Just Set Up An Amazon Author Page. Does Anybody Really Read Them?

[dr_pretentious]

Author Central made it easy for me to fix Amazon’s typo in the title of my book — yay! I’ve figured out what other writers are talking about when they say they’re addicted to tracking their sales on Amazon — oops! I’m starting to get the hang of the authors’ side of Author Central.

What I don’t quite get yet is the readers’ side. Is there one? Do you, as a reader and buyer of books, ever use Amazon’s author pages? If so, what’s in it for you, what makes a good author page, and what do you wish more authors would put on them?

You can find mine here.

Comments

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

I do read them sometimes, for authors with whom I'm unfamiliar. I also read yours, of course, because I know you. Which implies that I read all of them, and that's not the case, but there it is. :-)

I look to see what else they've written, I look to see if they're doing anything else interesting, I look to see their photo if there is one, that sort of thing. I'd say yours is in pretty good shape, but you could add links to blogs and such, I suppose, so new readers can find that stuff easier.

Side note: "Only ten left in stock" -- how many did they get originally? I bought four -- two for me, two as gifts. :-) (And I finally finished reading Ria -- I re-read the other two first just to extend the enjoyment -- so I'll be putting up a glowing review as soon as I get it crafted properly. I loved it, of course. It kept making me laugh loud enough that I was afraid I'd wake eLiz up. And that was a very well-crafted curse, woven into an excellent scene.)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many they got, but since the publisher uses Lightning Source for POD, the lag time between running out of the first batch and printing and binding a second batch will be minimal. The sales figures on Author Central update on Fridays, so I only know how many I'd sold as of the 22nd, which is 21 copies. Not bad for a book that's not technically released yet, but going by the Other People Who Bought This Title Also Bought stuff, I'm guessing there was another burst of sales after John O'Neill posted about it on Black Gate. Won't know how big a burst until the end of the week.

Glad you liked Ria. She made me laugh a lot while I was writing her, too.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know amazon had them. So there's that. In other news I'm just so excited to get my copy. May happen while we're off on vacation though. We went through the publisher.

Loves!

[karenjunker.livejournal.com]

Yes, I read the author pages -- yours is a good one! Also excited to buy your book!

[amushink.livejournal.com]

I read them for chronology. Which book is the first in the series, and which should I buy next?

I also read them when I've finished reading a book by an author I like to find more of the same to order.

I also like links to blogs, twitters, and book tour dates.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

So far, I think you're the only person who's replied who uses almost everything on the author pages. Do you prefer the author pages on Amazon or on GoodReads?

The Rugosa stories are so weird with chronology. For me, the sequence will always be the sequence in which I discovered the characters' stories. For most readers, the sequence they'll prefer will be in-story chronology. In revision, I've tried to keep both sequences viable, while keeping each novella viably free-standing. I may be at the limit of the series's ability to sustain that. I have stories percolating for Sebastian, Amber, and Sophie. Sophie's probably won't be free-standing, since it leans so heavily on the stuff that happened in Atlantis Cranks.

Did you know some newer editions of The Chronicles of Narnia have reordered the series chronologically, with The Magician's Nephew first? That's just so wrong!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

The thought of my book in your household makes me happy beyond happy. And Happy New Year to you.

[citabria]

I've ended up on a few of Amazon's author pages because the link from the authors' names led to their pages, rather than (as used to be the case) the search results for the author's name. I've never gone to one on purpose.

I know someone (or a few folks) said they've gone to those pages for a chronology of the author's works, but I'm not sure that I'd trust Amazon's list. Given that they list the date of the newest printing of a book as if it were that book's publication/release date, I don't trust any dates that Amazon gives. If I'm looking for a bibliography or chron, I go to the author's own website (when available). If the author doesn't have a site I'll generally go to Goodreads these days.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I need to rework my bibliography. It's currently in narrative form, with links, and from the replies I'm getting about how readers use authors' various kinds of online information, it sounds like bulleted point lists would be far preferable.