Tag Archives: Author

Amazon Author Page – Your Books’ Virtual Real Estate

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Amazon Author PageThe Value of Your Amazon Author Page

In the spring of 2008 I was speaking at a marketing event in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the speakers told the audience about a book he had just written and published through Amazon. He stressed the value of having a link back from this mega site to our own books and blog and how that was increasing his visibility and credibility in a major way. It would be two years before I published a book and set up my Amazon author page, but when I did it changed my business in a major way.

Your Amazon Author Page is valuable real estate. You need to know that Amazon provides an absolutely free of charge “about the author” page to each author who has an ISBN listed on Amazon. This applies whether you are the sole author, or if you collaborated with other writers. So this becomes a website for you to market yourself and your writing to reach an almost unlimited number of highly targeted and qualified prospects.

People come to Amazon looking for information to purchase, and making sure that your author page is completely flashed out will assist you in attracting the right people into your funnel. This type of visibility is uncommon on the internet, especially when there is no cost to take advantage of everything it has to offer.

Amazon calls these pages “Author Central,” and your personal profile page there helps your readers to know more about you as a person and as an authority on your topics. You may include a biography, your most recent blog posts, videos, photos, your latest tweets, and information on where you will be in person in the future. This can be extremely valuable to your credibility not only as an author, but also as a speaker, coach, or more.

Once you are an author, go over to Amazon’s Author Central and create your account. It’s free and simple to set up. Then add your book, write about yourself in the biography section, and add the URLs of your blog(s) and Twitter feed. I also recommend add the next event you will be speaking at or attending. Sometimes I add the location of my Rotary meeting if I don’t have an event coming up soon so people will always have the opportunity to meet me in person.

Add some photos and videos to let people see you and learn more about you. This personal touch can be just what you need to connect with your readers. Also, ask readers to click on the “Follow” button so they’ll know when you release a new title. This is great marketing for you over time, as Amazon will send these followers an email about your upcoming books when they are added to your page.

Every time you publish a new book, or collaborate with others on a book be sure to add it to your Amazon author page. Over time you will enjoy massive credibility and visibility when people visit your page and see your body of work.

Author Central also tracks your sales and author ranking to let you know just where you stand overall with your books. This can be valuable when you are brainstorming your next book and want a better idea of the bigger picture and how you can benefit from it. Take a look at my Amazon Author Page and then leave your feedback here in the comments section. I would appreciate that very much.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future.

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How to Overcome Doubt and Fear As an Author or Entrepreneur

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Overcome Doubt and FearHow to Overcome Doubt and Fear

When people connect with me, either online or in person they tend to comment on how positive and confident I am. This observation pleases me, as I spend time every single day reflecting on my life and working to stay focused, productive, and confident. When that is recognizable by people who are actually in front of me virtually or live, it just reinforces my commitment to this process.

But if you get into a deeper conversation with me you’ll find that I experience the same doubts and fears of most everyone who is alive. The difference, I believe, is that I face these fears and doubts head on and refuse to allow them to affect my life in a negative way. Learning how to overcome doubt and fear is crucial to the creative and entrepreneurial process.

For example, during the 1990s I developed a fear of driving on winding roads in the mountains or canyons, as well as of driving across bridges. Along with this came a fear of heights. This may seem irrational, but it was terrifying to me at the time. My doctor recommended drugs to reduce my anxiety, but I did not see that as a viable solution. Instead, I gave myself as many opportunities as possible to face my fears and push through them anyway. I would drive back and forth across bridges several times, asking myself aloud what exactly I was afraid of before thinking another thought. I did the same with driving through the hills and canyons, and with going to the top of buildings to see the view from the observation deck.

When it came to my business, I had to overcome doubt and fear about my abilities to serve others as an online entrepreneur. This was especially true with my writing, when I feared what “they” would think when they read my words. I felt that the world was watching my every move, ready to pounce on even the smallest mistake or error. My way to deal with this was to just keep writing and publishing and moving forward.

As writers, we often face fears and doubt about our ability to convey our message to others. I like what Bryan Hutchinson, from Positive Writer, has to say about doubt as a part of our writing and creative side…

“Doubt not only holds us back, but it also makes us do unhelpful things:

Doubt holds us back from taking risks that need to be taken.

Doubt holds us back from thinking we’re good enough.

Doubt holds us back from reaching our true potential.

Doubt holds us back from finding our voice.

Doubt makes us uncertain if we should be writing at all. After all, the dinosaurs probably preferred extinction because they knew you’d try to become a writer.

Doubt makes us seek approval (again and again and again).

Doubt makes us wait for someone to pick us.

Doubt makes us reach for milestone after milestone, ceaselessly stalling until the next one, which will always be too little too late.

You know these are true, because you know your best work is still to come.”

Bryan has even written a book about it, entitled Writer’s Doubt: The #1 Enemy of Writing (and What You Can Do About It) that I highly recommend.

Take a look at what you fear or doubt most in your life, speak it aloud, and then move through it. From personal experience I will tell you that this simple strategy is effective, and will lead you to a place where you ca accomplish most anything you want to in your life.

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