you follow.

[PaulineMRoss]

I haven't noticed this on author pages, because it seems to be well down the order, and with the size of everything, you have to scroll down a long way to get to it, but I've been getting emails from authors I follow with this information on, and I find it INTENSELY irritating. I don't care what book you want me to start with or what you recommend, just tell me when you have a new book out.

I haven't yet unfollowed anyone on account of it, but it's a close-run thing. But maybe that's just me, I dunno.

[alhawke]

I haven't noticed this on author pages, because it seems to be well down the order, and with the size of everything, you have to scroll down a long way to get to it, but I've been getting emails from authors I follow with this information on, and I find it INTENSELY irritating. I don't care what book you want me to start with or what you recommend, just tell me when you have a new book out.

It'd be pretty ironic if we lose followers from the new service.

[Bill Hiatt]

Maybe it will do something, but it is pretty far down the page. So my first question would be, "How many people actually visit on author page?" My question would be, "How many of those actually scroll through all the author's books to get to the point at which they can see the new information?" I'd be surprised if the second number was a very big one.

And here's the question no one can yet answer yet: "Since the new information is presented as a carousel, how many people are going to get past the first of four pages?"

I'm annoyed with Amazon, but not for the same reason Pauline is. So far, I haven't gotten any emails regarding this new material, though I may just not be following authors who have completed it. I'm annoyed because Amazon only bothers to send out emails on some authors. I've followed myself and haven't gotten any new release email during a time I've released four new books. In that scenario, having people follow me may actually reduce my sales. I can see someone following me and saying, "OK, I don't have to watch for his new releases anymore because I'll get an email notice when one comes out."

Anyway, if that's how Amazon plans to draw attention to the new information, it's really of no use to me.

[Hopscotch]

Question:  Does Amazon think this will make more money for Amazon?

[writeway]

Usually, I'm the more cynical one about certain things but I'm going to be the positive one this time.  I think it could be a good thing or at the least, not harm anything. Either it will get some to check out more of our books or they will ignore it. No harm done either way IMO. But as I said before, for someone with a huge backlist like me, it's cool to be able to recommend a few books. My backlist is massive and with the way the author pages are now, it will take some time for a reader to scroll through it. That's why I liked the carousel better because you could just look through all the person's books easily.

I can't speak for anyone else but I look through author's books all the time. If it's a new-to-me author I am interested in, I will look at their other work to see what they have written. I do the same with authors I know to keep up with their new releases. So yes, I look at author's catalogs. I would assume many readers do because I know I pick up passive sales for my backlist and many of the books I haven't advertised in years. That means they looked through my catalog at some point and checked out my other work. This is why a backlist is important, because you can keep catching new readers with older books, etc. There is always someone who will be a new reader for you.

As for the follower thing, I don't subscribe to any authors on Amazon. I also am not sure if the recommendations are sent to every author's followers. I doubt it. Probably Amazon picks and chooses. But even if they do send, if someone unfollows you because the recommendations bug them then this is why authors should have a mailing list. I am the first to warn authors about depending on Amazon, Facebook, TikTok, or any other place they don't control as their "meeting place" for their readers. It's important to push the mailing list in your books, website, and wherever. I have my link on my author page. No matter what happens, whether you lose followers on Amazon or anywhere, you will always have your list, which is the most important.

As for will this make Amazon money? I'm sure it will. Everytime we sell a book Amazon makes money. I don't think anyone is naive enough to believe Amazon does things ONLY for the authors' benefit. Of course, they have thought this through and figure it might help them make money but that doesn't mean it can't help authors too.

So right now, I don't see the big deal and will just roll with it. As I said, either it will bring folks a few more sales or borrows or it won't. No biggie and those who don't wanna do it certainly don't have to. But, it's refreshing to see Amazon put up a new feature that's not something you gotta pay for. Lately all they've been worrying about are their ads.

[LilyBLily]

I think the advantage to doing it is that you can bring their attention to something they might not see unless they clicked "See All." Of late it seems Amazon makes the author page very disorganized.

[Hopscotch]

I prefer the old author page - simpler and relatively less cluttered so more accessible to a reader plus the URL connect to my blog let me do all the promoting things this new author page offers in a less inviting format.

[Bill Hiatt]

...That's why I liked the carousel better because you could just look through all the person's books easily.

