Author Central
- Thread starter Ann Joyce
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I only use it to determine if I have any new reviews (easier than checking 9 separate books), and to see if I have new sales. I check sales on my Kindle sales report every day, but Author Central will alert me, through a spike in my ratings, if I have any paper book sales. To me this seems the easiest way to learn that.
Beyond that, I haven't explored AC to see if it has other benefits.
NDG
Beyond that, I haven't explored AC to see if it has other benefits.
NDG
Thanks, Norman. I didn't know it did that, well, maybe because I really don't anything about it at all. I did go to the site once, but I seem to remember it requiring an awful lot of info. Didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
- You can list all your books, including appearances in anthologies/magazines you didn't publish yourself. Since you opt-in every book, it's always perfect unlike searches for your name which mix in similar names.
- You can link to your blog/twitter so your latest posts are cross-posted to AC.
- You can see your latest reviews in reverse chronological order.
- You can easily keep tabs on your sales rank for all your books from one place, including magazines/anthologies you didn't publish yourself.
- Readers can opt-in to get email notification when you publish a new book.
Thanks, J. Tanner. Appreciate your help. More useful information. Do you use it? And, now that I think of it, is this where the author bio under your book listing in the Kindle store comes from?
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You can also use it to update your book description or make it "prettier" by making parts bold, italicized, etc. You can add your author bio and include extra information about the book.
I also like being able to link to my author central page. All my books pop up, as well as my most recent blog and Twitter posts.
I also check my book rankings, read reviews and check paperback sales.
You can also write a bio and upload photos and video book trailers.
I also like being able to link to my author central page. All my books pop up, as well as my most recent blog and Twitter posts.
I also check my book rankings, read reviews and check paperback sales.
You can also write a bio and upload photos and video book trailers.
In rereading my post that says, "More useful information," it should have been 'additional useful...' information. Now to my eyes, it almost sounds as if I think J Tanner's reply is more useful than Norman's, which isn't the case at all. I meant I found JT's post useful as well. If you're reading this, Norman, I apologize if it read that way to you.
I've gotten myself in so much hot water with my words on AW, I find myself second-guessing everything I say anymore. I appreciate all of your comments very much and find them all to be helpful. Thanks for taking the time.
Merri, good stuff! Thanks. I've also learned there are 2 or 3 of you that use it and think it has merit, so that helps too. Have a great day!
I've gotten myself in so much hot water with my words on AW, I find myself second-guessing everything I say anymore. I appreciate all of your comments very much and find them all to be helpful. Thanks for taking the time.
Merri, good stuff! Thanks. I've also learned there are 2 or 3 of you that use it and think it has merit, so that helps too. Have a great day!
No apology necessary, Ann. Like I said in my post I haven't really investigated it all that much, using it only as I described. I appreciate J. Tanner's post, as it provides more useful information than mine.
NDG
NDG
Yes, I use it. You can see my public page here:
http://amazon.com/author/jtanner
They let you choose a nice short URL like that from the dashboard. For some reason my Blog posts aren't showing in the right sidebar anymore, so I'll need to check that, but otherwise it's all good (aside from my completely unprofessional photo and bio.)
The book pages for books you publish yourself have an about the author section that's unique to the page, and also a More About The Author section which will pull info from your author central bio.
And then of course aside from the public author page portion, you've got the dashboard areas for sales ranking, reviews, and the nebulous author rank.
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Which is especially helpful because, if you update your book description through the "edit book details" on the KDP dashboard, it takes from 12 hours to the rest of your life to update on the book page.
But when you change the description through Author Central, it's like 5 to 10 minutes. Much better.
But, but, but, but, Norman, I did find your post useful. So again, my thanks to you, J.T., Merri & S.W; I appreciate all of your contributions. I learned something from each of you.
I used it at the start, but as I've only one novel and a flash fiction collection published, it doesn't take much for me to check rankings. But, thanks guys for the useful info, I will have to pay more attention to it in the future.
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Another helpful tip: If you haven't had any e-book sales in a day or two, check your author rank. It may be higher (there's an ongoing graph), which means there have been sales, they just haven't been reported yet.
There’s some need features, seems like they’ve been explained already. I use it to check my ranking mostly and to see if I have any reviews. I doubt anyone looks at it, but you never know. At the very least you have a place to have all of your work in once place. I like that I can have my tweets and blog posts displayed on the site.
bookscan sales dissapeared?
