When you upload your book to Amazon, you have the option of distributing to foreign markets and third parties. I have been surprised and delighted to see my books, which I don't market much, sell internationally. I have sold books in Germany, the UK, Canada, even India. Amazon continues to increase the number of countries to their roster. They currently have eighteen sites:  Australia  https://www.amazon.com.au/  (45 million customers) Canada  https://www.amazon.ca  (231 million customers) Brazil  https://www.amazon.com.br/  (115 million customers) France  https://www.amazon.fr/  (251 million customers)  Germany  https://www.amazon.de / (605 millions customers) India  https://www.amazon.in/ (295 million customers) Italy  https://www.amazon.it/ (270 million customers) Japan  https://www.amazon.co.jp/  (646 million customers)  Mexico  https://www.amazon.com.mx/  (89 million customers) Netherlands...

~ We are delighted to welcome historical mystery author Ann Parker to our blogging team. ~ When it comes to partners in fiction, there are all types, including love birds, best buds, and sidekicks of all kinds (for some great advice on sidekicks and how to develop them, check out Diana’s post from Feb. 1). Another flavor of fictional partner, which could overlap with the above in certain cases, could be termed the "frenemy." According to the Oxford English Dictionary , a frenemy is: "a person with whom one is friendly, despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry" or "a person who combines the characteristics of a friend and an enemy." I thought this was a very recent term, so imagine my surprise to find it dates from 1953 and was first coined by the newspaperman Walter Winchell in the Nevada State Journal in an article titled "Howz about calling the Russians our Frienemies?" (Oh, how I love to wallow around in the OED!) Frenemies can be fun...

So, you have a book or multiple books on Amazon, eh? Great! You’ve probably taken time to head over to the  Author Central page on Amazon  to give readers some information about yourself. And after you did that… …you might have worried more about checking your book rankings on Amazon than providing a little feng shui to your author space. If so, worry not, for below, you’ll find five ways to help you spruce up your author page! #1 - An image can be worth a thousand words. The first thing readers see when they land on your author page is your face. Think about the personality you want to convey to your reader and change your image periodically to reflect that personality. #2 - Well, hello, my name is… Just as your life changes, your bio should change. It’s your HELLO, your WELCOME, your INTRODUCTION to your reader, so it should pop. It doesn’t hurt to do a quarterly check on your bio, cutting descriptions that might detract a reader, adding information that reve...

Photos by Cara Lopez Lee An arborist came by our house yesterday to diagnose our ailing orange tree, and he informed me that the aging tree has too much unplucked fruit, too many branches, and not enough food. I never met a citrus fruit or a metaphor I didn’t like, so let’s see if I can untangle my thoughts on Amazon the way I untangled excess branches on my little tree today: When my memoir, They Only Eat Their Husbands , was first published in 2010, I listed more than 50 promotional ideas, all of which one pro or another insisted were musts for authors who craved success. I knew I’d never get to it all, but I did what I’m doing with my orange tree: starting with one task today, scheduling another tomorrow, another next week, and so on. Perhaps the most critical thing I’ve learned about marketing is that if you and your product are not yet famous, your first task is to narrow your targets: target audience, targeted marketing ideas, targeted networking, etc. You cannot...

Last July, I submitted my book, Indiscretion , to Amazon’s Kindle Scout program . Paraphrased from their website: Kindle Scout is reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. It’s a place where readers help decide if a book gets published. Selected books will be published by Kindle Press and receive 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing. If you do not earn at least $25,000 during any 5-year term, you'll have six months after the end of that 5-year period in which you can choose to stop publishing with Kindle Press and request your rights back. Same if you haven’t made $500 in royalties in a two-year period. Amazon’s criteria are for authors to submit their professionally edited books with a well-designed cover, short blurb, and catchy tag line. The Scout people take a few days to look it over, then, if accepted, you have thirty days to do everything in your power to keep you...

Whether you love or loathe shopping on Amazon (I love it) and whether you agree with all of their tactics (I don't), it is still the single best platform for self-publishing. They have more tools and outreach than any other entity can offer you. 1. In addition to e-books, you can upload a print copy through Create Space for those readers who prefer paper over plastic. I cannot recommend this highly enough. I only read print books. Tweet this:  “Textbook makers, bookstore owners, and college student surveys all say millennials still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises reading experts given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally.” @mikerosenwald 2. Their upload process is extremely easy as opposed to some of the other e-book platforms. They accept multiple file types: PDF, Word® .doc, docx, or .rtf. They offer free templates that make formatting an interior (print), e-book, and cover easy. A Step By ...

Amazon is the search engine of buyers. I recently read this statement online and after giving it some thought, agreed wholeheartedly. Think of all the times you've needed to buy something, and how often you've sought information about a product, or checked prices and availability online. Amazon was probably one of your targets. For authors, whether traditionally or indie published, Amazon is a must to generate advertising and book sales. A few years ago, I experienced first-hand the power of KDP Select, and the incredible reach of this platform for e-book publishers. Since that project, Amazon has added new tools and opportunities for writers. One recent change is the enhanced author page that allows readers to click a follow button, and receive new information direct from Amazon when the author adds books, giveaways, and other notices about their products.  Encouraging readers to follow your author page is akin to building a mailing list without all the p...