I can't speak for anyone else but I look through author's books all the time. If it's a new-to-me author I am interested in, I will look at their other work to see what they have written. I do the same with authors I know to keep up with their new releases. So yes, I look at author's catalogs. I would assume many readers do because I know I pick up passive sales for my backlist and many of the books I haven't advertised in years. That means they looked through my catalog at some point and checked out my other work. This is why a backlist is important, because you can keep catching new readers with older books, etc. There is always someone who will be a new reader for you.

...As for will this make Amazon money? I'm sure it will. Everytime we sell a book Amazon makes money. I don't think anyone is naive enough to believe Amazon does things ONLY for the authors' benefit. Of course, they have thought this through and figure it might help them make money but that doesn't mean it can't help authors too.

So right now, I don't see the big deal and will just roll with it. As I said, either it will bring folks a few more sales or borrows or it won't. No biggie and those who don't wanna do it certainly don't have to. But, it's refreshing to see Amazon put up a new feature that's not something you gotta pay for. Lately all they've been worrying about are their ads.

The carousel was nice, and given the way Amazon loves carousels, I'm surprised they did away with it.

On the issue of people checking an author page, we have to remember that what we do isn't necessarily what the average customer does. I also check author pages sometimes myself, but none of my friends (the ones who aren't authors) do. Some of them didn't even realize such a thing existed. That's not to say that nobody does. But it's hard to tell. Backlist sales don't help make that determination, either. We don't know where those sales come from. They could be motivated by the author page. They could also be motivated by someone stumbling across a title in some other way (your own website, any place you ever advertised the title, someone the customer knows who read your backlist titles, even name searches on Amazon (though it is true that Amazon tends to suppress the titles that haven't sold in a while in those). I'm not saying don't try the new thing. People probably should. But given how it's positioned, it's unclear how many people will actually see it.

Will Amazon make money? If the change really does move books. But Amazon doesn't always hit the nail on the head in that regard. And we'll never know whether they do or don't. We may be able to guess no if the feature goes away, but that may simply mean it wasn't making enough money.

Yes, it's nice to have a new feature that we don't have to pay for. It would be a lot nicer if Amazon actually asked authors what would be helpful. That's not to say that Amazon would have to implement such suggestions, but it might pick up some ideas that its theoreticians (or algorithms, as the case may be) dream up.
 

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Possibly in the same theme as Bill, I've never considered the Authors Page as anything worth too much time because I can't imagine too many readers bothering with it. "Also Boughts" and AMS ads are clamouring louder for attention.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone how being more diligent with your AP has any real benefits.

[ImaWriter]

I have no idea how effective this is since I've never used it, but it's a feature Fantastic Fiction--who's been around about 20 years maybe?--has always had on their author pages.

I just randomly picked 2 prolific authors who have been around for decades--Stephen King and Nora Roberts--and they both have a Recommends section at the bottom of their pages.

If Amazon has decided to implement it, I'd say they see some benefit--for themselves at least.

[alhawke]

I have no idea how effective this is since I've never used it, but it's a feature Fantastic Fiction--who's been around about 20 years maybe?--has always had on their author pages.
I just randomly picked 2 prolific authors who have been around for decades--Stephen King and Nora Roberts--and they both have a Recommends section at the bottom of their pages.
If Amazon has decided to implement it, I'd say they see some benefit--for themselves at least.

ImaWriter, but how do you get access to Fantastic Fiction? I've emailed them and never gotten a response. Recently it was over one of my books being in the wrong series. Two years ago I emailed them just to get on their site. Response was ignored. Then one day I popped up on there.

Is there a way to actually control your own author page on Fantastic Fiction?

[ImaWriter]

ImaWriter, but how do you get access to Fantastic Fiction? I've emailed them and never gotten a response. Recently it was over one of my books being in the wrong series. Two years ago I emailed them just to get on their site. Response was ignored. Then one day I popped up on there.

Is there a way to actually control your own author page on Fantastic Fiction?

No, we can't request addition. Authors get added when readers start searching the site for them. The problem is that the site has lost popularity. It used to rank really well, so anyone searching for a book or author would find that site in the top 5 search results in Google. Their ranking tanked about 5 or 6 years ago, so unless it was a site reader's used before then, they probably don't know it exists. Like YA readers.

Once authors are included, they just aggregate info. And my understanding about being included in all the features--like recommendations--is that it will depend on something like how popular you are with their user base. I'm not, and don't have the recommendations section either.

They are totally reader focused and they aren't giving authors a foot in as far as I can tell. And given what Goodreads turned into when authors tried to storm the gates, I guess that's not too surprising.

[alhawke]

No, we can't request addition. Authors get added when readers start searching the site for them.

I see. That would explain their silence in correspondence. Thanks!