Sorry if this is in the wrong place! I'm trying to find out if your previous sales that showed up on amazon's author central bookscan page disappear when they are updating the weekly sales. I had three weeks worth of sales showing and now suddenly, they are all gone! I am new to this, and need t know if this is normal? The past three weeks, each week showed how many sales and where at on the geography map, and now the total running amount and all sales show zero. Not understanding what's going on, can anybody fill me in?
Sorry if this is in the wrong place! I'm trying to find out if your previous sales that showed up on amazon's author central bookscan page disappear when they are updating the weekly sales. I had three weeks worth of sales showing and now suddenly, they are all gone! I am new to this, and need t know if this is normal? The past three weeks, each week showed how many sales and where at on the geography map, and now the total running amount and all sales show zero. Not understanding what's going on, can anybody fill me in?
I think you're confusing two different things.
Nielsen Bookscan collects ISBN-based sales data from bookshops, but this information is not involved in the data provided at Amazon's Author Central: Amazon collects and collates that data for itself. Nielsen and Amazon are two very separate, unrelated businesses.
This has been mentioned briefly in another thread:
I think you'll just have to wait it out.
Author Central does actually share Neilson Bookscan data with authors, organized in either weekly sales or by geography in the US.
Back to the original question, mine is showing June 24 to July 21 data and the period is displayed right in the gray header bar so it should also be clear what data you're viewing. All these tools can be glitchy at times in my experience so if something odd happened with disappearing sales that's probably all it is. Check again in a day or two. If it isn't back to normal after the typical weekly update shoot an email off to Author Central customer service and ask.
sarahdalton
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Please don't take this the wrong way... but you have selected the right month haven't you? Or the right book?
I take it you mean the page where you can view your paperback sales by geographical locations? There's a little drop down box at the top so you can look at different books and so on. Just double check that's all correct. Otherwise I have no clue! Probably just a glitch like OH and Merri said. Email them if it persists.
I checked, very briefly, before I responded and thought they didn't--my bad. I should have checked more thoroughly before I opened my mouth. Thanks for the correction, Mr Tanner.
OK thanks!
yes, I'm looking at all the possible tabs you can access, and since last week, all three weeks since the release have vanished, showing 0 sales for each week, and 0 sales total. The geographical map also shows no sales anywhere, while before I could see the books sold in each geographical area of the country. Strange. I did drop them a note asking about it, so hopefully it gets replaced soon. Thanks for all your responses!
yes, I'm looking at all the possible tabs you can access, and since last week, all three weeks since the release have vanished, showing 0 sales for each week, and 0 sales total. The geographical map also shows no sales anywhere, while before I could see the books sold in each geographical area of the country. Strange. I did drop them a note asking about it, so hopefully it gets replaced soon. Thanks for all your responses!
One thing not mentioned here yet (that I have seen) is another benefit of Author Central which means that any book you link to as being written by you has your author central link highlighted as a hyperlink on your name in the author section. This means that someone who buys that book on Amazon can also choose to click that link to find your profile and therefore other books by you...
As a soon-to-be, first time self-published author (I am hoping to self-pub within the next few weeks) I just want to say that this whole thread has been so helpful! I didn't realize what a fantastic tool the Author Central would be on Amazon. Thanks!
AC is useful not only for the author but for the reader. When I discover a new author that I like, for instance, I always go to AC to find all their other books.
Even if you have only one book published, it's useful to set up you AC page. As others have pointed out, AC is useful to the author in several ways. I suggest, for instance, that you spend real effort to create a short but interesting bio. That can increase the likelihood that readers will remember you and be interested in what you create.
Plus, once you have an AC page, your next books already have a place for you to list them, and so reap the benefits of readers quickly finding all your books.
Even if you have only one book published, it's useful to set up you AC page. As others have pointed out, AC is useful to the author in several ways. I suggest, for instance, that you spend real effort to create a short but interesting bio. That can increase the likelihood that readers will remember you and be interested in what you create.
Plus, once you have an AC page, your next books already have a place for you to list them, and so reap the benefits of readers quickly finding all your books.
Yes... it costs nothing, takes very little effort to set up and once set up requires very little maintenance... definitely worth doing...
I did it! Well, at least I got a bio on there and a photo, which I realize will have to be replaced. It's too far away to be much good, I'm afraid. As soon as my hot dish comes out and I satisfy my appetite, I'll have a go at changing it. Thanks for all of the input!
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