Overlooked Opportunity

This post is specifically for authors with books on Amazon. I guess that must be nearly all of us then.

I'm sorry if this post seems a little like stating the glaringly obvious, but it is sometimes the most obvious things that are overlooked and to assume that everyone else already knows is a mistake. What am I talking about? The 'follow the author' link on your book pages.

It is not just a nice to have feature for Amazon customers. It's also useful to writers trying to retain readers or find new ones. The author newsletter is frequently touted as the best method of marketing for a writer: it's personal, you know your readers, you can build relationships and you are in control. For all of those good things I would agree, but that's no reason to overlook another way to keep readers engaged, including those who will never sign up for your newsletter, or those new to your work, browsing your book page when they are not quite ready to buy. Those people are known only to Amazon, and until the day Amazon change their policy, those people will always be unknown and unreachable to you. For that reason many of us (me included) have not done much with the 'follow the author' feature on our book pages. I had totally forgotten that Amazon email your followers when you have a new release. And there's the value of promoting this feature.

I was alerted to this overlooked opportunity the other day when I learned of an author who is successful but doesn't have a newsletter, can't be bothered with social media and doesn't even advertise. She just writes. Do I hear a collective sigh of envy?

She simply promotes the 'follow the author' feature and she does it specifically through the back matter in her books. Now, I'm not suggesting that newsletters, social media, or advertising should be abandoned. Most especially, I would always recommend having a newsletter because it's yours and is insurance against the rainy day when changes are made by those with the power. The writer I mentioned above is incredibly vulnerable, relying only on the 'follow the author' prompt in the back of her books. So I'd recommend you keep all your current marketing strategies running until that magical time when the 'follow the author' feature alone could leave you free to 'just write', but consider keeping the newsletter even then.

Next time you're working on your marketing: post about the feature, add a link in your newsletter and put it in your books' back matter too. Over time your following will grow, still invisible to you, but still there to be contacted by Amazon when your next book is due for release, so your sales will grow too.